Today we get word from Variety that Stephenie Meyer’s novel The Host (which is nothing to do with the Twilight series, FYI!) has been acquired by producers for adaptation to the big-screen. The 600-plus page science fiction-romance novel is the first adult novel written by Meyer.
Producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz have used their own money to acquire the screen rights to Meyer’s The Host (not to be mistaken for the Korean monster movie from 2006). The book is, “a love story set in the near future on Earth, which has been assimilated by an alien species of benevolent parasites that call themselves “Souls.” One such soul, the Wanderer, is fused with a dying human named Melanie Stryder, in an attempt to locate the last pocket of surviving humans on Earth.” The adaptation is set to be written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Lord of War, Gattaca, The Truman Show).
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Variety reports that the producers have been trying to acquire The Host for a while now, lobbying Meyer and her UTA reps with “a significant offer, a strong vision for the project and a collaborative spirit.” Meyer eventually said yes to them (persistence CAN work 
). Writer/director Niccol came into consideration for the adaptation when Meyer was asked what her favorite sci-fi movies were, with a couple of the replies being Gattaca (which Niccol wrote and directed) and The Truman Show (which Niccol wrote).
Meyer has been heavily involved in the screen adaptations of the Twilight series, and the producers of The Host are hoping for the same thing from the author: “We wanted Stephenie to be involved in the adaptation and have her endorse and be part of the creative decisions… ‘Twilight’ has proven she knows more about what works than most.”
The Host sounds to me like a kind of romance version of Alex Proyas’ fantastic sci-fi flick, Dark City, from the late ’90s, although that may very well be a completely untrue comparison coming from someone who hasn’t read Meyer’s novel. But it certainly sounds quite interesting to me, and the fact that Niccol – the writer of The Truman Show and writer/director of Gattaca and Lord of War – is going to be making it definitely has me interested.
Do you like the sound of The Host? Anyone out there read Meyer’s novel, and if so, what do you think of a movie being made out of it?
No release date has been set for The Host as of yet.
Source: Variety and Collider
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20 Comments
Is it me or does Meyer write a lot of stuff that “sounds” like something else?
Anyway, Dark City this is not lol.
I don’t know, it SOUNDS like if could be interesting.. but then, the Twilight film I saw was rather bland. I don’t know just how much that film reflects the novel, but if it’s accurate, then I don’t hold much promise for this new film.
One needs to be optimistic, however, and give it a fair hearing. So I will see it when I see it. (As long as it isn’t teen angst goth alien parasites in high school)
The novel is predictable and though it’s considered to be for “adults” I think she had a lot of trouble pulling herself out of the YA mentality while writing. It was uninteresting.
I will likely skip this one.
YAWN….
Hands down The Host (novel) is way better then the entire Twilight Series. By that I mean the story and the way it was written. So I’m excited to see how this turns out
This was inevitable.
I bought this novel for my niece last Christmas .
It was HUGE!
There is also a clothing line out for this book.
I will agree that you can see her writing mature in The Host. Less use of “she muttered”. There was excessive overuse of that in the Twilight Saga.
I agree with Lenna. This book was way better than the twilight series (and I really enjoyed the twilight series). I never thought it would be made into a movie and I have to say I am VERY excited.
That sounds like a great idea, I wonder though what they’ll cut out because as crazy as it sounds, pretty much every page was needed. The Host was much better than Twilight but it still has flaws, especialyl with characters but it was a lot better than Twilight and itwas a suprisingly good read.
Her book the Host is nothing like Dark City, completely different concept. The story started off a bit slow, but once it got going i was actually really intrigued by the story and characters. I really enjoyed it, very good story. Definately not teen angst, much more of an adult story. I’d probably describe it as a love story/thriller. It had a very interesting plot, very new approach at scifi. Nothing like the Twilight saga, which I also enjoyed. This could actually make for a very good dramatic scifi movie if given the right attention. And can you imagine…an new idea for a movie instead of a remake/reboot…what will they think of next!?!?
@ Tweeb
My heart just broke: You actually Hate something Meyer wrote????
O
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I didn’t “hate” it. I thought it was uninteresting. It was mediocre. It put me to sleep.
Give to Katee Sackhoff and it’ll rock! ~ Stark
this is the only one of Myer’s books that I’ve read and (IMO ) its a really good story.
I think that this could make a good movie.
I read the book and I liked it, but I’m still not a fan of the weak women she writes. Although I shouldn’t because it makes them more real I guess.
So we’ll see
well, i loved the twilight saga, but the host was even better. it was creative, and it really made you think. i’m excited, but also a little afraid of what the movie will be like. i hope they won’t get it wrong!
No sparlking vampires= no one will see it. Really? Who could pass on such wondefully written literature as Twi- hahahahahah I’m sorry, I lost it on that one. She’s terrible. Don’t take my word for it though. I wish a venerated veteran(consonance, playas) writer would express an opinion on her work. Someone universally respected by the literary community. Someone like…I dunno, Stephen King? Oh wait.
I am in the process of reading “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer. The book is defiantly something that Meyer came up with herself. The book is truly a little confusing and unique for her writing style, with making herself known by “Twilight” as her debut novel in 2000-2001. It was truly unexpected to us “Twilight” fans when she released “The Host” shortly after “Eclipse”, the third book in “The Twilight Saga.” Personally, I love her writing, though I wasn’t to pleased with the way that “Breaking Dawn” ended. I was hoping that Bella would end up with Jacob, I thought that he suited her more then Edward did. But oh well, “This too shall pass.” Overall, what I have read of “The Host” is getting better and clearer, I put the book down for some time and looked up on it to clear my perspective on it. But now that I understand it more, I am excited to pick the book back up again.
The Thought of making a movie at first came to me as a surprise, and now that I know generally how they are going to do it, I am excited about it and I hope that Stephenie Meyer will be participating in this one too. The movie of “Twilight,” I thought, was a huge waist of my time, but “New Moon” is set to come out in about 50 days, and it looks like it will be so much better then “Twilight,” I already have my tickets for the Midnight Matinee.
the books figgin awesome an so emotional ian is very fairytaily, an jared is a friggin a*****e, i wonda whos gnna play ians part, i hope itz some1 drop dead cute!! a dunt fink the host movies gonna be brill lyk the book so fingers crossed x
I thoroughly enjoyed The Host and I have reread it many times. I actually recommended it to a friend about a year ago and mentioned to her that I would love someone to make a movie from the book. I might just have gotten my wish. I loved the book. It was exciting, emotional, suspenseful at times. If I could pick who would play Melanie, it would be Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon or Kate Beckinsale.
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