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Apparently Alita: Battle Angel has already started filming

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O

Oozer3993

Member
Right under everyone's noses, Alita: Battle Angel has already begun filming. The film, an adaptation of the manga graphic novels Battle Angel: Alita, has been a passion product for James Cameron for years. Avatar has stolen his soul occupied his time so Robert Rodriguez is directing.

In fact, shooting has already commenced, and is filming in Texas (of course)! Rosa Salazar (MAZE RUNNER) has already been cast as the titular "Battle Angel", but she is now going to be joined by the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Christoph Waltz, and Mahershala Ali. It is reported Connelly, as opposed to the more obvious Waltz, will be playing the villain.
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Also, possible official synopsis:

Set in the 26th century, Alita tells of a female cyborg (Salazar) that is discovered in a scrapyard by a scientist. With no memory of her previous life except her deadly martial-arts training, the woman becomes a bounty hunter, tracking down criminals. The action-adventure story is meant to serve as a backdrop to themes of self-discovery and the search for love.
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White wash me if old.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I really do hope this turns out to be great but I'm keeping expectations with Rodriguez at the helm. I'm sure the wrap bbq will be awesome though.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
Oh yeah, that must be what the extras casting call was for. They were looking for tatted and otherwise "weird" looking people IIRC.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I can't imagine this is going to be as grim and fucked up as the manga. Things got brutal and fucked up at points. Is there going to be any motorball action?

latest
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
I like that supporting cast quite a bit tho. Especially with connelly playing a bad guy.

Hopefully this is good. Rodriguez was once cool but hes been making some terrible stuff in the last 10 or 15 years
 
C

collige

Banned
I am gonna be so mad if they fuck this up. I've been waiting a decade for this fucking movie.

Ratrat said:
Hollywood has discovered cyborgs are the means to ignore the whitewash issue. Smart.
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Cyborgs aside, there wouldn't be much of a whitewashing issue with this IP anyway considering it takes place in the states and the main character
is from Mars
 
P

paragonpro

Banned
I just watched ghost in the shell (1995) for the first time because im really excited for the live action one. It was great from a music and animation stand point, i should probably check this out too
 
W

wandering

Banned
Stuff like this or Edge of Tomorrow/All You Need is Kill I think is fine, because as has been said they're not even particularly about Japan or Asia.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
It's been in full production for a while, since last October. Lots of New Zealanders from WETA highly involved.

Edit: They're not white washing...but they are changing everyone to be hispanic. I don't have a problem with it personally, still works that way. I am sure this isn't surprising to most people considering Rodriguez is directing.
 
H

HyperZone<3

Member
its also got Chilean action star Marko Zaror in it in some capacity. So seeing him in a movie with real production values will be something to look forward to.
 
M

MomoPufflet

Member
I would have killed for Cameron to direct this himself. I'm so disappointed he handed it off after having it on the backburner so goddamned long.
 
M

Mortemis

Banned
TDLink said:
He's not off. He's an Executive Producer and highly involved.
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I don't think he's still highly involved, at least I haven't read anything about that recently. And an executive producer title doesn't give you nearly the same confidence in a project as the director.
 
K

Korigama

Member
Couldn't care less about this without Cameron, because I sure as hell didn't ask for him to obsess over making more Avatar for the rest of his life instead. Picking the likes of Rodriguez of all people to make it instead is just salt in the wound.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
SCULLIBUNDO said:
Was highly involved.
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Mortemis said:
I don't think he's still highly involved, at least I haven't read anything about that recently. And an executive producer title doesn't give you nearly the same confidence in a project as the director.
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kurahador said:
He was an executive producer for Sanctum as well and look how that turned out.
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It's true that EP is a title that can cover a wide range of people, but Cameron did a lot of development and pre-pro. He also is still involved with the principal photography from afar and I am sure will be involved in the post production considering he has been involved with the entire motion capture process for the various characters in the film (including Alita and the main antagonist). He's way more hands on with this than what he did with Sanctum. Obviously his focus is on the Avatar films now, but he has very much been a part of Battle Angel even though Rodriguez is running the show on the ground, so to speak.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
TDLink said:
It's true that EP is a title that can cover a wide range of people, but Cameron did a lot of development and pre-pro. He also is still involved with the principal photography from afar and I am sure will be involved in the post production considering he has been involved with the entire motion capture process for the various characters in the film (including Alita and the main antagonist). He's way more hands on with this than what he did with Sanctum. Obviously his focus is on the Avatar films now, but he has very much been a part of Battle Angel even though Rodriguez is running the show on the ground, so to speak.
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Dude. Where are you even getting this from. He HAD a large involvement. You think he's going to have a large hand in the actual shoot and post? He's not.

