Jackie Earle Haley has joined the cast of James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez’s film adaptation of Alita: Battle Angel.
Rodriguez will direct Alita: Battle Angel. Cameron and Jon Landau, both of Lightstorm Entertainment, are producing.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, details on Haley’s characters are minimal for the time being. Sources say that he will play a monstrous, cyborg villain, which will require lots of CG and green-screen time to pull off.
The Maze Hunter actress Rosa Salazar is signed on to play Alita. Christoph Waltz rounds out the cast so far.
Alita: Battle Angel is an adaptation of the popular, nine-volume cyberpunk manga Battle Angel Alita, created Yukito Kishiro in 1990. The series follows a broken down cyborg, Alita, who is put back together by a cybernetics doctor. The doctor takes care of Alita, but the only memory of she has of her past life is of cyborg martial arts. She uses the skill to become a bounty hunter while trying to rediscover her past.
Haley is known to comic book fans as Rorschach in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie. He also played Freddy Krueger in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Most recently, Haley played Odin Quincannon on AMC’s Preacher.
Haley just wrapped production on Sony’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, playing opposite stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, and is featured in the race-drama The Birth of Nation.
Alita: Battle Angel is being distributed by 20th Century Fox. Fox is aiming to start production on Alita: Battle Angel in October 2016. Alita: Battle Angel has a scheduled release date of July 20, 2018.
