Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1109293
9 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9 In October 2015, the first email pinged. Alita: Battle Angel's preproduction began—for us. It had already been a long gestating project for producer James Cameron. Iron City was the big set, and the usual incentive "what ifs" came down the pipe. What if the film shot in Budapest? There was brief talk of shooting in Panama City. Steve Joyner and I believed we could bring Panama City to Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios (TMS) in Austin. So did Robert, who was set to direct. Part of the old Austin airport system, TMS was a flat palette with plenty of space on which to build a backlot. No worries if additional shooting was needed while the edit formed, the set would be right there. In the end, all parties agreed. Still, it would be nine months before the on-site build actually began. A