Gina Carano, Vengeful Wife

Though Steven Soderbergh's Haywire failed to catch fire at the box office, everyone agreed that debuting star Gina Carano established herself as a force to be reckoned with. And now the former MMA fighter will star in the action-thriller In the Blood, according to The Hollywood Reporter. John Stockwell is set to direct.

Stockwell, himself a former full-time actor who first sat in the director's chair for 1987's Under Cover, parlayed the success of 2001's teen romance Crazy/Beautiful into a pretty decent career as the helmer of Blue Crush, Into the Blue, and Turistas. None of those are particularly original, but they show a distinctive flair for mainstream entertainment, even when the script lets them down. Unfortunately, Bennett Yellin and James Robert Johnston, the writers for In the Blood, do not have distinguished resumes (Joy Ride 2, TV show Unhitched), but optimism reigns supreme in Hollywood, so I'll display a similar positive spirit.

And that's despite the fact that I didn't enjoy Haywire as much as others did. Carano is the real deal, though, and reminds me favorably of the great Cynthia Rothrock. She'll play "the grieving wife [who] passionately and recklessly pursues the men whom she believes kidnapped and killed" her husband while the couple is vacationing in the Caribbean. If all goes well, filming will start a little later this year, so perhaps next year we can enjoy blood, bikinis, and bad-ass behavior.