Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly has been added to the steadily growing cast of Alita: Battle Angel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City) is set to direct the film, with James Cameron writing and producing. Christoph Waltz, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Keean Johnson (TV’s Nashville) have also been cast alongside Rosa Salazar (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) who is to fill the titular role of Alita.
The film is currently in production, and is being adapted from yet another manga series originally titled (in the U.S.) Battle Angel Alita. The series takes place in the dystopian future of the 26th century wherein a cyborg who, after being resuscitated from a state of suspended animation, can’t remember who she is or where she came from. Eventually she regains memories of her martial arts skills and puts them to use as a mercenary.
Waltz is to play the doctor who repairs Alita, while Connelly is being cast as an undisclosed villain in the film. Johnson will be playing the roll of Alita’s love interest, and Lendeborg Jr. has been cast as his clever friend.
The original series eventually had several spin-offs and two anime movies that followed. With that in mind, it’s difficult to say exactly where Rodriguez and Cameron will pull from, and how much liberty they might take in forming this adaptation of the story.
Alita: Battle Angel is scheduled to be released some time in 2018.
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