Rodriguez seeks extras as 'Alita' begins Austin shoot

Robert Rodriguez is back in action directing Alita: Battle Angel for Fox in Austin from now until February.

According to Deadline, it's set in a 26th-century dystopian future: "The film follows the story of an amnesiac cyborg who, after being rescued from a scrap heap by a doctor (Christoph Waltz), becomes a bounty hunter tracking down criminals."

Actress and singer Eiza González has the lead role. She also stars in Rodriguez's El Rey Network series From Dusk Till Dawn. Rodriguez shocked Austin locals when he moved series production to film friendlier (as in incentives) New Mexico for season three. The cast also includes Lana Condor, Rosa Salazar, Jackie Earle Haley and Ed Skrein.

It's an adaptation of  the graphic novel series Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kushiro. James Cameron wrote the script with Laeta Kalogridis.

Third Coast Extras is handing background roles, which include punk rocker types, Asians and East Indians, but also general folks of all ages. Get more info at the casting company's Facebook page.

The film is set for a 2018 release.

Sublett reinvents the novel with 'Grave Digger'

Jesse Sublett knows noir. He’s a student at the feet of Chandler and Hammett (he named his own son Dashiel) and penned three respected mysteries about an Austin, Texas, based musician/private dick named Martin Fender. He’s also a heck of a musician who led the seminal Austin punk/garage/new wave band the Skunks. What happens if those two parts of his persona crash together in a post-apocalyptic world with elements of dystopian sci-fi, poetry and outsider art? Grave Digger Blues is born, my friends. It’s not so much a book as an experience, particularly if you spring for the iPad version with all the bells and whistles.


 
Last year I wrote in the San Antonio Express-News about Sublett’s efforts to do something similar with the re-release of the Martin Fender novels. But here he’s taken it a large step further.

You’ll be thrown into the world of the Blues Cat, an a down-and-out jazz musician, and Hank Zzybnx, a private detective haunted by Marilyn Monroe’s ghost. It’s a wild ride into despair with bouts of frivolity. All along the way the Blues Cat keeps the beat pounding and Jesse Sublett keeps pulling the strings somewhere behind the curtain. Hop on this train. You’ll like where it takes you.