'I didn't have any issue [doing] this fight scene with a woman, because I was the underdog,' Ewan McGregor tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner


Gina Carano in "Haywire"
Photo: Claudette Barius / Five Continents Imports

If you like your movies with a lot of action, kick-ass fight sequences and actors who do their own stunts, look no further than this week's new thriller "Haywire" to satisfy those needs.






The concept for the film was born after director Steven Soderbergh saw footage of MMA fighter Gina Carano in the cage, which inspired the Oscar winner to build a film around her. "Haywire" revolves around a black-ops supersoldier (Carano) who seeks the ultimate revenge after she is betrayed by her colleagues, played by the very capable Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas.

MTV News recently caught up with Carano, Tatum and McGregor to discuss the very realistic fight sequences and how the guys were more than game for getting their butts kicked by a woman.

"The physicality, that was fun to me. I didn't have to hurt anybody," Carano said of the difference between the film's choreographed fights versus her MMA matches. "I didn't have to worry about getting choked out, and there were no egos with any of the actors. They all wanted to do all their own stunts, and a lot of people around me were like, 'Gina, that's not normal. You've got some beautiful people to work with and a beautiful first experience.' "






"To be totally honest, she's better than every guy I've ever fought, really, other than one, and he was a strike force fighter as well," Tatum admitted of his co-star, with whom he shares an intense bone-breaking exchange during the first five minutes of the film. "I can say this without any amount of trying to say it for the movie: I challenge anyone to come and fight her or even move with her. She's by far the best athlete I've ever gotten a chance to move with. She's so strong and in control, it's just ridiculously unprecedented in my opinion."

McGregor added that he didn't even think about the man-vs.-woman factor, only that it was the most appropriate scenario for his manipulative, weasel-like character.

"There was a slight difference in our fight scene together. For me, I didn't ever have any issue with the fact that I was having to do this fight scene with a woman, because I was the underdog," he said. "There was no question that I was going to get killed if I didn't manage to get away."

Check out everything we've got on "Haywire."

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