Fast Furious 6 star spin kicks into the mainstream

Former MMA fighter Gina Carano wants to balance the emotion with all the action.

Former MMA star Gina Carano continues to build her filmography with an action packed role in Fast and Furious 6. (Photo Giles Keyte Universal Pictures)

On action movie sets Gina Carano's stunt double is more likely to twiddle thumbs than bend twist and/or break them.

Spinning kicks brutal punches submission moves that make tough dudes cry and mixing it up in physical situations are all pretty familiar for Carano a former star in mixed martial arts and current actress in Fast Furious 6.

It's all the other challenges in her Hollywood adventures so far she's loving too of course. Because she is so built for a world of hurt though Carano does wonder aloud if her stunt doubles actually like her.

I think they like me but they get really bored in movies I'm in she says laughing. I try to include them as much as possible it's really good to see how a stunt double would do something. But I always like to bring my own flavor to it.

MORE 'Fast Furious' women refuse to take a back seat

In Fast 6 Carano plays Riley Hicks a federal agent teamed with Luke Hobbs (Dwayne The Rock Johnson) and the usual Fast Furious suspects played by Vin Diesel Paul Walker Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson among them to take down international outlaw Owen Shaw (Luke Evans).

Tanks blow up bridges cars launch out of fiery transport jets and busy London streets become the Autobahn in the sixth installment of the action franchise. But in a more ground and pound fashion Carano makes her presence known as a newcomer in two epic throwdowns with Michelle Rodriguez who returns to the Fast flicks as mechanic and street racer Letty Ortiz.

You don't doubt for a second that Gina Carano or Michelle Rodriguez could kick any well maybe with the exception of the Rock of these guys' (butts) and that's really great says co star Jordana Brewster.

After 10 years in MMA Carano 31 brings a lot of her own moves to a film many of them from Muay Thai kickboxing and jujitsu but Fast 6 fight choreographer Olivier Schneider added flashy aspects to her repertoire such as flying armlocks and spin moves in addition to lots of blocks and combinations due to Riley being a technical counterpart to Letty's street fighter.

A featurette about the fight between Michelle Rodriguez and Gina Carano in the movie 'Fast Furious 6.'

Carano can't help but be a little critical though. Seeing the fights she says I'm like 'Gosh I wish there was so much more ' But maybe that's just me being greedy.

She calls the big budget Fast 6 the beautiful second experience for me having been plucked from the fight world by director Steven Soderbergh for her debut film 2011's Haywire.

She showed evolving acting chops in that movie and in Fast 6 director Justin Lin wanted to capture the confidence she has as a competitor and athlete on screen with her character.

She is unbelievably physical but also the nicest person you'll ever meet Lin says. What's great is sometimes I feel like I'm more a coach than a director because that's just the way we communicate. She just always wants to get notes.

Her and Dwayne they just hit it off because they're both athletes the filmmaker adds. Her process is very different than let's say Paul's or Vin's but I love the way they think they never give up and it's always about 'Let's go and make it better.'

Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Riley (Gina Carano) lead a strike team in Fast and Furious 6. Both come from athletic backgrounds Johnson from pro wrestling Carano from mixed martial arts.(Photo Giles Keyte Universal Pictures)

Carano and Johnson bonded over their athletic backgrounds her with MMA and his from the completely different style of pro wrestling.

He's such an entertainer and such a performer and I've always been taught to go inward and not show emotion and not show pain says Carano a Texas native whose father was a backup quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1970s and early '80s.

Johnson built a strong filmography for himself and that's what she's trying to do too using different movies as learning experiences. While Carano doesn't exactly have the Hollywood bug she has been infected with the desire to entertain.

Her nickname was Conviction when she was a fighter and she's bringing that quality to bear in fleshing out her on screen characters.

There are so many times I've walked away from set and just been like 'It's the worst feeling in the world What am I doing This is awful ' I don't want to be one of those people on screen where people are like 'Gosh she looks uncomfortable.' But when I walk away and I get it right there's just something so beautiful about it Carano explains.

