Rather than lump her with an acting coach who might stifle her natural instincts, Soderbergh had Carano prep for the role with an intensive two-month camp led by former Israeli intelligence operative Aaron Cohen in Los Angeles. Carano took to handling weapons easily and soaked up Cohen’s sharp and efficient tactical mentality. Cohen created scenarios and mock “missions” for her to complete around the city, armed with a blue dummy firearm. One assignment had Carano tracking a target, only to have the tables turned when she was ambushed coming outside a beauty salon. (via)

“There was something transgressive about having the woman being the one who is attacked first, that there’s a sort of, in movie terms, a popular conception that women are weaker than men and that the only way that they can triumph in a hand-to-hand situation is if they somehow have an advantage from the beginning,” Soderbergh said. “They trick the guy and they get the upper hand because they’re being somewhat nefarious. Very consciously, in two circumstances, she’s attacked in an unprovoked manner and has to work her way back into winning the fight. With someone like Gina, you can pull that off and have it be believable. She can really break you in half.” (via)

She’s like the she-Hulk version of Rachel Leigh Cook.

Haywire (Steven Soderbergh, 2012)

“Carano’s screen presence evokes nothing less than 70s Pam Grier — where the effect is not that of an actor giving a natural and charismatic performance in a film, but, rather, a natural and charismatic person acting in a film. Carano’s line readings are occasionally atonal and flat, but that’s more than compensated for in the scenes where her personality and poise shine through, and if her voice may lack an elegant flow and nimble range of motion, her body, in action, has both of those in a way that speaks louder than words…. Shot by Soderbergh himself, as ever, Haywire is, like The Informant!, a movie shaped by the rhythms and rules of 70s and 60s entertainment. If you can imagine an action film where every fight plays out with the closed-quarters kill-or-die power of Connery vs Shaw in the train compartment in From Russia With Love — and get what that kind of intensity, energy and actors hurling themselves into their own action work means in an age of digital effects, wire-work and stunt doubles — then you will appreciate just how good Haywire is.” (x)

(Gina Carano in Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Haywire’ | /Film)

In Haywire, an electrifying tale of espionage and betrayal, a female covert ops specialist (Carano), who works in the deadly world of international operatives, strikes back after discovering she’s been double-crossed by someone close to her in the agency.

Ensemble cast includes: Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas and Michael Angarano. The script is by Lem Dobbs, who wrote The Limey (or wrote a version of it, as the famously argumentative DVD commentary demonstrates) and David Holmes, who did such great music for the Oceans movies, is scoring.