James Cameron's ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL Adds LUKE CAGE Villain Mahershala Ali
Fresh off bringing life to one memorable villain, it sounds like Mahershala Ali is ready to get right back on the saddle and bring to life another in James Cameron & Robert Rodriguez's Alita: Battle Angel!
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Mahershala Ali is currently in talks to join the cast of 20th Century Fox's highly ambitious action sci-fi film Alita: Battle Angel. He'll portray Vector, one of the film's villains who runs and fixes matches in a gladiator-style combat game called Motorball.
He joins a cast led by Rosa Salazar (Maze Runner: The Death Cure) as the title character, Christoph Waltz (Spectre), Jackie Earl Haley (Preacher), and Ed Skrein (Deadpool). Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) is helming the feature, which is an adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's popular manga series Battle Angel Alita, with 3x Academy Award-winner James Cameron (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and Academy Award-winner Jon Landau (Avatar) on-board as producers.
Ali is coming off a show-stealing turn as the villainous Cottonmouth in the Marvel/Netflix series Luke Cage and can be seen next this fall in two very different dramas: Moonlight and Hidden Figures. His other major credits include a main role on another Netflix drama House of Cards and supporting roles in Free State of Jones, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 & 2, The Place Beyond the Pines, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Production is expected to begin later this month in Austin, Texas.
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