James Cameron has been trying to get a big screen adaptation of Battle Angel Alita off the ground for years, but with the filmmaker still hard at work developing those long delayed Avatar sequels, he’s now handed the reigns over to Sin City director Robert Rodriguez.
Cameron and Jon Landau will produce this take on Yukito Kishiro’s critically acclaimed Battle Angel Alita (which Fox has retitled “Alita: Battle Angel”), and the former had this to say about Rodriquez taking the helm of the movie. “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.”
“He’s very collaborative and we’re already like two kids building a go-kart, just having fun riffing creatively and technically,” Cameron continued. “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.” He clearly has faith in the Spy Kids director doing a good job then.
As for Rodriguez, he took sounds excited for the chance to tackle the project: “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.”
Set in the 26th century, Alita: Battle Angel tells the story of Alita, an amnesiac female cyborg who is rescued from a scrapyard by a doctor. The rebuilt Alita, remembering only her training in a deadly martial art, becomes a hunter-warrior, tracking down and eliminating vicious criminals. According to the press release, “Within the context of an epic action-adventure, the film will explore a young woman’s journey of self-discovery and finding love.”
