Jennifer Connelly has been cast in Fox’s Alita: Battle Angel. According to , the actress will be playing one of the villains in the upcoming adaptation of the classic Japanese manga, although it is not clear exactly who she will portray. Production on the science fiction action film is currently underway in Texas, with an eye on a Summer 2018 release.
The synopsis…
“Set in the 26th century, Alita tells of a female cyborg (Rosa Salazar) that is discovered in a scrapyard by a scientist. With no memory of her previous life except her deadly martial-arts training, the woman becomes a bounty hunter, tracking down criminals. The action-adventure story is meant to serve as a backdrop to themes of self-discovery and the search for love.”
Long shepherded by filmmaker James Cameron, the Titanic director had intended it to be his follow-up to 2009’s Avatar. Once he decided to focus on his numerous Avatar sequels instead, he handed the film over to long-time friend Robert Rodriguez instead. The film is reportedly pulling from the first four volumes of the manga, with potential sequels carrying on further into the source material if it does well.
Alita: Battle Angel is based on the classic manga, Battle Angel Alita, by Yukito Kushiro. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, from a script by Laeta Kalogridis, the project is produced by Jon Landau and James Cameron through the latter’s company, Lightstorm Entertainment. It stars Rosa Salazar as ‘Alita’, Keean Johnson as ‘Hugo’, Mahershala Ali as ‘Vector’, Christoph Waltz as ‘Dr. Dyson Ido’, Lana Condor as ‘Koyomi’, Leonard Wu as ‘Kinuba’, and Marko Zaror as ‘Ajakutty’. Jackie Earle Haley, Eiza Gonzalez, Jennifer Connelly, and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. also appear.
Alita: Battle Angel is slated to hit theaters on July 20th, 2018.
