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Monday, February 11, 2019

Rosa Salazar one-on-one Interview: Alita Battle Angel Is For Manga Fans




I was given the opportunity to be apart of a teleconference and interview Rosa Salazar.


 All of the interviewers did a great job but I have to say, I felt that my questions and my opening statement to Rosa received the biggest heartfelt reaction from the young actor. Who I believe will become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Ana Cruz –  Excited that it was a Latina playing Alita
Ana: What was the first feeling that you had when you found out that you would be Alita?

Rosa: Well the first feeling was relief because it took about three months to land the roll. So the first feeling was relief, the second feeling was excitement and the third feeling was readiness. I just wanted to get to work right away.

Ana: That’s a long journey cause they started since 2000?

Rosa: I know, actually they got the rights in 1999 and they were going to make the movie in 2000 then they were going to make the movie in 2003 and then Avatar got in the way. I’m glad they made Avatar first.

Ana: Tell me the process of filming this very different movie. I know you were in this special costume. What was the most challenge that you had during filming.

Rosa: Well the roll itself was a good undertaking. Not only was going to be in the in the performance capture suit. But I was also going to be doing stunts in the suit. So I trained for about five months doing martial arts which was extremely challenging, that was the most challenging part. We needed to get my endurance to a place that I could be in every frame of the movie. Doing stunts in a very physical roll in a performance capture suit and the performance capture suit is very tight to the body. Its connected all over like a onesie. Which makes going to the bathroom very difficult. I’m wearing a helmet that’s pretty heavy and I have two high definition cameras in my face at all times. So I’m always on camera. That was nice for me. I like being on camera. It was also a challenge cause I have to be on all the time. So that was physically exhausting.
Dogs Bark

Rosa: I’m sorry one second. . .

Rosa: I’m sorry my dogs were barking because someone knocked on the door.

Ana: That’s okay we got your dogs on the interview too but Rosa, how did you prepare for this role? Im sure you had to read a lot, to watch a lot of these types of movies. You know these types of movies have a lot of respect from these types of movies cause they have true fans. So How did you prepare for this, to be Alita?

Rosa: Well I did the training as you know Alita is physically agile and she knows enteric martial arts. So I needed to not just look good on screen I needed to be good on screen. I also had to, you know, find all the books. The books are out of print so I had to go on ebay and find all of the books in the series. So when we did that I read all of the first series. Then I read the second series and then I read them again. Just so, like you so, the fans are very dedicated of the original work so I wanted to be true to the original manga as I possibly. So once I read the manga I became a fan myself.

Not only did I have the pleasure of making them happy I had the pleasure of making myself happy too.


Anna: and I think that's the most important thing cuz when you feel the film and truly feel for what you're doing you can project that onto the screen. Also early reviewers and critics are saying the movie really follows the book so if you're a fan of the book you won't be disappointed is that true?

Rosa, absolutely. I believe that because a lot of people to try to take a graphic novel and make a movie out of it. I'm manga and make a movie out of it a Hollywood version of it. We didn't do that we made a cinematic version of it. Yukito Kishiro who is the creator of the manga was there and all the steps of the process.

The mediator broke in afterwards and a new interviewer asked his questions. I’ll hopefully have the name  of his outlet later.


Interviewer: I miss you fan of the manga it's been around for a while.

Rosa: awesome have you had a chance to see the movie?

Interviewer, I have not I'm  actually about to watch it tomorrow.

Rosa, oh great well I think you'll be pleased.


Interviewer: what can I expect?

Rosa: you can expect a lot of visual spectacle. You can expect your jaw to be hanging open for a lot of the film. you can expect a wonderful score by John txl like the kind that was in the Mad Max score. the same kind of gallop that we have in this score. You will feel something. I think a lot of these movies what they give you With the big explosions and big fight sequences that they're sorely lacking is a reason  to care about those big explosions. And what we have here are big explosions and fight sequences and they're their only to serve  to the story so you'll actually give a damn and you expect to feel something when you're watching this movie.


Interviewer, the thing about anime and manga is that these are very in-depth Stories the characters a very complex. How much time did you have to get into the role of alita and the things that you like?

 Rosa, I had a good amount of time which is such a blessing and such a Charmed experience because I had such a lot of time a lot of people just get cast and it's like okay you're in and you have three weeks or two weeks to get in shape. And get ready and I simply just not enough time. I had five months so I did a lot of martial arts training. Alitaa knows panzer kunst, which you know, cause you’re a fan. Which is a zero gravity fighting technique and she is proficient at it so I need it not just to look good on screen but to be good on screen. So it was challenging both mentally and physically. One thing I love about the manga is that a crazy Ernest and that's another thing you're going to be able to take away from this film. A complete Earnest emotion from this character. But yeah I had about five months and it was a lot to do with the training of the source material to bring Alita to life.

Interviewer:  what was the most difficult thing for you to get just right?

