Feral Jundi

   This just popped up on my radar screen and I am interested.  Gina Carano is pretty popular in the MMA arena, and she has the potential to really kick ass.  She is not an actress, so for Steven to take a gamble with this gal is a bold move.  I am not sure how that will translate on the screen. She does get points for actually being tougher than some of her co-actors, and that will actually make things a little more believable on the big screen with fight scenes and action stuff.  But then there is that little thing called dialogue and acting, which either you can do, or you cannot.  I hope for her sake, she can pull it off.

   Now on to the PMC portion.  I have not seen the movie, but from the sounds of it, McGregor will probably mimic a Erik Prince type, or with his accent, maybe a Tim Spicer type. Who knows, but more than likely, he will play the bad guy, thus putting his company in a bad light.  Nothing new there. But at least the star of the movie, Gina, will be a security contractor that works for a PMC.

   By the way, I have a ton of Hollywood folks reading the blog, and a few that have actually contacted me.  For you that are just readers, welcome, and if you need any assistance on your project, let me know. Also, Cade Courtley would be a good choice for any roles in this movie involving contractors, seeing how he has a TV show on Spike and is a former SEAL and security contractor. –Matt

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McGregor, Douglas, Fassbender in Soderbergh’s ‘Knockout’

January 7, 2010

Steven Soderbergh promised to surround mixed martial artist Gina Carano with strong actors for her feature debut when he first spoke about his revenge spy movie “Knockout,” and he is now delivering the goods.

Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor and Michael Douglas are in negotiations to join the cast of the production, which is being financed by Relativity. Dennis Quaid is also in negotiations in join the cast.

Written by Lem Dobbs, the story sees a female spy (Carano) working for a Blackwater-style security contractor who is betrayed by one of her teammates.

McGregor would play the owner of the company, a one-time confidant of Carano who switches allegiances.

Fassbender will play a British agent who teams up with Carano but proves untrustworthy while Douglas will play an American executive of McGregor’s company who works with her to take down the company.

The movie is scheduled to go before cameras in February in several locations around the world and will be selling at the European Film Market in Berlin. Lionsgate is distributing the movie domestically.

Fassbender, repped by WME, is coming off Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” where he played Lt. Archie Hicox. McGregor, repped by WME and United Agents, next appears in Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer” while WME-repped Douglas, who worked with Soderbergh on the Oscar-winning “Traffic,” wrapped “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps” last month.

Link to blog here.

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Exclusive: Ewan McGregor, Dennis Quaid & Michael Douglas (& More) Join Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Knockout’

1/07/2010

When the action spy picture “Knockout” was first announced a few months ago, director Steven Soderbergh promised that the lead star, non-actress/ mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano would be surrounded by a name-recognizable cast of supporting talent and he wasn’t kidding.Sources close to the project have confirmed to us that the principal cast members supporting Carano include Michael Fassbender (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Hunger”), Ewan McGregor, Dennis Quaid and Michael Douglas.

However, it looks like the original concept, — a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is given a second chance to use her skills for constructive purposes — having gone through the gestation/inception stage was eventually rethought and cast aside (both filmmaker and writer felt that it had “been done”). Ultimately, “Knockout” is now more of a revenge action-spy thriller. Essentially it’s hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and especially one who kicks serious ass. Double crossed by someone on her own team, Mallory Kane (Carano)— a black ops super soldier — seeks to uncover who has set her up to take the fall for a job that goes bad and involves a murder.The male actors are all part of Carano’s special forces team. Douglas plays a government figure not unlike Chris Cooper or Brian Cox from the ‘Bourne’ movies. Fassbender and one other actor who has yet to sign-on officially (we’ve been asked not to say who because it’s not 100% confirmed, but the actor is male and a fairly big name; though it’s possible scheduling conflicts may prevent him from participating) play members of her commando spy unit, and one of these two plays the central antagonist that betrays Carano’s character (this is still being kept under wraps for now). McGregor’s role is that of the owner/guy who runs a Blackwater private military company-type group that the female fighting champion is a part of (and apparently many of the males take a beating at the hands of Carano).And as noted, Carano’s Kane character is no longer a girl from the “wrong side of the tracks,” she now has a solid background and was raised around military honor and academia. She leaves the military to go to work for a Blackwater-esque company to make better money and then is eventually betrayed by one of her teammates.Both Douglas and Quaid have worked with Soderbergh before in his Academy Award-winning 2000 film, “Traffic” and Douglas is set to star in the filmmaker’s “Liberace” film if that happens according to plan this summer. Fassbender is the quickly rising, in-demand actor that everyone wants to work with (Tarantino, et. al) and the director is certainly one of those people — Fassbender’s role was written with the actor in mind.And Soderbergh has been circling McGregor for some time now. The “Trainspotting” actor was originally pegged to have a role in the ‘Ocean’s’ films, but his commitments to Lucas’ “Star Wars” prequels unfortunately precluded his participation.”Knockout” — it’s still officially a working title, but now we’re told that people are warming up to the name and that it might eventually stick — was written by Lem Dobbs, the screenwriter behind Soderbergh’s “Kafka” and “The Limey” also well-known for his contentious (and hilariously candid) DVD-commentary arguments with the director (“The Limey” commentary is like two friends with the gloves off and an amusing must-listen).The director has previously said the film will take elements from “La Femme Nikita,” the ‘Bourne’ films, the Bond film “From Russia With Love” and John Boorman’s 1967 crime film “Point Blank,” starring Lee Marvin (which is known as the slightly arty, thinking man’s, tough guy picture). But he’s also noted that the action will be distinctly different than the Greengrass vibe evinced in his ‘Bourne’ films. As reported last year, David Holmes, the composer behind Soderbergh’s “Oceans 11-13” series, not to mention the brisk and funky “Out Of Sight” film, will be writing the score.Soderbergh’s deal for “Knockout” through Relativity Media and Lionsgate is a typically unique one for the adventurous filmmaker. He will be paid no upfront fee for directing the film, but eventually will retain full ownership of the film once its released. It’s a bold and unprecedented move. Having just finished up his media-saturation play “Tot Mom” in Australia, Soderbergh is now in New Mexico doing scouting for his February production start date expected to shoot there, Ireland and Turkey among other possible locations.Carano has been training in L.A. for two months and test fight footage has already been shot (she’s already accidentally knocked out one stunt coordinator in practice sessions… no, really). Lionsgate is eyeing an August release. Producers on the project include Relativity Media’s Ryan Kavanaugh, Soderbergh’s longtime cohort Gregory Jacobs, and Tucker Tooley as an executive producer.And while THR doesn’t link to us, we’re not above linking those that expand on things no matter what and they have a few more additional details on the characters.

Link to Blog here.