Gina Carano may not be a household name today, but don’t be surprised if that changes in the next few years. Gina, an MMA fighter, is the star heroine in the new Steven Sodenbergh action movie, “Haywire” (you can read a review of “Haywire” by clicking HERE). This is Gina Carano’s first leading role and she really impresses in the movie and it looks like she has a bright future ahead of herself in feature films.
Gina was recently in Miami to participate in a round table interview to help promote “Haywire”. Usually, at these round table interviews, the press is all seated at a table and waits for the star to arrive. In this case, Gina Carano was already at the table waiting for the press to arrive. She greeted us all with a smile and a handshake (and made sure to get rid of her gum). It’s hard to believe this humble, sweet woman has a violent bone in her body. Gina performed her own stunts in the movie, but revealed during the interview one part of the movie made her more nervous than the stunt work, her first on screen kiss.
*How early on before production did you get together with Steven Sodenbergh, stunt coordinator R.A. Rondell and fight choreographer J.J. Perry and what were some of the goals you were looking to accomplish in the movie’s fight and stunt scenes? I started training with them for the movie about two months before. They told me I was going to be the stunt girl and lead actress. Usually the stunt people take care of the actors, but they told me I would be doing both jobs. Sodenbergh had the vision for it. He wanted the fights to be incredibly real. That’s why I got the job in the first place, because of my physicality. So he wanted the fights to be very believable. He gave the stunt guys an idea of what he wanted and the stunt guys were all mixed martial artists fans so, of course, they know my background is Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, wrestling and boxing, mostly Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu. So they knew my style and when I came in we started collaborating on the fight scenes and the battles and what style Steven really wanted. He wanted it VERY realistic, like I can actually do this to these men.
*You used finishing holds. I know. Strangle choke hold. That was actually one of my ideas. They were like, “How cool would that be?” I think the challenge there was how to flip off the bed into a triangle choke. There was a lot of fun stuff in there.
How did it feel going from having a cameo in the movie, “Blood and Bone” and then becoming a lead actress in a Steven Sodenbergh film? I consider “Haywire” my first acting experience. “Blood and Bone” was more of a fight scene that I just showed up. The stunt woman I fought used to study Muay Thai sp we made up the fight scene then and there on “Blood and Bone”. I don’t think anything could have prepared me for going into “Haywire”. I remember seeing everyone frozen during the train station scene, like someone hit a pause button. All of a sudden, “Action” and like movement. Then I had to kiss Michael (Fassbender) for the first time and my whole mouth was shaking.
*Were you nervous about doing your first onscreen kiss? Oh my, gosh! They walked up to me while I’m sitting there getting touch ups and I’m already so nervous because it is my first day of shooting, then Michael and Steven come up and Steven says, “We were talking about it and I definitely think that Michael would kiss you since you are posing as his wife.” I was like, No they didn’t. They are not going to make me kiss on the first day. It was just a peck, but you know how you get nervous and your mouth just shakes? Well, that was what my mouth was doing in that scene.
So were the kissing more nerve wracking than the fight scenes for you? Yeah. Oh WAY more. Oh, then I had to kiss Channing (Tatum) too. You could feel my heartbeat in my mouth which is really embarrassing. You want to be so comfortable and confidant, so it took a couple of takes. I obviously didn’t mind because both of those people are completely gorgeous and wonderful. It is really a different thing having to kiss someone on call with the camera right there. I thought I hope people think I’m a good kisser because that’s going to be on film forever.
Did you have a lot of input into what went into the fight scenes? Yeah, yeah! I worked with some of the great stunt coordinators too. Like I said they are complete fans of the sport. The more they realized they weren’t dealing with an actress they were dealing with an athlete they were more like, “Alright, so what do you want to do here?” Then I got to put certain moves in the film. I’ve only seen the movie once. Every single moment of “Haywire” is in my heart forever. I couldn’t have had a better experience. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.
Did you ever get intimidated or star struck when you were sharing scenes with Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender? Oh, yeah. The first day I worked each and every one of them I was like, “Oh, s#&t! That’s Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas.” I can honestly go on hours talking about what generally great human beings they are. I’m fans of all of theirs now. I’m more fans of the human beings that they are. They are genuine. They wanted to work with me. I had a fight scene with Channing, Fassbender and Ewan McGregor and they all wanted to do everything! Even when they were not even on film, their character was not on film, it was just me; they wanted to be right there. They didn’t want any stunt doubles. They completely threw themselves into it. They were giving me a first time acting experience and really got to study their work ethic. It was really special.
*Now that you’ve done “Haywire” would you like to do more than just action movies like to do romantic comedies and other genres to expand your acting career? I would absolutely love to, but I know what my niche is right now. I’m bringing a certain physicality to it and I love representing MMA. I’m more part of my sport now than I ever have been and I’m more of a fan of my sport than I ever have been. So if I can continue to bringing that physicality to film and really making beautiful fight scenes and making it believable to people. I would make a million movies like that. Like I said I got the same adrenaline rush from kissing. I was more nervous from kissing. I may be physical all day, but I’m going to grow as a person if you make me scared. I was scared of doing that kissing scene. I would love to do something like that, but I have a long way to go as a person and I’m just starting out in this industry, so we’ll see.
“Haywire” is now playing in theaters everywhere!
*Denotes questions asked by Examiner.com
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