The long-in-development manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel now has its third piece of the puzzle. First, producer James Cameron hired director Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez then hired Rosa Salazar to play the lead. Now, he’s about to sign Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz to play her mentor.
In the popular manga, a scientist named Doctor Dyson Ido finds a broken cyborg in a junkyard. He restores it and she becomes a killer assassin. Salazar is the cyborg, and Waltz is in talks to play Ido.
Waltz is best known for his Oscar-winning work with director Quentin Tarantino, but he recently appeared in The Legend of Tarzan and Spectre. It will be nice to finally see him as a legit good guy, as opposed to the evil men he usually plays.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story, 20th Century Fox is hoping Rodriguez starts shooting later this year for a July 2018 release date.