Gina Carano found freedom in cancellation.
The legendary former MMA fighter was fired from Disney’s “Mandalorian,” a spinoff of the Star Wars franchise, after an Instagram story comparing the heated political climate to Nazi Germany last year.
Carano’s career, however, was not over. She signed on to a starring role in the film “Terror on the Prairie,” which was developed by The Daily Wire. The conservative news outlet is seeking to build a movie business for people who, like Carano, are alienated from Hollywood’s output.
“I don’t feel comfortable with mandates,” Carano said in an interview with Libby Emmons in the Post Millenial, adding that vaccine mandates “are kind of going against everything I got canceled for. I’m not trying to force my stuff on other people, and I’m not trying to have other people force their stuff on us. I feel like if everybody just had a little bit of freedom, conversation could go a long way.”
To work around Carano’s decision to not be vaccinated for COVID-19, Daily Wire avoided using unions for the film’s production.
Carano claimed that her cancellation from Hollywood was an inevitability that would have ultimately happened many times over. She said she is finding her “tribe” in her new endeavors.
“I would have been canceled anyways, 10 times from when I was canceled, so I’m actually happy it happened because my heart is free,” Carano said. “I’m not hiding. I’m honest, I’m out here. And I’m a very flawed human being. I don’t have everything figured out. But I know one thing is I’m attracting people that I absolutely like— I’m finding a tribe.”
Asked about what advice she would give aspiring artists who do not want to be a part of a propaganda machine, Carano essentially channeled the line from Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden in “Fight Club” where he said, “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”
“I’d say strip yourself naked. Start from scratch, build your own stuff. And always throw your own birthday party. My dad always said ‘throw your own birthday party, because if you’re not having fun, nobody else is.’ So I’m like, alright, I’m gonna throw my own birthday party over here with this career,” she said.
“For me, it was losing everything. And I just knew I couldn’t get on my knees for that propaganda that I saw so clearly. I got stripped of everything, and I feel like that was the best thing that could have happened to me because then things really do get real. After you’re canceled, you’re looking at yourself, and your family is looking at you like ‘what the hell?’ And you’re like, ‘I don’t know, but like I feel like I have respect for myself.’
“I have more confidence in myself. It took having everything stripped away for me to have that confidence to stand up for myself to stand up for what I felt was right. And it opened the door. I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s with this studio. I don’t care if it’s with that director. I don’t care if it’s ‘name’ actors or ‘name’ directors. I don’t care. I can make art. They don’t own art. No one owns art. So we can do it: whatever we want.”