In the depths of space, there still exists a hint of old Nashville.
Last night, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Keean Johnson will join the cast of James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel film. According to the publication, Johnson earned the lead male role, opposite Rosa Salazar.
Keean Johnson has been active in the industry since 2007. He made his début on family show Big Green Rabbit. In 2013, Johnson played the role of Adam Freeman in Spooksville. Johnson’s most notable role hit in 2014, when he played the role of Colt Wheeler in Nashville.
Previously, we reported that Rosa Salazar (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) will play the lead role of Alita in the film. Austrian actor Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) is currently in negotiations to play Doctor Dyson Ido, who finds Alita and ultimately becomes her mentor.
Two weeks, we reported that Jackie Earl Haley will play “a monstrous cyborg in a villain role that will call for plenty of CG and greenscreen.” Last week, we revealed that Ed Skrein was cast as Zapan.
Alita: Battle Angel will hit theaters on July 20, 2018. Filming begins in October.
Collider describes the movie as:
Based on the manga series by Yukito Kishiro, Battle Angel takes place in the 26th century and tells the story of an amnesiac female cyborg who is rescued from a scrapyard by a doctor, rebuilt with no memory of her previous life excepting her kickass martial arts skills, and becomes a bounty hunter tracking down vicious criminals. Salazar has a pretty impressive resume for an up-and-coming actress, especially for only having been on the scene for the last five years, and after a notable turns in Insurgent, The Scorch Trials, and the wonderful FX comedy Man Seeking Woman she’s become a name to watch. Now, she’s landed what could be her breakout role.
Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City) was hand-picked by Cameron to direct the project, which features both James Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment partner Jon Landau as producers. According to Collider, Rodriguez is working from Cameron’s original script, though he’s likely to “punch it up with his own style.” Cameron commented on the collaboration:
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.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
