THR is reporting that Robert Rodriguez is in talks to direct the live action adaptation of the manga Battle Angel Alita.
Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron has been longing to get this project going for many, many moons. The last time we reported about this was about a decade ago. Cameron will produce with his Lightstorm Entertainment partner Jon Landau.
Titled Alita: Battle Angel, the project tells of a female cyborg that is discovered in a trash yard 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.
"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."
Both Rodriquez and Cameron have huge crushes for the technology of filmmaking. When the first reports came out about this film the new 3D technology was still a relatively fresh idea for audiences. Then Cameron of course blew that technology out of the park when he made Avatar.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 fears fresh air and loves making movies in the back lot. Then mighty denizens of visual effects workers create large worlds for his actors to play in. We can at least predict that anything these two filmmakers do together will look gosh darn pretty.
I suppose my interest in the project now is not who is going to be cast in the lead role but who is going to handle the 'martial arts' choreography. And can Rodriguez properly frame it?