Rosa, well Aleta goes from being a central girl to a woman to around 18 and 19. That when you're shooting out of sequence and you don't got any kind of visual Clues up to where you are that day. Because I'm not wearing costume. You really need to have everything Pitch Perfect because you're following  a trajectory oh, you're following a woman's formative years. Which is how I saw her progression because she grows exponentially Through the film. So you don't want to have more than one saying being like a woman and in the next scene she's being 14 so you want it to be a Pitch Perfect tracking that evolution and when you don't have any visual Clues it's also very hard. So I spent a lot of time and video Village with the scripting going back to my acting roots. Saying, where was I, where am I now, why did I come here, where am I going, why am I going there, what do I want? I did that because I needed her to grow into a good gradual growth.

New Interviewer

Miami: My question is how did you relate to alita and how do you think of Alitarelated to you as you begin to to read the story?

 Rosa, well I related to related because I know what it's like to go on a heroing journey  into Womanhood. It's incredibly challenging.  Alita and I know how challenging and how doleful it can be during that time. I related to her insecurities and her tenacity. Into the search for her identity and that Journey as well. I also related to her emotionality you know I think that she is an accurate representation of what women are like in real life. And here we are like 12-sided dye of quality we are not just one easy justed position of You know, she's hot but she's dangerous. she's cool but she's smart. I used to get picked off the characters like that all the time and he used to infuriate me  because yes okay but she's also this and this and this and this and that's the beauty of what Alita is. She has such a big heart and that's really what we requested back of each other.

Miami, if you can look back at your lowest point was there a point where you wanted to give up on acting? What would your present self say to your past self?

Rosa, well I probably quit-acting about 87 times. you quit even before you get started you quit while you're coming up, you quit even though your friends are envious of where you are. I quit all the time. It's a relationship there are Peaks and valleys and what I tell myself then and now is can you live without it? What that make your life better and the answer is always absolutely not. This is my passion and I tell myself you're lucky enough to know your passion some people don't ever find that out. And you just going to give that away? And I'm so paranoid so a lot of people always kicking my butt saying you're going to do this come hell or high water. I'm always on that Journey.

Miami how very inspirational. what can we turn do fine in your Netflix queue right now?

Rosa, oh in my Netflix queue while I just finished watching all of Russian doll. So I kind of cleared it out I was surprised by that TV show at first I was like I don't know but I thought it was incredibly touching and it kind of touched on my favorite things like are we in our past and how would that dictates us in our future. Do we choose to let go of the past and let it form who we are now to a point where breaks us and could kill us so I like that show obviously.

And now we're going to go with Christopher with T3Medias

Chris: hi Rosa this is Chris Fagan with T3Medias.

Rosa : Hi Chris

Chris: Outstanding. Well first off I wanted to say I really enjoyed this film I had a real good time and I can't wait to show my daughter because it had a lot of heart in it. And I really look forward to that someday and I want to thank you for that.

Rosa: oh my God! oh my God that's such a great thing to hear! thank you I'm so happy that they get to see it.

Chris: yes ma'am Okay so there are a lot of manga fans out there that come with an idea of how I film with this type of source material should be developed and cast it. How did you convince those not yet sold on the adaptation of Alita battle angel that this movie had them in mind as well?

Rosa: I lost you at the in there

Chris: how do you convince those not yet sold on this adaptation of Alita battle angel that this movie had the manga the true manga fans in mind when it was made.


Rosa: well first of all I can tell you that this movie has all of the same bits of earnestness that the manga has. You know it's so funny. she laughs. Movie critics I see them try to review it like it's La Duda or something. You know what I mean? This is Amanda, this is a true manga and manga fans are going to be the ones to recognize that the most because it's so Earnest. It's incredibly Earnest. And you know it's moves in such an exponential rate. But I don't like that. Yukito cash it or was I'm bored the entire time. That's how you really make an adaptation. You don't buy the priority and just say thanks buddy and then make a Hollywood version of it. as you can see that doesn't work and you end up alienating you're very fanbase and demographic and the Very people who are the fans of the original property. and we are making a cinematic version of this and we put a lot straight from the manga right down to those big eyes. So we are very very true to it and I can tell you I spent an exorbitant amount of time with it making it my main focus making sure she was Pitch Perfect. Not just for fans of the manga but everybody can find the universality of the character but also the fans of the manga. So also the fans of the manga could validate and people who never read the Manga could go by the manga and say I have to go read this now.

Chris: Outstanding I appreciate you. but like I said I can't wait to show it to not just my daughter but my sons as well I feel like you put a lot of heart in it and I really enjoyed the work and I appreciate your time.

Rosa: oh my God thank you so much and you just remind them that we made this film for them. We made it for everybody it speaks to young boys and girls and say Hey you can find your power it's inside of yourself so I'm very excited for them to see it.

Chris: Outstanding thank you.