Steven Soderbergh's ‘Knockout’ will begin shooting on the streets and rooftops of Dublin within weeks, with the script written specifically for the capital. The film boasts an impressive cast with Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Dennis Quaid, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum and Gina Carano all set to star.‘Knockout’ tells the story of Mallory Kane, a young, tough, beautiful freelance covert operative, played by Carano. She is hired out by her handler to various global entities to perform jobs which governments can’t authorize and heads of state would rather not know about. For all her looks and youth, Mallory is still the best in her field, and her skills are in constant demand. After a mission to rescue a hostage in Barcelona, Mallory is quickly dispatched on another mission to Dublin. There she partners with another operative, the suave and debonair Paul.
When the operation goes awry and Mallory finds she has been double crossed, she needs to use all of her skills, tricks and abilities to escape an international manhunt, make it back to the United States, protect her family, and exact revenge on those that have betrayed her. Fassbender will be a member of her commando spy unit, and a potential candidate for Kane’s betrayer. McGregor is set to play the owner of the private military company who Mallory works for. The film will also shoot on location in New Mexico, Turkey and Barcelona.
The project will provide in excess of 100 Irish jobs with key Irish cast and crew working alongside international crew on the feature. Composer David Holmes (Hunger), who worked with Soderberg on the ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ films, is also attached to the project.
Producer Gregory Jacobs says “Unlike most productions that tailor what's available to the script, we wrote this movie for Dublin and are thrilled that the city has been so cooperative. Steven Soderbergh and I are very happy to have such a great group of Irish technicians and crafts people on the project and a terrific Irish partner in Parallel Films.”
