Rosa is Alita’s heart and soul

saw every actress in the world for this thing,’’ she said.

Unlike Salazar, most of those other Alita hopefuls probably didn’t hunt down out-of-print copies of Kishiro’s 1990 source manga Gunnm on eBay, or devour the two-part anime, seeing themselves in the character’s scrappy and tough but never less than heartforward journey.

So she had marched confidently into her Alita audition knowing the role was hers to lose. And she was pretty sure she’d nailed it, moving Rodriguez to tears while reading the film’s most emotional scene. In later meetings, he showed her concept art of Alita that had been created with her face.

It all felt very promising. But ‘‘you never want to get ahead of your expectations,’’ she says. So when she returned that missed call from the director, she was steeled for bad news – and as she crossed the street, she spotted a parking attendant giving her a ticket.

Instead, Rodriguez told Salazar he wanted to work with her which is why he was so excited that he would be on set with her. Salazar was so overcome with joy she ‘‘threw my arms around this parking meter attendant and held up the ticket, like, ‘I know exactly where I was, what time it was, when I got this movie – Thank you!’ And she was like, ‘OK. That’s $68 please’.’’

Rodriguez describes being blown away by Salazar from the start.

‘‘She has so much life force coming out of her,’’ he says. ‘‘As an actress, she has a laser-like focus and is incredibly dedicated, has trained relentlessly, but also as a person, she embodied that spirit of Alita from the moment she walked into the room.’’

He praises Salazar’s nuanced and emotional performance and the digital effects teams (including some from New Zealand’s Weta Digital) whose work allows the actress’ portrayal to come through so vibrantly. There was considerable trial and error, notes Rodriguez, as the specifics of what they were attempting had never been done before.

The Alita that audiences will see onscreen come Thursday isn’t just seamlessly integrated into the live-action environments and real filmed sets around her. She’s also ‘‘totally Rosa – you can see it’’, says Rodriguez.

‘‘I think that’s what’s going to make it an endearing character for people who will be seeing a complete human person, who is that alive and feels that real. That’s a testament to her performance and who she is as a person.’’

‘‘I love how much I am her, she is me, but we are two halves of a whole,’’ Salazar says of the heroine. – Los Angeles Times

Alita: Battle Angel (M) opens in cinemas on Thursday.