October is the current goal for the Austin, Texas bound production of director Robert Rodriguez’s latest contribution to live-action anime/manga film lore, Battle Angel: Alita. For this, word now from THR brings actor Ed Skrein into the mix as the villain opposite actress Rose Salazar cast in the title role as of May.
Inspired by Kishiro Yukito’s 1990-1995 Shueisha manga, Salazar will play Alita, an amnesiac cyborg whose head is found by a scientist in a scrapyard in a dystopian future America, and refurbished as a battle-capable cyborg huntress named after the scientist’s cat. The film, according to THR, will eventually see Alita taking on Skrein’s role of Zapan, a villanous cyborg who wields a weapon called the Damascus Blade.
James Cameron and Jon Landau are producing the film at 20th Century Fox with a cast that also includes Christoph Waltz cast as Doctor Dyson Ido, the cybersurgeon who salvages mentors Alita, and actor Jackie Earle Haley who plays a monstrous cyborg. The role marks another stint in action following his appearance in The Transporter Refueled, and the greater-fared Deadpool, for which much is ado with his hopeful return in the pending sequel.