I love drama I love showing emotion. I've been reading scripts and everybody wants to put me in the serious faced cop role and I'm like 'Well actually I've done that twice now.' I want to go after something different and something somebody wouldn't expect out of an MMA/action star.

Carano is in the process of finding her next project. She thinks it would be awesome to put on a costume as Wonder Woman or another comic book role in a superhero movie I'm just not sure what character that's going to be. There's a million and the actress is even checking out some projects that actually don't involve her punching somebody.

Well they are more like roles I've sought out she admits with a chuckle. I'm like 'Hey what about this ' and my agent and my manager are looking at me like 'Gina really ' They've got their hands full.

Her fans have yet to see her favorite moment of acting so far. That comes during a crying scene in In the Blood an upcoming thriller directed by John Stockwell in which she plays a woman searching for her husband (Cam Gigandet) after he's nabbed while on their South American honeymoon.

Being physical and fighting is one thing because it feels so natural for me to be physical and just go and hit a bag or get in a fight because I'm upset Carano says. But to actually get across to people even just on set what you're feeling there's something really fascinating about it.

I've never really had to try to focus on it. I've always been emotional I just would always go be physical. This is a whole new creature for me. It's like 'Oh what's this emotions thing people are talking about It's so interesting '

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Amanda Bynes charged in NYC in accused bong toss

Actress Amanda Bynes appeared in a criminal court Friday disheveled in a long blond wig and sweats where she was charged with reckless endangerment after police said she heaved a marijuana bong out of her Manhattan apartment building.

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Amanda Bynes

The 27 year old former child star was arrested Thursday evening after building officials at her midtown apartment called police to complain she was rolling a joint and smoking pot in the lobby.

The officers went to her apartment on the 36th floor where they said they saw heavy smoke and a bong sitting on the kitchen counter. They said she tossed the bong out the window in front of them prosecutors said.

She then said to police It was just a vase according to Manhattan assistant district attorney Chikaelo Ibeabuchi.

Exteriors shots of Amanda Bynes' residence in Manhattan.

/ Rob Kim/Getty Images

My client completely denies illegally throwing anything out of her window said Andrew Friedman her attorney for the arraignment.

The judge released her on her own recognizance and gave her a July 9 court date.

Thursday Bynes was held overnight at a police precinct. She pulled up to court Friday morning in a squad car where she was greeted by a crush of media. She was also charged with attempted tampering with evidence and unlawful possession of marijuana all misdemeanors.

I'm asking you I don't want any pictures she said to a photographer.

I don't want any photos. No press are allowed in here she announced to the public courtroom.

Bynes rose to fame starring in Nickelodeon's All That and has also starred in several films including 2010's Easy A and 2003's What a Girl Wants. But she has been in the news more recently because of several scrapes with the law and bizarre public behavior. She's recently expressed an interest in continuing to pursue her career in fashion.

Her lawyer said she had no record in New York but the judge noted she had several out of state cases. In California in December the former Hairspray star resolved a misdemeanor hit and run case after entering into a civil settlement with other drivers.

Also in California she was charged last fall with driving on a suspended license after it was temporarily taken away from her after two hit and run cases where she was accused of leaving the scene without providing proper information. She has also pleaded not guilty to drunken driving in a separate case.

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Celebrity mug shots

In releasing her Chief New York County Judge Neil Ross gave her a stern warning not to make trouble or miss any court dates.

I do want to make sure you understand he said. If you get arrested again...I'm going to be setting very very significant bail.

OK she replied.

You're in a very very challenging situation right now he said.

Assistant district attorney Ibeabuchi had asked for $1 000 bail. He said no bong was recovered from the street below a sign her attorney said that Bynes was telling the truth.

There was nothing recovered from the sidewalk clearly a search was made for the bag said Friedman of the New York County Defender Services. He said she was followed illegally into her apartment and has made a complaint about police wrongfully entering.

As the judge dispensed with her case she said Thank you sir have a nice day.

The star then got into a waiting yellow cab ringed with photographers and TV cameras and left.

