Jennifer Connelly Turns Villain In ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
Alita: Battle Angel has a new villain: Jennifer Connelly. She has been cast in the James Cameron’s film based on Yukito Kirshiro’s manga series. She will join lead Rosa Salazar, Jackie Earle Haley, Eiza Gonzalez, Lana Candor, Mahersahala Ali, Ed Skrein, and Christoph Waltz.
The action-adventure story is about self-discovery and the search for love. It follows an amnesiac cyborg (Salazar) in a 26th century dystopian future. Rescued from a scrap heap by a ‘cybermedic doctor’ (Waltz), she cannot remember anything of her previous life – except her martial art skills. Using them, she becomes a bounty hunter and tracks down criminals. Skrein and Haley will also be villains with Connelly.
Cameron began developing the film in 1999 after he was introduced to the comic by Guillermo Del Toro and purchased the rights to it. Cameron’s post-Titanic project was then placed on hold when he decided that his Avatar franchise was a higher priority instead. In October 2015, he announced that Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse) would direct, while Titanic colleague, Jon Landau, would join him as producer through his Lightstorm Entertainment banner. Cameron co-wrote the screenplay with Laeta Kalogridis.
Connelly was last seen with Ewan McGregor in the drama American Pastoral, released last October. She recently finished filming the firefight drama Granite Mountain. The Oscar winning actress is no stranger to genre films, starring in Labyrinth, The Rocketeer, and Hulk.
Alita: Battle Angel is currently filming in Texas and Fox has set a release date of July 20, 2018.
