Stephenie Meyer Finds Love in the Future with ‘The Host’

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 23, 2009

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Twilight author Stephenie Meyer could probably retire with the money she will surely make off of her hit tween vampire series, but it seems as though she’s not satisfied with that. She’s hungry for more, and she will be teaming up with scribe/director Andrew Niccol to make it happen.

The project, The Host, will be based on a Meyer novel of the same name. According to Variety’s Mike Fleming, it is “a love story set in the near future on Earth, which has been assimilated by an alien species that call themselves “Souls.” They are benevolent parasites that subsume the conscious of humans and take possession of their bodies. One such soul, The Wanderer (so named because she has wandered among so many different worlds) is fused with a dying human named Melanie Stryder, in an attempt to locate the last pocket of surviving humans on Earth. The Wanderer cannot subsume the forceful Melanie, and they battle for the girl’s memories and her spirit.”

The project will be independently financed by producers Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, who recently teamed up on the John Hillcoat-directed The Road, an adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel.

This is an interesting little project if you ask me. According to Fleming’s report, this trio of producers have been looking to get into a major sci-fi property for a while, and have long lobbied Meyer for the rights to this book, which was published in 2008. As well, Andrew Niccol has written (and directed) several solid films in the past. He wrote and directed Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage, an intense and well-orchestrated drama about one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers. He also wrote The Terminal for Steven Spielberg and wrote and directed the 1997 sci-fi drama Gattaca. His eye for sci-fi and action — as well as his relatively aggressive visual style — will be an interesting addition to the work of Meyer, who’s writing is at best, quite generic and lacking of innovation. At least, that is what I’ve gleaned from her four “Twilight” books. I will have to give “The Host” a look before I make any further judgments. Regardless, consider me interested in seeing where this project goes.

Have any of you read The Host? If so, what do you think about it being optioned for a movie?

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sarasorrentino

The Host was worse than all the Twilight books combined. But with Niccol, it may stand a chance. Hopefully he can take this badly written concept, and make it better.

chair876

I like Niccol as well, he did a great job on The Truman Show.
http://www.twilighteclipse.info/stephenie-meyer...

emzzzzz

Ive read the host and personally i think it was phenomenally better than the twilight series (although i did love them) and i hope it does become a movie because the book was really good and the movie would be so cool, although like twilight its directed at a more female audience (which would explain why you didn't like it) but it does have some action for the boys and it doesnt have as much focus on the romance side of things as twilight did.
its a lot more complex and it'd be a very intricate movie with lots of surprises
it'd be great
x

sarasorrentino

I'm female. And I hated it. But you're right, All of Meyer's books are obviously written for girls. Or gay men...

Kangaroo Be Stoned

And especially Mormon women, regards to "Twilight.".

lala

The Host was great. Infinitely better than the Twilight series. It will be very interesting to see it turned into a movie because much of what happens in the book is internal.

alyssa66990

Coming a literally point of view The Host was far better written. You can obviously tell from her writing styles from book to book that it was something she wrote later in her career. She has grown into her niche and though it still comes from the love point of view like the twilight series, I think this one comprehensively was more plot oriented then character based and flawed like twilight. It will be interesting to see how they put it all together for a feature film.

Yaanu

The only good thing I can say about The Host is that it's a one-off book. It still doesn't help that it's just Twilight with aliens.

Niccol worked on The Truman Show? Let's hope Meyer doesn't necessarily retain creative control. This would be one movie I'd hope doesn't faithfully follow the source material.

Name

Has anyone else noticed that Melanie Stryder sounds a lot like Stephanie Meyer? *cough* Mary Sue *cough*

ladyofthelake

Might aswell make it while Stephenie Meyer is on top. Lets face it, the Twilight saga will not be hot forever, nobody is gonna be reading those books five, ten years from now. She's no J.K. Rowling, her HP books will still be read ten, twenty years down the line. Hell she's no Austen, Dickens, the Brontes, Gaskill, and so fourth, you get my drift. I havne't read The Host, but have read the Twilight books. They were an okay fun read, not very well written. I can see why all the teenage girls went nuts for it. I don't understand Twilight moms going nuts for it, but to each there own.

Stephenie Meyer Finds Love in the Future with ‘The Host’

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