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Fast Furious 6 With Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson

Your auto insurance policy probably has clauses specifying whether you are covered for damage from missiles falling objects riots civil war earthquakes hail radioactive contamination discharge of a nuclear weapon. But it s time once again to check that it also addresses whether you are insured against accidentally driving onto the set of a Fast Furious movie.

If you blundered into the shooting of Fast Furious 6 for instance you are almost surely walking now If the flip your car over speedsters didn t wreck your vehicle the giant tank surely did.

Most of the familiar faces are back for this latest bacchanalia of reckless driving including Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto. Toretto is relaxing in fair weather retirement living off the big score of the previous movie in the franchise when he is called back into service as it were by Luke Hobbs the federal agent who both pursues and admires him and his band of renegades.

Hobbs is again played by Dwayne Johnson and his biceps which get enough camera time that you expect the closing credits to include two arm wranglers one for each. Mr. Johnson has seemingly been in every movie released in the last two years and has a reality television show The Hero coming on TNT. But he knows how to deploy his half dozen expressions the sly grin the single eyebrow arch and is still a welcome sight where other actors might by this point be overexposed.

He also doesn t hijack this movie the way his character did in the recent G.I. Joe Retaliation. FF 6 is still primarily about Toretto and his buddies. It is no spoiler to say that Michelle Rodriguez seemingly killed off in an earlier film returns as Letty Ortiz (she s in the opening credits) Toretto s tough as nails love interest. The gimmick here is that she s now working for the opposition mercenaries led by Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Oh and she has amnesia and doesn t remember Toretto.

That provides just enough plot to propel the movie from car chase to car chase. The real question here is whether Justin Lin the director of this film and three of its predecessors can top himself. The climactic sequence of his Fast Five involved a preposterous scene in which racecars towed a giant bank vault through the streets at high speed.

Here Mr. Lin offers two tricks. The bad guys have flip cars sleek machines whose armor plated front ends are designed so that when they strike another vehicle it goes spinning through the air. And in a later chase Shaw and friends pull out a formidable tank that turns any vehicle it encounters into squished scrap metal.

These flashy smashies and a climactic sequence in which the good guys try to prevent Shaw from taking off in an airliner by tethering their cars to it make the movie a satisfying thrill ride at least on a par with the earlier installments. A nice twist near the end is well disguised and a coda hints at what s to come in Part 7.

Fast Furious 6 is rated PG 13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It s a dangerous driving clinic.

Fast Furious 6

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Justin Lin written by Chris Morgan based on characters created by Gary Scott Thompson director of photography Stephen F. Windon edited by Christian Wagner and Kelly Matsumoto music by Lucas Vidal production design by Jan Roelfs costumes by Sanja Milkovic Hays produced by Neil H. Moritz Clayton Townsend and Vin Diesel released by Universal Pictures. Running time 2 hours 8 minutes.

WITH Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto) Paul Walker (Brian O Conner) Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs) Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz) Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto) Tyrese Gibson (Roman Pearce) Chris Bridges a k a Ludacris (Tej Parker) Sung Kang (Han Lue) Luke Evans (Owen Shaw) Gina Carano (Riley) John Ortiz (Braga) Gal Gadot (Gisele Harabo) and Elsa Pataky (Elena Neves).

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Amanda Bynes silent in arrest video

She kept her head down.

Handcuffed Amanda Bynes kept her head down her face hidden by platinum blonde wig as she was escorted by police from her New York apartment to the police van.

The actress who has been making headlines lately for her erratic behavior was arrested Thursday night after the doorman in her building called police to report that Bynes was smoking pot in the lobby. By the time officers arrived she had gone back to her apartment where they saw heavy smoke and a bong which Bynes then threw out the window reports AP.

Bynes was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment tampering with evidence and criminal possession of marijuana.

TMZ reports Bynes shouted at police the now famous Reese Witherspoon arrest line Don't you know who I am

NBCNewYork reports Bynes was taken to Roosevelt Hospital to undergo a psychiatric evaluation then to a Midtown police station to be processed. She was expected to spend the night in Manhattan central booking and appear in court today.

