Nine minutes. That’s all I have with Robert Rodriguez, the man who transformed independent cinema in Hollywood. Where do I begin? Should I ask him about his association with Quentin Tarantino in his early days? Perhaps I should talk to him about the opening sequence in Sin City. Or should I start with Alita: Battle Angel right way? I settle for a more generic question and ask him about James Cameron’s influence while scripting the project.
When Robert Rodriguez took over the reins as director, Cameron was impressed with what he brought to the script. After all, it was Cameron who nurtured the idea of adapting the popular manga series Gunnm, created by Japanese artist Yukito Kishiro, for far too long — the production began in 2003. But, how difficult was it to rework a movie written by Cameron? Robert says, “Jim’s script was 180 pages and the final script was supposed to be around 120 pages. So, it was 60 pages long for a film. But the script had everything intact, so it was a real joy to reduce the size and make it as potent as possible.”
Robert tells me that every time he had doubts, he flipped through the reams of paper left by Cameron. “In the worst case, I can fill it with more Jim,” chuckles Robert, saying that he loved the universe Cameron had built with careful precision. “All I had to do was shorten the script to convince the studio to give us the money,” he adds. What makes a fantasy work great is its ability to seamlessly blend reality and spectacle in right measure. Having said that, the line between performance and technology is blurred in a sci-fi movie. Which is why it was important for Robert to retain the rootedness of the characters. “Spectacle is the reason why we go to the movies, but if there isn’t human aspect, it’s not going to stay with you,” he says, adding, “For a fantasy movie, the fictional element has to be grounded. Otherwise, you won’t buy into the fictional part.”
When Robert directed Sin City, he wanted it to be a Frank Miller’s movie and not a Rodriguez one. In terms of the style, the filmmaker says he wants people to see Alita: Battle Angel as a James Cameron movie. “He’s been watching it all along since he has worked on it as well,” he adds. During the making, Cameron had one advice for him: “It’s like building a go-kart together.” And, Robert is glad that the “wheels didn’t fall off”.
I was curious to know how Cameron reacted to the movie, given that he’s someone who revolutionised this genre of filmmaking. “I didn’t want him to look at the movie and say, ‘I know I should have directed it’,” laughs Robert. He adds: “He personally called me and said, ‘It freaking rocks.’
Rosa Salazar as Alita in the film
Alita was the most surreal experience: Rosa Salazar
When it was announced that Rosa Salazar would be playing the eponymous character, she decided to stick to Cameron’s script because she felt that “too many versions” would muddle her understanding. However, Rosa says that the process wasn’t different from any other job she had. “It was intensely physical. In between takes, I used to do high kicks and boxing, just to keep myself pumped and ready. Otherwise, the process was nothing different from what I learned in acting school,” she says.
For a VFX-heavy movie such as Alita: Battle Angel, Rosa was adamant on internalising the character, just to make sure that it translated naturally on screen. “I really wanted to trace Alita’s roots: where she came from, how she reacts to a particular scene and what she was up to. She accelerates very quickly and grows exponentially in the film. All they (Robert and Jon) expected from me was to deliver an organic performance and I said, ‘I can do that for you’.” Watching Alita come alive on the big screen has been the most surreal experience Rosa has ever had. In fact, when Jon Landau hosted a special screening for the entire cast, she requested for a separate screening, for it was a very “intimate moment” for her. “The moment the Fox music appeared, I lost it and was reduced to tears. And then, I got sucked into its world like any movie goer. Jon was sitting next to me and he said, ‘Did we make the movie that we set out to make?’ and I said, ‘Yeah’. That changed my perspective on films,” she says.
Rosa was so absorbed and astounded by the visuals that she almost forgot that Alita was a computer-generated character, “I was critiquing my performance and told Jon about it. He said, ‘Do you realise that we kept our promise? Because you’re actually critiquing a CGI character’ Only then it dawned on me.”
Jon Landau
A blend of technology and performance: Jon Landau
The films that you made have always pushed the envelope when it comes to technological advances. Earlier, you had Avatar in 2009, which was the most complicated motion graphics picture. A decade later, there’s Alita: Battle Angel. How superior is the latter in terms of technology?
We look at technology as a tool to allow us to tell stories that cannot be told otherwise. We looked at what Weta (VFX company) did with Planet of the Apes, and they will tell you how much further they have gone in creating Rosa’s performance in Alita. The challenge was to create a photo-realistic character that interacts with dogs, bites chocolate, hugs and kisses people — all this in a perfect blend of synthetic computer technology and photographic world.
Avatar did incredible numbers in India. Reports say that Alita: Battle Angel is gearing up for a huge release here. As a producer, how do you access the Indian market? Because there seems to be a penetration happening now.
I remember when I visited India. I was really surprised and impressed by the quality of theatres. It’s a very diverse country and you have different territories you need to play around with. But what happens with a film like Avatar or Alita is that it has a universal theme and is not about a specific thing or region. Perhaps, that’s why these films work so well in India.
(The writer was in South Korea at the invitation of 20th Century Fox)