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‘Fast & Furious 6′ Girl Fight: Most Intense Ever?

Gina Carano and Michelle Rodrigues in 'Fast & Furious 6'
Gina Carano and Michelle Rodrigues in 'Fast & Furious 6'

To date, when it comes to the most intense girl-on-girl fighting in film, actresses like Uma Thurman (both "Kill Bill" movies), Pam Grier ('70s films "The Big Doll House" and "Foxy Brown"), and Sigourney Weaver (who battled the queen bee extraterrestrial in 1986's "Aliens") come to mind.

Michelle Rodriguez and Gina Carano have taken their big screen girl fight to a whole new level in "Fast & Furious 6." Their two fighting scenes in the upcoming action franchise flick are lengthy and their moves are severe to say the least – pulling off arguably the most extreme woman-versus-woman hand-to-hand combat in movie history.

"That was the goal," Rodriguez told Yahoo! Movies of her record-seeking performance. She and Carano take up a whole lot of screen time in two dynamic fight scenes in "Fast 6." No weapons are used as the two rely mostly their fists – Carano does a few roundhouse kicks, too.

Watch the 'Fast 6' Cast Talk Historic Girl Fights:

The idea to throw down the girl fight gauntlet came from "Fast 6" director Justin Lin. "Let's go for the best in history," he recalled telling Rodriguez and Carano as they started making of the film.

In "Fast 6," Rodriguez plays Letty, a car-savvy and confused crime partner of a new villain to the franchise – Shaw (Luke Evans). Her fighting style is that of a street fighter, she explained to us. "What exactly would make this credible? I think the fight or flight survival mode of an individual street fighter – which is what Letty would be – is the only way to go up against a tactical fighter like Gina Carano who [plays a] military [operative] in the movie," the 34-year-old actress said.

Carano, who plays sidekick to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's character Hobbs, is a fighter in real life. The 31-year-old first stunned audiences with her physical prowess in Steven Soderbergh's action-heavy "Haywire." And oh yeah, she's a mixed martial artist, who dominated when she went pro about seven years ago. While other actors trained up for the film, Carano simply kept with her daily regimen – concentrating most on converting her real fight moves to fake ones.

Justin Lin and Michelle Rodriguez
Justin Lin and Michelle Rodriguez

Lin said he knew there was going to be a good girl fight for Rodriguez. "I needed someone who could physically beat it out of her," he said, adding, "Gina became the logical candidate."

The tall order for a history-making girl fight sent a streak of fear through Rodriguez. "I was just scared," she said. "Not scared to get beat up but more scared to make it real." Rodriguez has more experience fighting on camera than does Carano, but Carano has more real life professional moves. Rodriguez admitted she hadn't done much fist-fighting since her breakthrough role in "Girlfight." "But that was 13 years ago," she told Yahoo! Movies. "My main forte is with guns."

Carno and Rodriguez couldn't be more different. Rodriguez is "a big personality," Carano observed. The female MMA fighter and actress is much more soft spoken by comparison. "She is the nicest person you'll ever meet," said Lin of Carano. "And the reason is she knows can break you in half when she wants to," he joked.

Rodriguez and Carano got along on set and "that made it ok to be physically aggressive with her," Carano said. "It was just so much fun."

They shot their first fight scene, which takes place in a London tube stop, in one day. But they trained for three months leading up to the shoot. And no, no stunt doubles were used. It's all Rodriguez and Carano.

"That's the way you raise the bar on what's acceptable," Rodriguez told us. "And then next time girls go at it in a movie they won't be doing this [flails arms in the air]. They'll actually focus on wanting to make it better than what we did."

When it comes to judging their reign over girl fight movie history, you'll have to see it for yourself. "Fast & Furious 6" opens wide on Friday.

Watch 'Fast & Furious 6' Featurette -- Girl Fights:


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