While the Twilight shenanigans are finally winding down (even though the second half of Breaking Dawn won’t burst from cinema projectors until late next year), attention can swing towards Stephenie Meyer’s other novel, The Host. The adaptation of that one has been shoving its way through development for a while, but now it has latched on to a star, with Hanna**’s Saoirse Ronan lined up as the lead.
Meyer’s tale follows what happens after a devastating alien attack on the Earth by creatures known as Souls (so, no religious undertones to this one, then?) The species is a particularly persistent form of parasite that hooks itself into a human body and takes it over while erasing the original personality. Think bodysnatchers, and you won't be far wrong.
Now humanity is on the run, with the straggling survivors trying to fight back. One such rebel is Melanie Stryder, who finds herself captured by the enemy and possessed by one of the Souls called Wanderer, so named because the alien has travelled through so many hosts on different planets. Melanie, though, proves to be much more of a challenge and Wanderer starts to merge with her memories and feelings, spurring a drive to reconnect with the human woman’s old life.
According to Deadline, Ronan, who has also been seen in Atonement and The Lovely Bones, will play the two-minded lead. There’s no word on a director just yet, though Gattaca’s Andrew Niccol adapted the script and was considering picking up the megaphone before choosing instead to make alternate future drama Now. Nanny McPhee** sequel director Susanna White was attached for a while in February, but has since dropped off the project. There’s some talk that Niccol might sit back down in the big chair with Now close to finished.
It’s no coincidence that producers Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz – who brought** The Road **to screens – are planning to sell off the distribution rights at Cannes to drum up some interest. Having Ronan attached should certainly help in that department…