From A Beautiful Mind to the wastes of Mars, Jennifer Connelly steps onto the stage.
Earlier today, entertainment news publication Variety revealed that Jennifer Connelly will join the cast of Alita: Battle Angel. The actress will play one of the film’s major antagonists, though a specific role has yet to be named.
Connelly has been active as an actor since 1982. She began her life on stage, though, at age 10 when she became a model. Her first film role was Deborah Gelly in Sergio Leone’s One Upon A Time In America. Connelly’s first lead role was in Dario Argento’s Phenomena, where she played Jennifer Corvino.
Connelly was nominated for a Saturn Award (Best Supporting Actress) in 1991 for her role as Jenny Blake in The Rocketeer. Her first major award win came in 2001, when Connelly won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in A Beautiful Mind.
Connelly’s currently filming Granite Mountain, in which she plays Amanda Marsh.
Previously, we reported that ten actors either signed on, or are in talks to perform in the film:
- Alita: Rosa Salazar (Confirmed)
- Lead Male (Unnamed): Keean Johnson (Confirmed)
- Doctor Dyson Ito: Christoph Waltz (In Talks)
- Zapan: Ed Skrein (Confirmed)
- Vector: Mahershala Ali (In Talks)
- Unnamed Female: Eiza González (Confirmed)
- Unnamed Male: Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Confirmed)
- Koyomi: Lana Condor (Confirmed)
- Ajakutty: Marko Zaror (Confirmed)
In addition, Jackie Earl Haley will play “a monstrous cyborg in a villain role that will call for plenty of CG and greenscreen.”
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.
Filming is kicked off in October in Austin, Texas. Fox scheduled the feature for a wide release (including IMAX) on July 20, 2018.
Source: Variety
