battle angel alita

Lana Condor Gears Up For ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Lana Condor Gears Up For ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

And to think it was just last year that X-Men fans learned of then-newcomer, actress Lana Condor for the role of Jubilee in this year’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Well, it’s nice to know she’s piling on with her latest expected appearance in the film Patriot’s Day which opens this December, and now she’s ready to tackle the live-action manga scene in Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel.

Deadline reports that Condor will join the cast that so far includes Jackie Earle Haley, Ed Skrein, Eiza Gonzalez and Christoph Waltz, with actress Rosa Salazar in tje title role. 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. Skrein will star opposite Salazar in the role of Zapan, a villanous cyborg who wields a weapon called the Damascus Blade while Waltz stars as the doctor who salvages Alita and transforms her into the battle-ready heroine.

James Cameron and Jon Landau are producing the film at 20th Century Fox with release details pending.

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BATTLE ANGEL ALITA Is In The Works At Fox!

It’s been roughly 17 years since blockbuster filmmmaker James Cameron broke the bank with his stellar sunken ship love story, Titanic, and about 12 years since topping it with Avatar. The latter will evidently have him quite the busy man through 2019 with at least four movies to date, but that doesn’t mean he’s dropped the ball on previously-pondered works.

I’m talking Battle Angel Alita, a 1990 Shueisha publication by author Kishiro Yukito which focused on an amnesiac cyborg whose head is found by a scientist in a scrapyard in a futuristic dystopian America and reenvisioned as a battle-capable cyborg huntress named after the scientist’s cat. The manga eventually saw its way through as an animated property, which, as time proved, had already caught Cameron’s eye by the time all the Titanic hype was well and done.

Alas, after fiften years of underwater documentaries and an epic Avatar movie amid all the stops and starts, it looks like Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment partner Jon Landau is about to go full-speed ahead with Robert Rodriguez also on board to direct for 20th Century Fox, according to THR:

“Robert and I have been looking for a film to do together for years, so I was pumped when he said he wanted to do Battle Angel,” stated Cameron. “He’s very collaborative and we’re already like two kids building a go-kart, just having fun riffing creatively and technically. This project is near and dear to me, and there’s nobody I trust more than Robert, with his technical virtuosity and rebel style, to take over the directing reins. We’re looking forward to learning a lot from each other while we make a kick-ass epic.” 

Added Rodriguez: “Battle Angel is an incredibly rich and vibrant epic in the tradition of Jim Cameron’s spectacular, character-driven films. Getting to work from Jim’s terrific and visionary script while learning the cutting edge techniques he’s pioneered is a master class in filmmaking. It’s an honor to explore the world of Alita along with Jim and Jon, whose films have impacted me for decades.”

Rodriguez‘s current prospects also include what remains of the popular El Rey TV adaptation of From Dusk Til Dawn, as well as a hopeful third installation of the Machete trilogy and an adaptation of the Hanna/Barbera-produced classic cartoon, Jonny Quest.

Cast and crew info are pending, among other specifics. Eyes peeled, folks!

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