Alita's Christoph Waltz sets aside acting techniques for FX blockbusters
The Oscar-winning star of Alita: Battle Angel admits improvisation can be expensive on a movie of this scale.
Alita: Battle Angel is packed with cutting-edge visual effects, which means everybody involved had to be on top of their game -- and that goes for the actors too, according to Christoph Waltz.
Oscar-winning actor Waltz plays a cybernetics expert who nurtures a young cyborg in Iron City, a dystopian future metropolis ruled over by a distant elite floating high above in the sky. It's an action-packed sci-fi extravaganza laced with political themes about inequality.
Waltz trained as an actor in Vienna and New York in the 1970s, studying method acting with legendary teachers Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler. According to Waltz, Strasberg admitted teaching acting was a way of making money, and so Waltz doesn't romanticise thespian techniques -- especially when there's thousands of dollars at stake during a shoot. With hundreds of technicians and crews standing by, Waltz emphasises that actors have to be focused and prepared.
Alita was developed by legendary director James Cameron, who Waltz calls the éminence grise of sci-fi action. But Cameron was busy with the planned Avatar sequels, so Robert Rodriguez took over. Waltz describes how the pair complemented each other with their different styles.
Alita: Battle Angel is released in the UK on 6 February and the US on 14 February.
Culture: Your hub for everything from film and television to music, comics, toys and sports.
Movie Magic: The secrets behind the scenes of your favorite films and filmmakers.