The folks at ThePlaylist (the unofficial source for all Soderbergh news) have landed a major casting scoop naming the group of male actors/Gina Carano’s entourage that will be the make-up of to be retitled Knockout – a project we are glad doesn’t appear to resemble anything close to Mamet’s Redbelt. Soderbergh is turning to his vault and re-teaming not with any Ocean’s films players, but Traffic stars Michael Douglas and Dennis Quaid. He’ll also have one of the U.K. biggest new talents in Michael Fassbender (who was genius in Hunger and the upcoming Fish Tank) and completing the foursome is Ewan McGregor – someone in need of some juicier supporting roles. Here is how ThePlaylist is describing the various parts:
“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 is part of (and apparently many of the males take a beating at the hands of Carano).“
