Having travelled from Spooksville to Nashville as part of his work in episodic television, actor Keean Johnson is now taking a detour into blockbuster territory, having landed a major role in the Robert Rodriguez directed, James Cameron produced adaptation of the manga ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL.
In the story, set in the 26th century, Johnson's character will serve as a love interest for the title character Alita,
a female cyborg that is discovered in a scrap yard 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.
Johnson beat out competition that included Avan Jogia, Douglas Booth, Jack Lowden, and Noah Silver to win the part of Hugo, "a young man who teaches Alita how to play a gladiator-style game called Motorball but who also has a secret side job stealing robot parts."
Alita herself is set to be played by Rosa Salazar, pictured below. Salazar and Johnson are joined in the cast by Christoph Waltz, Jackie Earle Haley, and Ed Skrein.
Cameron has been developing the ALITA project for a long time, and now Rodriguez will finally be bringing it to life when production begins this month in Austin, Texas. I have no familiarity with the source material, but I am looking forward to seeing what these collaborators do with the concept.
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