By Julia Alexander

James Cameron is finally producing a project that is "near and dear" to his heart after years of being in limbo, and he's enlisting the help of director Robert Rodriguez. Although still in negotiation stages, The Wrap is reporting that Rodriguez (Sin City, Machete) will sign on to direct Alita: Battle Angel for Fox.

The movie will be an adaptation of Yukito Kishero's popular Japanese manga series, which follows Alita, a female cyborg who's found in a scrapyard and saved from certain death by a doctor. She's then rebuilt with new parts, and using the martial art capabilities that she remembers from her previous life, becomes a vigilante of sorts, hunting down and wiping out the worst of the criminal underworld.

Cameron told the trade publication that he was looking forward to learning a lot from Rodriguez, a man he admitted he's always wanted to work with, and is excited do so with such a "kick-ass epic."

"We're already like two kids building a go-kart, just having fun riffing creatively and technically," Cameron said. "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."

Rodriguez echoed the sentiment, and added that as someone who was "greatly impacted" by Cameron's films, being able to work with him on the project was an absolute honor.

Cameron has had the rights to the film for years, but has said in the past that he was waiting for CGI technology to improve before he tackled the project.

Although there's no estimated date for when the film may come to fruition, Cameron is already embedded in pre-production for the sequel to his record breaking movie,Avatar, so fans may still be in for a bit of a wait.

Check this out at Polygon.com