Six months after leaving the hit Disney Plus series “The Mandalorian,” actress Gina Carano is announcing her first project — an action thriller for The Daily Wire reminiscent of classics like “True Grit,” “Duel,” and “Breakdown.”
Screenwriter and veteran horror writer Eric Red (“The Hitcher,” “Near Dark”) is basing the script on his novel “White Knuckle,” a story about a long-haul truck-driver who crosses the country murdering women. Carano will star as the one woman who managed to escape him. Traumatized, but haunted by the thought of his future victims, she hires another trucker to help her track him down and end his killing spree.
Dallas Sonnier and Amanda Presmyk of Bonfire Legend will join Carano in producing the film, along with horror author Tony Timpone. Voltage Pictures will handle international distribution.
In an exclusive comment to The Daily Wire, Carano said that she’s eager to get moving on the next stage of her career that now includes working behind the camera.
“This has been a year full of so many changes and I am excited to embrace this chapter of my life with The Daily Wire in starting production on our first film,” she said, adding “I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take this first big step into living my dream and continuing the quest of telling stories and opening up opportunities for other artists from every walk of life.”
SUBSCRIBE: Use Code GINA For 25% Off A Daily Wire Membership
After Disney fired her over her social media posts, Carano called her new partnership with the conservative media company an answer to her prayers and proof that artists don’t have to be beholden to establishment studios to create exceptional entertainment and reach wide audiences.
The public took Carano’s side in the controversy. According to a nationally representative poll conducted earlier this year by SurveyMonkey and Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of The Daily Wire, 72 percent of Americans said they disagreed with Disney’s decision to terminate the actress after seeing the social media post that resulted in her dismissal.
“The Daily Wire is helping make one of my dreams — to develop and produce my own film — come true. I cried out and my prayer was answered,” the former MMA fighter and fitness model told Hollywood trade publication Deadline in February. “I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.”
The project is the latest in a slate of film and TV productions The Daily Wire’s new entertainment division is developing. Its first film, the action movie, “Run, Hide, Fight,” was released in January and scored with audiences, earning a 93% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Casting director David Guglielmo (“The Pale Door”) will begin casting Carano’s project immediately and the film team is currently in negotiations with a director, aiming for an early 2022 release with the first trailer dropping in February.
In the U.S., The Daily Wire will release the movie exclusively to its members, while also making the movie available worldwide. In honor of Carano’s announcement, Daily Wire fans can use the code “GINA” to get 25% off a membership.