A question that came up again and again - and one that, I’m sure, will continue to come up again and again - is about Gina Carano’s physicality. It’s one of great curiosity; no recent actress can say that they played the lead in a feature film directed by A-list talent without ever having auditioned for the part. (Or any other film role, for that matter.) When asked about her thoughts on her physicality, Carano was very clear about the obvious. “My physicality is the whole reason I got the job in the first place.” She explains that a lot of what makes her physicality interesting is that she fights like a guy, and runs like a guy. “I grew up a tomboy. I’ve been that way my whole life,” she said. “I’ll probably never stop being that way.”

A lot of what makes the story appealing is Carano’s history in mixed-martial arts. Initially beginning as a Muay Thai specialist, Carano became the so-called face of WMMA, undefeated and with seven victories until her loss to Christian “Cyborg” Santos in 2009.

In retrospect, it is easy to see how that dark period in Carano’s life had a silver lining. Carano got her first phone call from Soderbergh after she lost that fight, and she found herself accepting his proposal, even though she was still recovering physically and emotionally. She said, “I didn’t really want to speak to anyone at the time. I was really bummed, and I had a black eye.” What’s even more remarkable is that, since then, it’s been confirmed that Cyborg had been using steroids, which leaves one musing about fate, Gina Carano’s champion streak, and how, perhaps, things happen for a reason.

The more-established members of the cast had less transparent reasons for signing on to the film. Ewan McGregor didn’t have to think twice about what that reason was. What drew him to the script was the fact that the script was incredibly strong. “It was a good piece of writing. It had strong elements.” Above all, at the center of the story is an incredibly strong female lead, which is unusual in Hollywood, he admitted. “So, it was very intriguing for those reasons, as well as getting to work with Steven.” Further, Soderbergh was on his list of directors he wanted to work with someday.

Channing Tatum agreed. “I got the call, and I didn’t need to know what the role was. I was just, like, yes. Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors of all time.” As a fan of MMA, Tatum had actually followed Carano’s work and then met her at a Strikeforce event previous to speaking to Soderbergh about the script, so that part of the production was another bonus.

For Banderas, Haywire presented an opportunity that was a long time coming as an avid fan and acquaintance of Soderbergh, who had to previously refuse his roles twice, for Che and Traffic, due to scheduling conflicts.

Preparing for a movie that depended solely on human capability (no wires, no doubles, no extravagant special effects were used to make the film) meant a lot of long days full of strenuous activity. Even for an athlete like Carano, there really wasn’t anything quite like it. She said, “They had me waking at five in the morning for three hours of stunt training, and three hours of secret service training with guns and what was pretty much boot camp, getting yelled at, getting stalked and stalking other people.”

When asked if Carano had to be gentle with her male costars, Channing Tatum immediately replied with an emphatic, “Yes!” Carano elaborated on what it was like to film with Tatum, McGregor, and Fassbender. “These guys wanted to do everything. From the smallest things, even off-camera, which, I don’t know if that’s normal or not.” The cast was eager to do what was required of them on-camera and off-camera. That’s one of the benefits of being surrounded by some of the most esteemed actors in the business. Including Fassbender, who Carano said, “He loves that (fighting) shit. He had no problem slamming me into anything.”

Tatum switched gears to explain why Haywire is important to him as a moviegoer and actor. He said, “My wife hates when I say this but I always said, find a girl that can whip my butt and I’ll go to her movie, and they did! Plus, I get to be in the movie!” He added that it’s for real and authentic. “Carano can really do this stuff. There’s no faking it.” It was fun for him to film Haywire for those reasons, and because she was one of the best dancer/athletes he ever got to work with, a notable compliment, given that Tatum has worked with a number of people with impressive physiques and spatial talents.

Carano echoed the sentiment, saying that the project was a beautiful experience, ten times better than anything she could have ever imagined; a situation so ideal that those around her on set repeatedly reminded her about it. She said, “Everyone around me on set said, ‘It doesn’t normally go like this, Gina. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.’”

The cast was asked if they felt unsafe at any point, given the realistic nature of the stunts. McGregor replied that he never did, at any point, because Carano’s movements are so precise. “The only time that I got hurt was when I accidentally punched Gina in the head.” Other than that, McGregor praises Carano’s fitness. “It’s unbelievable.” He recalls some of the scenes in New Mexico with the stuntmen. “They would do a take, and at the end of the take, Steven would say ‘cut,’ and the stunt men were just destroyed. Not hurt, but just sweating and Gina would be ready for another take.”

One important scene was the fight between Carano and McGregor, which McGregor defined as a struggle, because they had been slated two days to shoot the stunt choreography on a shore with sand. McGregor admits that it was of more concern to him because of his own fitness. “My main worry was about that. Just being able to keep going through the day.”

