Author Topic: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”  (Read 1386 times)

Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« on: February 10, 2021, 10:19:15 PM »
Lucasfilm has fired actress Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian” after posting anti-Semitic comments on her Instagram page which has since been deleted.  She had previously been under fire for mocking people for wearing masks and saying the 2020 election was stolen.  Some “Star Wars” fans have been calling for her head for months.

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Offline perc2100

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2021, 08:57:26 AM »
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Lucasfilm has fired actress Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian” after posting anti-Semitic comments on her Instagram page which has since been deleted.  She had previously been under fire for mocking people for wearing masks and saying the 2020 election was stolen.  Some “Star Wars” fans have been calling for her head for months.

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Yeah, constant appalling online behavior on social media typically doesn't make corporations happy.  Personally, her poor acting & lack of chemistry was what made me not a fan.  I legit loved her as a badass fighter (one of my favorite scenes in the S2 finale, awesome cameo aside, is Dune, Bo-Katan, and Fennec being awesome), but when she had to carry a dramatic scene it was cringe time for me.  I don't think the franchise will miss much w/out her; they _could_ recast if they want to (I mean, if Marvel can successfully recast Rhodes, Lucasfilm can certainly recast Cara Dune), OR maybe the "Guardians of the New Republic" can focus on the awesome X-wing pilots or something!

Also, nearly every news outlet completely dropped the ball not using the "Cara DONE" headline... :P

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #2 on: Today at 09:00:29 AM »

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2021, 09:25:04 AM »
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Yeah, constant appalling online behavior on social media typically doesn't make corporations happy.  Personally, her poor acting & lack of chemistry was what made me not a fan.  I legit loved her as a badass fighter (one of my favorite scenes in the S2 finale, awesome cameo aside, is Dune, Bo-Katan, and Fennec being awesome), but when she had to carry a dramatic scene it was cringe time for me.  I don't think the franchise will miss much w/out her; they _could_ recast if they want to (I mean, if Marvel can successfully recast Rhodes, Lucasfilm can certainly recast Cara Dune), OR maybe the "Guardians of the New Republic" can focus on the awesome X-wing pilots or something!

Also, nearly every news outlet completely dropped the ball not using the "Cara DONE" headline... :P

I often wonder if the fact I didn't like her as a person was hindering me from enjoying the character.   Maybe it was just the bad acting?  Either way, she made season 2 hard to watch and she will not be missed.
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Offline perc2100

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2021, 11:00:22 AM »
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I often wonder if the fact I didn't like her as a person was hindering me from enjoying the character.   Maybe it was just the bad acting?  Either way, she made season 2 hard to watch and she will not be missed.

FWIW I was put-off of her by her bad acting before I knew of her garbage takes.  I think she was fine as a non-featured character but the moment she has to carry a moment or an episode her inexperience/lack of acting chops really derailed the moment. The truly upsetting thing about it all (politics/poor human being issues aside) is that "The Mandalorian" creatives did _EVERYTHING_ to shape a compelling character with a great backstory & in legit good situations.  I suspect any actor would pretty much KILL to be a "guest star" on a series and be handed so much awesome material.  And IMO she just couldn't do it talent-wise.  She could handle all of the fighting stuff well but she couldn't handle being a pseudo-lead/co-star.  I was seriously dreading her being a lead in a series and I'm legit more excited now for "Guardians of the New Republic" than I was in December when I thought she'd be the main character.
Conversely, I was hoping she would improve and be able to bring home a(nother) great "The Mandalorian" character to full fruition.  While I think it was truly awesome to have a strong female character as a main character, Jon Favreau and his team at Lucasfilm have proven they can deliver awesome diversity into their world with relative ease, and I look forward to seeing what they do next.  I've heard Season 3 of "The Mandalorian" was due to begin shooting in about 6 weeks, and I've also heard some 'inside baseball' that Lucasfilm may have parted ways with her before Christmas 2020 (i.e. that was the reason why they didn't bring her out to hype the announcement of "Guardians of the New Republic")

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2021, 01:27:40 PM »
I am so old I had to lookup FWIW

Star Wars has a lot of strong female characters, it's not going to be hard for them to come up with another.  Though I was always puzzled as to why Cara Dune was considered a strong female character.  Could she kick ass? yes.  If I am going to pick a strong female character from Star Wars she is bottom of my list.  Not because of the actress but because of how they wrote her.  Though to be clear the fact they gave the muscle role to a female versus making it a male character was awesome.  And if you use the definition "The strong female character is a stock character, the opposite of the damsel in distress."  then she is.  Though that encompasses a lot of characters and doesn't necessarily mean it is automatically a character that is a role model.  So maybe my problem is the fact we associate little girls all look up to "all" strong female characters and the term tends to be combined with a character of integrity.  At the end of the day if you cast the serial killer role to a female then it fits the definition of a strong female character. 

I saw where a person googled little girls cosplaying as Cara Dune and nothing came up, you google little girls cosplaying Rey and there is a lot.

Seems to me it's actually a very replaceable character.  No one seems to be attached to her.
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Offline puppy

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2021, 12:26:04 AM »
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I am so old I had to lookup FWIW

Star Wars has a lot of strong female characters, it's not going to be hard for them to come up with another.  Though I was always puzzled as to why Cara Dune was considered a strong female character.  Could she kick ass? yes.  If I am going to pick a strong female character from Star Wars she is bottom of my list.  Not because of the actress but because of how they wrote her.  Though to be clear the fact they gave the muscle role to a female versus making it a male character was awesome.  And if you use the definition "The strong female character is a stock character, the opposite of the damsel in distress."  then she is.  Though that encompasses a lot of characters and doesn't necessarily mean it is automatically a character that is a role model.  So maybe my problem is the fact we associate little girls all look up to "all" strong female characters and the term tends to be combined with a character of integrity.  At the end of the day if you cast the serial killer role to a female then it fits the definition of a strong female character. 

