James Cameron: Titanic and Alita shares similar themes

James Cameron (3rd from left), producer of Alita: Battle Angel, leads the main cast including actress Rosa Salazar who plays Alita (3rd from right) to attend a promotional event following the premiere of this sci-fi epic in China on Monday evening, Feb 18, 2019. [Photo provided to China Plus]

'Titanic' director James Cameron showed up in Beijing Monday evening, promoting his upcoming sci-fi epic "Alita: Battle Angel".

He disclosed that the Alita story shares similar theme with Titanic.

"They are all very different, but they are all similar.You know, I mean 'Titanic' was a romantic story with two young lovers, and so is Alita. You know and it's also, just said, 'Titanic' was a story a woman learns her place and her power to be herself. There are similar themes in Alita."

The film, adapted from the Japanese manga Gunnm (ganmu) by Yukito Kishiro, centers on a cyborg who looks like a beautiful young woman and cannot remember anything of her past life.

Rosa Salazar plays this female Battle Angel. Showing up together with James Cameron, she explained how she's brought the computer-generated role of Alita to life.

"I drive Alita, just as Alita in the movie has a brain, but needs to be put into a body. I have the brain that is put into this body. And when I see her on screen, we share something that is quite unique; we are two parts of a whole."

"Alita: Battle Angel" will open across the Chinese mainland on Feb 22.