What to Know
- It took more than 3 years to create "Alita: Battle Angel."
- The film was directed by Robert Rodriguez.
- It's based on a popular manga called Battle Angel Alita.
Based on a popular manga graphic novel called Battle Angel Alita, James Cameron and the team at Weta Digital are merging the human and animation worlds once again to create "Alita: Battle Angel."
Cybergirl Alita (Rosa Salazar) wakes up with no memory of who she is, in a futuristic place called Iron City. A kind cyber physician named Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz) takes her in, gives her a new body, and tries to help her connect with her past and find out who's she's meant to be. There's also a love story as Alita falls for a street-smart young human hamed Hugo.
Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez worked closely with the visual FX team at Weta Digital to create Alita. It took the team more than 3 years to animate every part of her body from her skin, face and lips, to the way she walks, runs and fights.
There are a lot of action scenes in this film and Joe Letteri, Senior Visual Effects artist at Weta Digital, said they took their time with each frame of film to make sure the graphic novel world flowed seamlessly into the real world.
Alita is in scenes alongside live actors and Letteri said they used motion capture technology and animation to make her look as real as possible. NBC 4 was invited to Weta Digial to get a first-hand look at what went into the making of Alita by putting on a motion capture suit, and filming an action scene with director Robert Rodriguez. Watch what happens as she gets immersed into Alita's world.
"Alita: Battle Angel" opens nationwide on Feb. 14th. It stars Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, and Keean Johnson.