But yes, it must be recognized that Cameron co-wrote the script and did more than a year of preproduction and concept work on the film. Which is encouraging. But no, he's no longer hands on. Dude is in full Avatar mode now with 4 films being prepped at one time. Thinking he'd have serious time to give on principal photography or post for BA is crazy.
 
G

geestack

Member
they've been filming this for a while actually; a co-worker was actually an extra on the set. even met christoph waltz and apparently he's quite nice and (according to my co-worker) smells good.

apparently it's going to be a lot of green screen.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
cj_iwakura said:
Avatar should have stopped at one film. I'm not optimistic it can carry one sequel, much less three.
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If there's any universe that deserves more exploring, it's Avatar. Dude built a super rich universe with so many possibilities and people keep questioning what there is to do. It's crazy. But you know, Spy Kids 3, totally necessary.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
SCULLIBUNDO said:
If there's any universe that deserves more exploring, it's Avatar. Dude built a super rich universe with so many possibilities and people keep questioning what there is to do. It's crazy. But you know, Spy Kids 3, totally necessary.
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I agree with the universe, but the execution of the first film was the most trope-laden thing I have ever seen. I hope he can do better, but I'm not optimistic. I wish he'd done Alita instead.

And Spy Kids films are, well, for kids. I don't really hold those against him.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
cj_iwakura said:
I agree with the universe, but the execution of the first film was the most trope-laden thing I have ever seen. I hope he can do better, but I'm not optimistic. I wish he'd done Alita instead.

And Spy Kids films are, well, for kids. I don't really hold those against him.
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The first film might have had its fill of tropes, but the execution was one of visual mastery, pacing and polish. Cameron's worst effort is still better than Rodriguez' best.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
SCULLIBUNDO said:
The first film might have had its fill of tropes, but the execution was one of visual mastery, pacing and polish. Cameron's worst effort is still better than Rodriguez' best.
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It's a very polished film adapted from a bad script, like Force Awakens. When Rodriguez shines, we get the likes of Sin City(the first one), From Dusk Till Dawn, and El Mariachi. So I'm staying optimistic for now.
 
C

catotheyounger

Member
They've been shooting here for some time, or at least doing a whole lot of preproduction. WETA has effects people in Austin, with some families that moved temporarily for the shoot. I spoke with a spouse of someone at WETA who is currently on the project at my work. That was back in November
 
D

duckroll

Member
cj_iwakura said:
At least he's consistent. Avatar was the most predictable film ever. I expect better from Cameron.
And I love nearly every film Rodriguez has done. He knows how to keep on budget.
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I'm trying to understand how someone can criticize Avatar for being predictable and trope-laden while simultaneously talking up the director of Machete films for being consistent. I'm also not sure how being on budget affects the audience in any way.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
cj_iwakura said:
It's a very polished film adapted from a bad script, like Force Awakens. When Rodriguez shines, we get the likes of Sin City(the first one), From Dusk Till Dawn, and El Mariachi. So I'm staying optimistic for now.
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I still don't get how you can call the script bad after saying you love all of Rodriguez' films.

Sin City 2, Spy Kids, his shitty grindhouse wankfest. Dude hasn't made anything good since the original Sin City.

Cameron's Avatar script is a trope-laden script that is well written in every capacity except for the tropes you're concerned with.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
SCULLIBUNDO said:
Dude. Where are you even getting this from. He HAD a large involvement. You think he's going to have a large hand in the actual shoot and post? He's not.

But yes, it must be recognized that Cameron co-wrote the script and did more than a year of preproduction and concept work on the film. Which is encouraging. But no, he's no longer hands on. Dude is in full Avatar mode now with 4 films being prepped at one time. Thinking he'd have serious time to give on principal photography or post for BA is crazy.
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I work in film. Many of the people on my current project worked on Alita late last year and jumped over to my current gig. My info is all second hand from them as I did not work on it. It was supposed to wrap literally this week originally but there's now around 2 months left thanks to some rewrites which included some late character additions only cast in December.

I'm not saying Cameron was/is on set or overseeing anything in that regard. I am saying he's in communication with the studio and Robert Rodriguez on what's going on though. He's not hands off, even with Avatar. And he absolutely is involved with the WETA work in NZ with Alita and the villain (who is like a 9 foot tall monster).

geestack said:
apparently it's going to be a lot of green screen.
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Re: It all being green screen, I know they have made for real like a 6 block city...so it's not -all- CG.
 
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