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Saoirse Ronan Will Lead Adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's 'The Host'
by Ethan Anderton
May 3, 2011
Source: Deadline
In September of 2009 we learned that Gattaca and Lord of War director Andrew Niccol would be behind an adaptation of The Host, the popular novel from The Twilight Saga author Stephanie Meyer. However, since then we haven't heard much about the project, and while Niccol was said to be writing the script as well, his involvement as director has apparently been uncertain. Well, Deadline says he may still sit in the director's chair for the project, and that The Lovely Bones and Hanna star Saoirse Ronan will play Melanie Stryder, one of the last humans putting up a fight against an alien species called Souls. More below!
These parasites invade human bodies, fuse to each person's consciousness and systematically erase their personalities. Melanie finds herself captured by the Souls and implanted by one called Wanderer, one of the more infamous of the species because she has attached herself to so many "hosts" before. Wanderer intends to use Melanie to give up the location of the remaining humans, but Melanie is relentless in her resistance to Wanderer and refuses to surrender her consciousness. In this struggle the alien apparently becomes overwhelmed by Melanie's memories and emotions and ends up reconnecting with the girl's old life.
Sounds like a story that might be harder to visualize on screen, but to help make that a little easier, Ronan will play both Melanie and Wanderer. As for Niccol's involvement, he had previously left to direct Now (the project formerly know as I'm.mortal) with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. But now that he's done with the film, he could end up directing after all. With his work on films like Gattaca and writing on others like The Truman Show, this may be one adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's writing that could turn out all right. What do you think?
19 Comments
1
Wohoo!! Another amazing movie about strong and independent women on quests for self-discovery. Stephenie Meyer is an icon and one of the strongest feminist voices in contemporary cinema with really iconic strong, empowered and sexy female heroines in all of her masterful novels - Kristen Stewart and now Saoirse Ronan.
Carly Jameson on May 3, 2011
2
Bella a strong female heroine? I'm sorry but I disagree...if anything that character has set back the feminist movement.
Xerxexx on May 3, 2011
3
Bella was not empowered. She was so co-dependent that when Edward left her she became severely depressed. The only thing that brought her out of it was the attention from Jacob. Oh, and Kristen Stewart is not really that sexy in my book.
Mayhem on May 3, 2011
4
Yeah Carly .. you are thinking of a different author/book. Nice try though
Anonymous on May 3, 2011
5
Her character debated over whether to become a vampire or not....if thats your idea of a role model then I feel sorry for you
Cody W. on May 3, 2011
6
plus being a Vamp means you lack blood...therefore sex with a make vamp is outta the question...no blood flow no erection.
Xerxexx on May 4, 2011
7
And here I was thinking that Saoirse Ronan could do no wrong.
Scott of the Antarctic on May 3, 2011
8
Meyer is a pretty bland author, and Ronan could do so my better than this, so I'm gonna go with meh.
Xerxexx on May 3, 2011
9
True, Stephanie Meyer may have not done so well on the Twilight books.. I'm not a huge fan of them... But the host is a really good story and well written. I think Saoirse Ronan will be perfect for the part.
Kawazaki-Hino on Aug 13, 2011
10
There is potential here, The Host was a much stronger novel than the Twilight series, having been written later, with more experience. The story is actually really quite good and I can see this being just as good if not better if they get the right feel to it. Here's hoping for a good one...
FlicksReview on May 3, 2011
11
I agree with the above comment. Although Meyer has a bad rep (rightfully so), this novel is actually pretty good and has an interesting story/characters. That said, I'm having trouble seeing this in the big screen.
Miss Teatime on May 3, 2011
12
Ugh, The Host was yet another piece of "I can't live without my maaaaaaaan" garbage from Meyer, so I'll pass.
boriskat on May 3, 2011
13
Twilight may have been crap, but I kind of love The Host like no other so...
Lizzie on May 4, 2011
14
cool sounds good 😀
A5J4DX on May 3, 2011
15
Folks, you forget about the people who are attached to this project: Saoire Ronan, Andrew Niccol (wrote the screenplay for The Host), the producers who helped make The Road, Revolutionary Road, and Terrance Malick's most recent work The Tree of Life. If they didn't see something of quality they wouldn't have chosen this project. If all goes well with the rest of the casting and crew, this could shed some very positive light on Meyer from Twilight.
John on May 4, 2011
17
I picked this book up and read half of it before I realized it was written by the same woman who wrote Twilight. I was shocked; it's actually pretty decent, and while not written all that well, it's not as poorly written as Twilight. Though I may not be completely objective, as the very Animorphs-esque vibe was triggering my nostalgia sensors.
Craig on May 4, 2011
18
I am in no way a Stephenie Meyer enthusiast, but you can't even say anything without reading the book, which I'm pretty sure a majority of you have not. It was a lot better than Twilight. What was that phase about not judging a book by its cover? "Don't judge a book by its cover" ? Good choice on Saoirse Ronan! I'm excited for this project.
fem!anon on May 4, 2011
19
Must be an enjoyable read The Host by Stephenie Meyer. loved the way you wrote it. I find your review very genuine and original, this book is going in by "to read" list.
Rohitnanda87 on May 31, 2011
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