Gina Carano kicks ass. Just ask her Haywire co-stars, or check out her volatile action skills in Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller for yourself. At the time, we said we couldn’t wait to see Carano flex her muscles in another action film, so the former MMA fighter could continue to hone her craft. Now she’s being given the opportunity.
Carano has signed on to star in John Stockwell’s In the Blood, according to THR. Bennett Yellin and James Robert Johnston wrote the Blood script, which would cast Carano as a wife pursuing the men who kidnapped her husband while the couple was vacationing in the Caribbean. The trade says the thriller is molded after Liam Neeson’s Taken, only from a female perspective.
“This role will showcase not only Gina’s fighting skills, but also her acting abilities as her character struggles to reign in her violent past,” Stockwell told the trade.
Which makes sense. Thanks to her background in the MMA, Carano has obvious physical skills that can be put to the test in virtually any type of action formula. Did you see what she did to poor Michael Fassbender? But it was in the quieter scenes of Haywire, when she held her own alongside acting giants like Michael Douglas and charismatic character actors like Ewan McGregor or Bill Paxton, that impressed me. That’s when I realized Carano’s potential, not just as a one-note action hero, but as a multi-faceted performer. Blood sounds like it will expand her physical range. But I really hope a director hires Carano for a drama or comedy somewhere down the line, so we’re able to see what she’s capable of pulling off.