I saw where a person googled little girls cosplaying as Cara Dune and nothing came up, you google little girls cosplaying Rey and there is a lot.

Seems to me it's actually a very replaceable character.  No one seems to be attached to her.

I really liked her (the character). I think no one cosplayed Cara Dune because we were all hiding from COVID.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2021, 10:21:07 AM »
The Cara Dune action figure was really popular when it came out and hard to get .  I guess it's a collector's item now.

She had plenty of warning.  This wasn't just a one time event.  It's been going on for months.  I think this all went down at the end of last year since that's when they pulled the Cara Dune spin off.  So that's bad news for everyone.  We lost a Star Wars series.

Offline perc2100

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2021, 11:39:48 AM »
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The Cara Dune action figure was really popular when it came out and hard to get .  I guess it's a collector's item now.

She had plenty of warning.  This wasn't just a one time event.  It's been going on for months.  I think this all went down at the end of last year since that's when they pulled the Cara Dune spin off.  So that's bad news for everyone.  We lost a Star Wars series.
I don't think we necessarily lost a series; I think the focus of "Guardians of the New Republic" likely shifted from Cara Dune to...something/someone else.  That concept was setup with her being a 'Marshal' seemed to fit what was likely going to be the focus when those Season 2 eps were written & shot in 2019 (remember: the first couple eps of Season 2 were being shot right before the first eps of Season 1 were being released) but after the actress couldn't keep her mouth shut publicly on social media Disney was 'forced' to change direction.  I'd be 100% fine with the new series focusing on Captain Carson Teva (the X-wing pilot from several episodes of "The Mandalorian").  I don't think there was ever necessarily going to be a "Cara Dune: Marshal of the New Republic" type series.  If there was, it simply shifted focus.  Heck, for all we know Disney/Lucasfilm will just recast the character.  I mean if we're being honest, Carano's main strength on the series was her physicality: she was definitely not being nominated as an incredible actress with depth.  It would be very easy to recast; again, if Marvel can recast Rhodes knowing full well the character was about to be War Machine and a fairly central Avenger figure going forward, they can certainly recast a guest-star character to headline a new series.  Surely there are actresses out there who have the physical capabilities Carano has but can also carry a dramatic scene (the way Carano certainly couldn't).

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2021, 06:56:16 PM »
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The Cara Dune action figure was really popular when it came out and hard to get .  I guess it's a collector's item now.

She had plenty of warning.  This wasn't just a one time event.  It's been going on for months.  I think this all went down at the end of last year since that's when they pulled the Cara Dune spin off.  So that's bad news for everyone.  We lost a Star Wars series.

I have wondered if they had already decided but were waiting until there was a distance from season 2, then the lastest post just made timing convenient.  Either way, I agree this isn't based on one incident, she could have apologized (whether she believed it or not) and had a chance to keep her job.  She chose a different path.
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Offline perc2100

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2021, 10:19:34 AM »
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I have wondered if they had already decided but were waiting until there was a distance from season 2, then the lastest post just made timing convenient.  Either way, I agree this isn't based on one incident, she could have apologized (whether she believed it or not) and had a chance to keep her job.  She chose a different path.
That's my guess; the thought that she was notably absent from any talk or announcement regarding "Guardians of the New Republic" may correlate with that thought.  Disney's PR explicitly notes:
Quote
Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future.
That very specific wording also seems very telling, IMO

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2021, 10:24:35 AM »
Hasbro cancelled production of the Cara Dune action figures.  Pre-orders for the re-release are being cancelled.  The prices for the original release have skyrocketed on ebay.

Offline tsnyder

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2021, 09:27:57 PM »
I'm sorry but she absolutely should not have been fired over this. The post she shared did not compare anyone to nazis or disparage Jewish people or culture. It basically said we shouldn't hate each other for their political views.

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2021, 09:39:03 PM »
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I'm sorry but she absolutely should not have been fired over this. The post she shared did not compare anyone to nazis or disparage Jewish people or culture. It basically said we shouldn't hate each other for their political views.

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I haven't followed the whole thing, but I think it was more than one post that got her fired. I think the last post was the final straw.

Offline perc2100

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #13 on: March 04, 2021, 08:35:28 AM »
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I'm sorry but she absolutely should not have been fired over this. The post she shared did not compare anyone to nazis or disparage Jewish people or culture. It basically said we shouldn't hate each other for their political views.

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I think it was a cumulation of several 'bad takes' over the last year or so.

I agree though: she should've been fired because she's a horrible actress.  Or at least not put in a position to dramatically carry episodes - she was _kind of_ mostly OK in season 1 when she was mainly just an action figure, but in S2 when she was starting to carry episodes dramatically...baaaaad acting (which bummed me out, honestly, because I dug her S1 enough that I was hyped to see her a bigger part of the series, only to be disappointed with her lack-of-acting chops)

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Lucasfilm fires Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian.”
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2021, 02:00:54 PM »
I was at Book Off and they have a used Cara Dune Black Series figure priced at $200.  Kind of makes me wonder about digging out my new one that I have in a box in the closet.