Robert Rodriguez Says We Have James Cameron To Thank For ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL’s Nightmarish Eyeballs

In a new interview with Empire, Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez offers up a few thoughts on the thing we were all talking about in the wake of Alita's first trailer: the titular character's gigantic, terrifying CGI eyeballs.

Says Rodriguez:

"It was always Jim's intention to create a photo-realistic version of the manga eyes that we're so accustomed to seeing. We really wanted to honour that tradition and see that look standing next to any human character. To have the right person to emote behind it was really essential. Her origins are in the film and you understand why she looks that way. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, we have some pretty big windows. You can see a lot going on in there! When it gets to the emotional scenes it's really uncanny and striking. And captivating!"

So, there you have it. Next time you show someone the Alita: Battle Angel trailer and they recoil in horror, shrieking, "Who in god's name thought that was a good idea?", you can inform them that none other than James Cameron (Avatar 2, Avatar 3, Avatar 4, The Abyss) is the responsible party.

Alita: Battle Angel hits theaters on July 20th.