The cyborg heroine of Alita: Battle Angel, Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron's new sci-fi adventure will have some big challenges. The film has yet another villain, and Luke Cage's Mahershala Ali is in talks to play him.
With Rodriguez directing and Cameron producing, the film adapts Yukito Kishiro's original manga. Battle Angel Alita, as it was called in print and anime form, is the story of an amnesiac female cyborg in the 26th century who becomes a bounty hunter, after being rescued from the rubbish dump and rebuilt by a professor of cybernetics. Rosa Salazar is on board to play Alita, while Christoph Waltz will be the professor.
Ali should be playing the scheming Vector, who runs – and often fixes – the matches in a gladiator-like combat game called Motorball. He joins the enemy line-up alongside Ed Skrein and Jackie Earle Haley. And, as we learned recently, Alita will get help from Hugo, played by Keean Johnson.
Rodriguez will kick off filming this month in Austin. In addition to his storming turn as Cottonm... Sorry, Mr. Stokes in Cage, Ali has several promising films coming up including Moonlight and Hidden Figures, which will be out on 24 February.