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Alita: Battle Angel Film Casts Actor Jorge Lendeborg Jr.

The Hollywood Reporter entertainment news website reported on Friday that Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Spider-Man: Homecoming,The Land) is joining the cast of James Cameron's Alita: Battle Angel, the live-action film of Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM) manga. Lendeborg will play the "cunning and sly friend" of Keean Johnson's character.

The film will star Rosa Salazar (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Man Seeking Woman) in the lead role. Other cast members include:

• Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, Spectre, The Legend of Tarzan) as Doctor Dyson Ido, "the cybersurgeon who finds the cyborg [protagonist] and becomes her mentor."
• Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, A Nightmare on Elm Street remake, Preacher, The Dark Tower, The Birth of a Nation) as "a monstrous cyborg in a villain role that will call for plenty of CG and greenscreen."
• Ed Skrein (The Transporter Refueled, Deadpool) as Zapan, "a villainous cyborg who is in possession of a weapon called the Damascus blade."
• Keean Johnson (Nashville, Spooksville) as Hugo, the "love interest" and "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."
• Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, House of Cards) as "one of the movie's villains, a man named Vector who runs and fixes matches in a gladiator-style combat game called Motorball."
• Eiza Gonzales (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series)

The Hollywood Reporter described the film:

Set in the 26th century, Alita: Battle Angel tells of a female cyborg that is discovered in a trash 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.

The action-adventure story is meant to serve as a backdrop to themes of self-discovery and the search for love.

The film begins shooting this month in Austin.

Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sin City, Spy Kids) is set to direct the film. James Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment partner Jon Landau are producing the project, and Shutter Island's Laeta Kalogridis penned a script. The production crew aims to start filming this October in Austin. Fox has scheduled the film for a wide release on July 20, 2018. The film will get an IMAX release.

Image via The Land Instagram account.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision Blog (Mia Galuppo)