Monthly Archives: February 2013

Gina Carano aka DSS Agent Riley on the set of Fast and Furious 6 *updated 03-08

Posted by: p0d on February 27, 2013

“I think it’ll be a very cool fight scene between two women,” says Carano, who plays Hobbs’s right-hand woman. Rodriguez is no mean screen fighter but going head-to-head with a real warrior means Carano has to pull some of her punches. “But every once in a while you have to give it a little something – and it helps out with the acting too,” Carano laughs. “Gina’s deadly,” growls Diesel barely concealing his delight.
(IGN)

credit: Swinjen & Hey-Why-Her source: YahooMovies!, IGN.com, Machinima.com
When did your transition from fighting to acting start?
I always knew in my heart that if an opportunity was going to come, it was going to come, which it did through Steven Soderbergh. Ever since then, I’ve been like, just trust your heart a little bit more [laughs]… because those things do happen. He approached me after my last fight, which I had lost against Cyborg and I got a phone call that week, four days after the fight. My agent, you know how agents are, was like “you really need to take this meeting, he’s a director.” I was like I don’t want to see anyone. I still have a black eye, this is awful. We had lunch for four hours and asked if I wanted to do a movie and I was like, YES.
Can you tell us about your character in the film?
Yeah, her name’s Riley, which I think is a cool name. It’s only the second character in a movie I’ve ever had. She’s kind of a backup to The Rock. She’s on his team and is very loyal to him. She has some really cool twists and turns throughout the movie that I think the audience is going to be surprised by.
Does she have a love interest?
Ummm [laughs]… Let’s see. In her mind, always. You’ll have to wait and see.
How has the training you’ve received in MMA translate to acting? Not just in the physical part of acting, but acting itself?
It helps me so much because physical acting is often times just as important as verbal acting. I think what I bring to the table is just a natural sense of physicality, which I don’t really have to think about too much. Training to fight is a passion so when you have a passion, you get humbled. You get humbled when you go to the gym and you get humbled every day you […]

Comment (0)

Gina Carano Fan Experience: In This Corner…

Posted by: p0d on February 15, 2013

Growing up, I wasn’t an athlete. I always considered myself an average girl. It wasn’t until high-school that I found out that I loved entertaining people through dance and theatre classes.

It was the summer after I turned 17 and graduated. I auditioned for The Phoenix Suns Dance Squad. I remember practicing so hard to make it on the team. All of the girls were so beautiful; I started to lose confidence. Even though I had the skill, I didn’t shine in the audition. At that point in my life, I started to hate myself. I hated the way I looked and how short I was. Everything put me through a depression.
A month later everything changed. Watching one of Gina Carano’s fights for the first time left me speechless. It was the StrikeForce Women’s Featherweight Title fight against Cris Cyborg. Even though she lost, she just seemed so superhuman to me. I was at loss for words. I just wanted to see more of her. I watched all I could until I was exhausted for school the next day. Every video I watched made me say, ” Gosh, I want to be like her.” She inspired me so much that I questioned myself thinking, “Why not… why not give it a shot?” Don’t get me wrong, I was terrified of fighting. I had never gotten into a fight or even hit anyone, and the next thing I know, I’m stepping foot into a Muay Thai Gym.
Just the sound of “Muay Thai” was intimidating. I didn’t know what to expect. The coach was a little man from Thailand. He gave me my first pair of pink boxing gloves and red Muay Thai shorts. After changing clothes, I remember looking in the mirror and thinking, “I can’t believe I’m here right now!” I then tried to pump myself up, thinking “Okay, be like Gina, be like Gina.” Walking out of the bathroom, the coach said, “Oh good, you look like a fighter now.” By the end of the class, I fell in love with it; I was so excited.
It lit a whole new fire inside me. The girl who had once hated herself now had confidence.
I wanted to learn everything, every: punch, kick, knee and elbow. I would then watch Gina’s training footage and try to mimic her combos by shadow boxing in the hallway of my house and in front of my dresser mirror. I felt […]

Comment (1)