Rosa Salazar suits up as groundbreaking heroine
Two of today’s leading creators of game-changing movie realms, James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez, have combined their mutual zeal for world-building and empowered female heroines to push the possibilities of visual story-craft into a new zone.
They now invite audiences to enter directly into an intricately alive metropolis of the future — and into the high-octane yet heartfelt mission of Alita to fulfill her human potential — forged through an alchemical mix of evocative performances, creative design, state-of-the-art performance-capture technology, CG imagery, VFX and native 3D filmmaking.
Based on the graphic novel series by Yukito Kishiro, Alita: Battle Angel (now showing in theaters, also in 3D IMAX) re-imagines a mythical post-apocalyptical world as a photo-real city full not only of behemoth cyborgs, furiously fast sports spectacles and dark justice but also of compelling human stories. For the filmmakers and the cast including Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Lana Condor, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and newcomer Keean Johnson, bringing it to life was an exhilarating ride.
Taking on the titular character is Rosa in an epic, mesmerizing adventure of a young heroine who gets a second chance at life to carve her own path.
What was it about Alita that appealed to you?
“Well, a few things. Robert Rodriguez, who is Latino, and who I’ve wanted to work with for years. He’s such an iconic filmmaker because he can make a film out of nothing. Like with El Mariachi. And I really love
Desperado. That was the first thing I saw of his. With my mom. I was a young girl and I just fell in love with it. It was a strong emotional story, a love story with explosions and guts and guns and bar shootouts. I just really like Robert’s cinematic values. And then of course, there’s James Cameron.”
Did the fact that it was a performance capture role appeal?
“Yeah. I wanted to do performance capture, because I love acting. And I love finding new ways that I can bend my craft and use it to funnel it towards this goal we’re all trying to create. So it was a combination of things that appealed: The writing, the pedigree, these two guys that know how to direct a woman who is dynamic, has a range and is fighting for something. All of that’s compelling to me. Even the studio it was at — I’ve worked with Fox for so long that I love them. So, it was everything really: The stars aligned for this. And I really wanted to be a Latin woman who is leading a studio franchise with a big budget.”
Let’s talk a little about Alita, the character. Tell us in your own words who she is.
“Alita is… just a regular girl! In the same way that all of the mo-cap stuff kind of bleeds out when you’re in it, Alita is a regular girl who happens to be made of cybernetic parts and has an insane, traumatic history. Alita’s just like me. She has a whole palette of emotions. She’s insecure. She’s brave. She’s courageous. She’s strong. She’s curious and she’s defiant. She’s powerful and she’s weak. She has a real soul and I think that she bares it all the time. She doesn’t really hold anything back. She doesn’t suffer fools. But she doesn’t actually know who she is. She’s learning everything for the first time.”