Interview: ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Star Rosa Salazar Talks Performance Capture, Diverse Casting, and More
James Cameron (Avatar) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) teamed up to bring us the live-action adaptation of Battle Angel Alita, which has been dubbed Alita: Battle Angel. The popular cyberpunk manga series was introduced in 1990 by Yukito Kishiro, and it’s now getting the Hollywood treatment, courtesy of 20th Century Fox.
Alita: Battle Angel is an epic adventure of hope and empowerment. When Alita (Rosa Salazar) awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past.
As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious history while her street-smart new friend Hugo (Keean Johnson) offers instead to help trigger her memories. But it is only when the deadly and corrupt forces that run the city come after Alita that she discovers a clue to her past – she has unique fighting abilities that those in power will stop at nothing to control. If she can stay out of their grasp, she could be the key to saving her friends, her family and the world she’s grown to love.
Cameron and Rodriguez are well known in the industry for their innovation and inventive use of CGI. Alita: Battle Angel looks to be a promising new feature to amazing with its spectacle, and at the center of it all is Rosa Salazar.
I recently visited Wellington, New Zealand for the Alita: Battle Angel experience at Weta Digital. During my visit, I had the pleasure of interviewing Salazar, who has taken on the daunting task of bringing to life this iconic character.
During the interview, we discussed a range of topics: playing the lead in a project with an established following, the diversity amongst the cast, her experience with motion capture performance, the physical preparation, and more.
Watch the full interview with Salazar below:
Check out Rosa Salazar in action as Alita when Alita: Battle Angel hits theaters February 14, 2019!
