One of the hottest actors in the game, Mahershala Ali continues to see his stock rise. The busy actor is negotiating his next role in drama, Alita: Battle Angel.
The film, an adaptation of the manga graphic novels, is set in the 26th century, where a female cyborg (Rose Salazar) is discovered in a scrapyard 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.
Ali will play one of the movie’s villains, a man named Vector who runs and fixes matches in a gladiator-style combat game called Motorball.
Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jackie Earl Haley, Ed Skrein and Keann Johnson have already been cast in the film.
Haley will play a monstrous cyborg and Waltz will portray Doctor Dyson Ido, the cybersurgeon who finds the cyborg and becomes her mentor.
The dynamic duo of Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron are teaming up for this action-packed futuristic story. Rodriquez will direct, Cameron will produce.
Ali, is currently playing the villain known as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes on Marvel’s Netflix series Luke Cage, is best known for for his Emmy-nominated role as Remy Stanton on Netflix’s House of Cards. Laer this month, he will appear in Barry Jenkins‘ awards contender, Moonlight, followed by another contender, the period drama Hidden Figures, opposite Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer.
Expected to start production next month in Austin, Texas, Alita: Battle Angel will open in theaters July 20, 2018.