Twentieth Century Fox and producers James Cameron and Jon Landau are in talks with Robert Rodriguez to direct Alita: Battle Angel, the live-action adaptation of the graphic novel series Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro.

Fans of the graphic novel have salivated over the prospect of Cameron directing the film, but he’s just too busy with three sequels to Avatar going back to back-to-back. So he’ll entrust it to Rodriguez, who launched the El Mariachi, Spy Kids, Sin City and From Dusk Till Dawn franchises. He also launched the El Rey network.

Set in the 26th century, Alita: Battle Angel tells the story of Alita, an amnesiac female cyborg who is rescued from a scrapyard by a doctor. The rebuilt Alita, remembering only her training in a deadly martial art, becomes a hunter-warrior, tracking down and eliminating vicious criminals. Within the context of an epic action-adventure, the film will explore a young woman’s journey of self-discovery and finding love.

“Robert and I have been looking for a film to do together for years, so I was pumped when he said he wanted to do Battle Angel,” Cameron said in a statement. “He’s very collaborative and we’re already like two kids building a go-kart, just having fun riffing creatively and technically. This project is near and dear to me, and there’s nobody I trust more than Robert, with his technical virtuosity and rebel style, to take over the directing reins. We’re looking forward to learning a lot from each other while we make a kick-ass epic.”

Added Robert Rodriguez: “Battle Angel is an incredibly rich and vibrant epic in the tradition of Jim Cameron’s spectacular, character-driven films. Getting to work from Jim’s terrific and visionary script while learning the cutting edge techniques he’s pioneered is a master class in filmmaking. It’s an honor to explore the world of Alita along with Jim and Jon, whose films have impacted me for decades.”

Cameron and Landau, who will produce for Fox under their Lightstorm Entertainment banner, are in pre-production on the Avatar sequels.