Robert Rodriguez to film Alita: Battle Angel in Texas

Rodriquez (pictured) will be in the director’s chair for the distant-future story of a female cyborg rescued from scrapheap obscurity to find a new life as a bounty hunter.

Texas is not known as a US production centre – especially for big-budget features – but Rodriguez usually operates from his own base at Troublemaker Studios in Austin.

Producers filming in Texas can access a base filming incentive worth up to 20% of eligible local spend, but the all-important film fund has been substantially reduced in recent years, curbing the state’s national appeal.

Rodriquez in fact shifted his own TV drama From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series to New Mexico to use the more favourable finances.

Neighbouring New Mexico and Louisiana offer more generous filming incentive support than Texas, as well as world-class studio facilities. As a result they routinely double for the Lone Star State, with acclaimed crime drama Hell or High Water being one high-profile shoot that used rural New Mexico as a stand-in for Texas.

For more on filming in Texas see our production guide.

Image: Troublemaker Studios