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Fast 6 Silly Speedy And Certain To Cash In

Hot pursuits Agents Hobbs and Riley (Dwayne Johnson and Gina Carano) enlist Dom and his gearhead crew to combat a something something terrorist something skidding explosions muscles.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Fast Furious 6

Director Justin Lin Genre 'Splodey Running Time 130 minutes

Rated PG 13 for intense sequences of violence and action and mayhem throughout some sexuality and language

With Vin Diesel Dwayne Johnson Gina Carano Paul Walker Jordana Brewster Michelle Rodriguez Tyrese Gibson Sung Kang Ludacris

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For gearhead purists the Fast and the Furious franchise is an ongoing heresy the sins adding up with each new sequel. The appeal of the genre has always been its simplicity Greasers racing for pink slips their muscle cars grinding and screeching and speeding into the horizon.

The Fast and the Furious has moved the genre into the digital era replacing the force of metal against metal with the unreal bobbing and weaving of an arcade game. And now at five sequels and counting it's become freighted with the mythology of a George R.R. Martin series with characters and incidents cobbled together like so many spare parts under a giant chassis.

The 2011 entry Fast Five intelligently accommodated the bloat by bringing the gang together for an Ocean's Eleven style heist in Rio. The streamlined plot had the effect of channeling the series' excesses into a handful of giddily over the top action set pieces. The CGI ballet of flying sports cars and twisted wreckage may insult the physics of gearhead classics to say nothing of the laws of Isaac Newton but no one could say director Justin Lin doesn't go full throttle.

Now with the series' lovable rogues dispersed to various tropical locales each living high off their share of $100 million in ill gotten money Fast Furious 6 has to find a new reason to bring them all together and it's not nearly so graceful with the heavy lifting.

Porting over a plot from some generic spy thriller Furious 6 opens with Dwayne Johnson's DDS agent from Fast Five coaxing Dominic (Vin Diesel) Brian (Paul Walker) and the rest of their crew (Tyrese Gibson Chris Bridges Sung Kang and Gal Gadot among others) out of early retirement to stop a powerful mercenary with terrorist designs.

Former British Special Forces operative Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) now an underground operator with deep connections seeks a computer chip that could lead to mass destruction in the wrong hands. The authorities naturally are are too weak and/or corrupt to bring him to justice.

Dominic and Brian have no interest in risking their necks for Johnny Law but when it's revealed that Dominic's deceased former girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is actually alive and running with Shaw's gang they're eager to rescue her and bring her back into the family. (Fans will recall that Letty died in Fast Furious the fourth of the series and the groundwork for her return was laid at the end of the last entry death has about as much finality in Fast times as it does in a daytime soap.)

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He believes he can fly This might seem a little spoilerish but come on now how awesome is this shot

Universal Pictures

He believes he can fly This might seem a little spoilerish but come on now how awesome is this shot

Universal Pictures

Fast 6 pits Shaw's crew against Dominic's in a high tech battle royale but it has a devil of a time explaining why everyone should hop into their cars. The obligatory underground racing sequence here in a London that looks no different from the scenes in Miami or Rio is such an afterthought that the big race has no finish line and no winner. Lin peppers the film with action beats including a good piece of hand to hand combat in a subway station but the fact is that the surveillance work necessary to track down Shaw is more practically accomplished on foot.

That leaves Fast Furious 6 to invest the lion's share of its resources in a highway duel that's as cheerfully ridiculous as any sequence in the series. (One word tank ) For a 15 minute stretch Lin and his effects team cut loose with high speed jousting massive explosions and countless feats of derring do no actual human could survive.

It's glorious while it lasts but then the film goes back to figuring out how to keep its oversized vessel from taking on water. And that's more hard work than it's worth.

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Red Wings Howard push Blackhawks to the brink

Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard finished the game with 28 saves for the shutout.(Photo Rick Osentoski USA TODAY Sports)

DETROIT Goaltender Jimmy Howard has reached the point in his NHL career when a stellar performance isn't as newsworthy as it once was.

Howard made 28 saves to power the Detroit Red Wings to a 2 0 win that puts the top seeded Chicago Blackhawks on the verge of elimination and neither his teammates nor his coach felt obligated to haul out their best superlatives to describe his level of play.

