Steven Soderbergh Has a KNOCKOUT Cast and a New Plot

Back in September, it was announced that Gina Carano, best known for roughing up other females in women’s mixed martial arts and even being labeled “the face” of the sport, would get a shot at elevating her stardom by featuring in the upcoming Steven Soderbergh spy flick Knockout.

Today, The Playlist is reporting that sources close to the film have confirmed the cast surrounding Carano, and it is quite impressive. Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Dennis Quaid, and Michael Douglas will star alongside the rookie actress in a spy film that will likely turn some heads.

For the brand new plot, the rumor of a name change, and another high-profile actor being cast, hit the break.

The first iteration of the plot was that Carano would play a girl from the wrong side of the tracks that was given an opportunity to do something positive with her skills. However, that was eventually scrapped and a new storyline has emerged.  Instead, Carano will play Mallory Kane, a woman brought up within a military-style life and a stint in the armed forces. Kane takes a job with a black ops military group, led by McGregor, to earn better pay but is betrayed by someone within her team and set up for a murder she didn’t commit.  The team Kane is a part of includes Fassbender and the aforementioned “high-profile actor” who’s name is being kept under wraps for now. Meanwhile, Douglas plays a government agent caught somewhere in the middle while Quaid’s role hasn’t been detailed.

While the plot seems to finally be taking shape, the title of the film might eventually be overhauled as well. Knockout is a bit of a double entendre, as anyone who has seen Carano knows she is quite attractive, which goes back to why she has been pegged as “the face” of the sport.  However, she also brings a winning pedigree to the ring and will be showing off those skills in the film. Carano recently fought for a championship in her weight class with her undefeated record on the line. Although Carano was defeated at the hands of Cris “Cyborg” Santos, she put up a valiant effort against a fellow undefeated fighter.

Soderbergh will reteam with screenwriter Lem Dobbs of Dark City fame and has a planned start date of February.  Dobbs and Soderbergh had previously worked on Kafka and The Limey. The pic will be financed by Lionsgate and Relativity Media through an unusual deal that will pay Soderbergh no upfront fees. In lieu of that, he will gain full ownership of the film upon the planned August release.