We’ve got probably the final piece of major casting news for James Cameron‘s ‘Alita: Battle Angel‘ as Jackie Earle Haley (‘Watchmen’,’A Nightmare on Elm Street’) has just joined the cast as one of the villains. Early reports have him joining the cast as an unnamed role though is “a monstrous cyborg in a villain role that will call for plenty of CG and greenscreen.” Chances are that will place him in the role of Makaku who was the first major villain that Alita goes up against that could be described that way. There are of course other characters it could be but my money is on a variation of that one.
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ is based on the manga which was released in 1990 by Yukito Kishiro with an anime later released in 1993 which mostly stayed true to the plot. The setting is a post-apocalyptic future where those on Earth are only working to make those who live above have their own perfect little lives. In it, we follow Alita who is a cyborg who has lost all of her memories and is found by a cybernetics doctor who is able to fix her. The only thing she remembers is a martial art known as the Panzer Kunst which is unknown to the rest of the world and puts her in a prime position to become a bounty hunter. In the upcoming film, Alita will be played by Rosa Salazar (‘The Scorch Trials’,’Insurgent’) while Dr. Dyson Ito, the cybernetic doctor mentioned above, will be played by Christoph Waltz (‘Django Unchained’,’Inglourious Basterds’).
The film has long been a passion project for James Cameron and he has tapped Robert Rodriguez to direct it for him. With how much ‘Ghost in the Shell’ has been getting flack and other live-action animes have fallen short with US audiences it will be interesting to see how this one plays out on the big screen. As a huge fan of the source material from years back and knowing that Cameron will have the budget to make this visually stunning – I’m hoping for the best.
Are you looking forward to checking out ‘Alita: Battle Angel’? Do you think that Cameron will be able to bring this manga to live and do it justice or will it be another one that fails to capture audiences? Share your thoughts below!
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ will be tearing into theaters on July 20th, 2018!
Source: Screen Rant.
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