One of the things that people will be wondering about is Carano’s acting. Carano had admitted that she didn’t have to audition for the role, and she wasn’t trained in acting until a week prior to production. The question on everyone’s minds, then, is if having the chops to dominate even the most elite operative is enough to dominate the box office. McGregor and other members of the cast believe that the answer is yes. McGregor said, “There was never any worry about it.” He explained that Carano had nailed one of the first scenes shot in the production schedule; one of the more complicated scenes of the entire movie because it had heavy dialogue and was a long seamless take. Antonio Banderas agrees. “She is precise, and not just in her fighting.” What really shocked him upon screening the final cut was just how lovely Carano is. “She is beautiful. There is a sense of alert and focus in her, and she does that beautifully.” Indeed, Carano may be a newcomer, but one would never believe that Haywire is her first movie.

Because there are so few leading ladies in action movies, the comparisons to other established actresses (namely, Angelina Jolie) are inevitable. To those comparisons, Carano is gracious, saying, “I don’t want that comparison because (other actresses) are gorgeous.” Carano knows that it is useless to compare apples to oranges, so she prefers not take away from others, and her own work, adding that she went into Haywire with her “own flavor and her own personality.” Perhaps the fact that it’s an issue deemed worthy of approaching shows just how badly we needs more female action movie stars.

When asked about whether it was hard, even as an actor, to pretend-hit a woman, Tatum immediately replied, “I grew up in the South, where you don’t cuss at women, you don’t yell at them, or anything. She had to call me the ‘P’ word, basically, to make me hit her.” He adds that the whole thing was different because everywhere you go, you see men fight. “In bars, on TV, in the movies. It’s very rare that you see a man and a woman fight. It’s even more rare to see a woman beating the hell out of someone.”

Carano was asked where her passion for MMA stemmed from. “I think I was always the son that my dad never had. I had two beautiful sisters, both very thin and beautiful, and so I was always the brute.” As the middle child, she found that she always had to defend herself, something that continued when she found herself in street fights, which developed because of her reclusive-ness. When Carano was older, she became involved with a man who one day decided that he wasn’t living a healthy lifestyle. He decided to sober up, and the next day he walked into Master Toddy’s Gym, a Muay Thai studio in Las Vegas. When she came in to watch him, she saw a huge transformation in a human being that she was so close to. She finally went in and became completely addicted to the sport, because she yearns to get up and live everyday fully, and healthily. As a self-confessed extremist, she threw herself into it the way she does with anything that she develops a passion for.

This passion comes across throughout the film as well, which matches Soderbergh’s own passion for story telling, for creating compelling narratives with finesse and love. His commitment to detail has always been Hollywood common knowledge; and Haywire is no exception. Take for example, the music. Antonio Banderas describes the score as one reminiscent of the seventies. Indeed, the score was understated and well-conceived, making sure to pay tribute to the genre without being overly stylized or overtaking the action sequences.

It seems that no actor who has worked with Soderbergh is ever short on praise. Banderas continued, “What really shocks me about Steven is how fast he shoots.” One scene in particular, shot in Spain, was unbelievably fast and sometimes without coverage. “Being a director myself - still a rookie, but directing - I shoot everything. I mean I shoot ashtrays, everything.“ Banderas said that he likes to shoot as much interior as possible so he can cook later in the editing room. Perhaps Soderbergh’s creative brevity is the result of one’s scrupulous attention to the littlest of details.

At one point, Tatum was asked about his relationship with Soderbergh, given that Tatum now has the pleasure of being in two Soderbergh projects back-to-back. “When I got the (first) call, I had read so much on him and how so many actors have learned from him. He’s a very smooth and confident filmmaker.” Tatum says working with Soderbergh gave him an opportunity to truly learn about freedom and creative responsibility. “He hires who he wants to hire and really expects you to bring something that he does not expect; he trusts that your judgments are correct.”

One day, he and Soderbergh were chatting over a beer, and Tatum confessed that he had been a stripper for about eight months back when he was nineteen. What was Soderbergh’s reply? “That would make a great movie,” said the director. Tatum admitted to Soderbergh that he would have loved to make a movie about it, which motivated Soderbergh to tell Tatum to write it himself. Cut to three or four months later, Soderbergh was still talking about it. Tatum said, “We sat down at Carney’s, over a hot dog, ironically enough, and we decided to do it.” They agreed to work on the script, along with a couple of their associates, and that they would both finance it, with Tatum as a star, and Soderbergh as director. But Shooting a story based on a brief chapter of Tatum’s youth was weird for him. “It wasn’t as comfortable as I remember it; I guess I was kind of dumb and a little crazy.” He continued to say that returning to the same locale and walking the same streets was interestingly unique.

When asked about her future, Carano said, “Of course, I would love to do more acting. I’m not trying to force myself into a situation, but absolutely I would love to.” She admits that a lot of people are waiting for the movie to come out to see how well it does and to see her performance. There has been talk of scripts, ideas for scripts and people who are interested in working with her, but Hollywood is a hard world to break into, even if you have a lead role in a major feature. As for fighting, Carano can’t say if she’s done with it or not just yet.

One thing is for sure: Carano enjoys expressing herself by being physical. Whether she chooses to do that through acting, or more fighting, we know that if Carano gets a chance to continue expressing herself in those ways, then she’ll definitely, well … kick ass!

Haywire explodes into theaters everywhere on January 20th!

Full Disclosure: Haywire was produced by Relativity Media, iamROGUE's parent company.