Howie played well Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. And we pay him to do that and we expect him to do that.

The Red Wings recently gave Howard a six year $31.75 million contract extension because he consistently makes it his business to give his team a chance to win games and lately business has been real good.

BOX SCORE Red Wings 2 Blackhawks 0

With Howard limiting Chicago to just two goals over the past three games the Red Wings will take a 3 1 lead into Game 5 of the best of seven Western Conference semifinal Saturday in Chicago.

He's kind of been in a groove for a while now Babcock said.

His biggest save of the game came on a 2 on 1 break midway through the third period when Michael Frolik set up Dave Bolland for a prime scoring chance. Howard stretched his leg out to block Bolland's redirection to preserve Detroit's 1 0 lead.

Babcock did use the words unbelievable and unreal to describe that stop.

He's been unbelievable all season said Detroit defenseman Jakub Kindl. He's been our best player.

ALIVE Rangers top Bruins in OT

Howard said he is merely trying to be calm.

(I'm) trying not to overdo it out there he said.

One of Howard's most significant areas of improvement is his rebound control. The puck seems to deaden when it hits his body. Pucks fall right to his feet where he pounces on them.

(Detroit) has played well defensively Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. But it just seems that he has built that momentum up by himself.'

The Blackhawks who started the season 21 0 3 seem stunned although not totally defeated by the turn of events.

We've got to find a way to sustain some momentum and get some pucks to the net said Patrick Sharp who was stopped by Howard on a breakaway. 'And we have to raise our intensity level. We've got to outwork their four guys and right now we're not doing that and not coming up with a whole lot on the power play.'

Chicago captain Jonathan Toews who has yet to score a goal in the playoffs took three consecutive penalties in the second period. Kindl scored on the second one beating Chicago goalie Corey Crawford with a shot from the point.

The Blackhawks had killed off 30 consecutive penalties in this postseason before Kindl scored.

I'm not going to say anything about the officiating Toews said. Obviously I disagree with the calls but its in the heat of the moment. They see what they see. I've got to be careful of my stick. That doesn't help my team but I still think we played hard through it found a way to stay in the game killed off two big penalties.

Detroit killed off three Chicago power plays including one with less than five minutes to go in the game.

I think we've been able to do some good things Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. Disrupt them up ice and make it hard for them. We know that they're so talented all they need is once chance and the puck's in. We've been able to do a good job there I think. Millsie (Drew Miller) getting back in the lineup's been huge for us.

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BBC shows off perceptive radio that can alter scripts

23 May 2013 Last updated at 12 24 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter BBC News A concept device has been created by the BBC team

A radio that is able to change a broadcast depending on where you are and what you are doing has been demonstrated by the BBC.

The Perceptive Radio produced by the corporation's Future Media North Lab is thought to be a world first.

The team produced a computer generated radio drama where the script altered depending on factors such as weather.

The device was shown off at the Thinking Digital Conference in Gateshead.

The proof of concept drama which used a computer generated voice for one of the characters could adapt on the fly according to data pulled from external sources.

For instance it could make reference to local places which would differ depending on where in the world you were.

Or it would mention weather conditions that were dependent on what was happening in the real world such as replacing the phrase it's sunny outside with it's raining .

Diverse listening

The model also included a microphone which can monitor background noise and determine whether to amplify certain sounds such as speech to improve the listening experience.

The team hoped this approach could lead to a more immersive listening experience.

It's the early stages of looking at what next generation broadcasting is said Tony Churnside a BBC technologist.

He added that until now radio broadcasting has been a one size fits all experience with the same content being broadcast to all no matter their individual situation.

Historically our listeners have had either mono or stereo radios but nowadays people are listening on such a variety of devices the experience they're getting is really diverse.

He likened the radio technology to responsive web design a technique which enables web pages to automatically change shape and configuration depending on what type of device they are being read on such as a smartphone or tablet.

The team has created a website demonstrating a reactive radio drama based around a woman stuck in lift.

It's a radio drama that we wanted to use to try and find out how much this localisation added to the experience of the listener Mr Churnside added.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter DaveLeeBBC

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