Jessica
It’s been almost a month since we heard anything about Andrew Niccol’s (“In Time”) big screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s “The Host” film and word has come out now that “The Incredible Hulk” actor William Hurt is in talks to join the film.
EW reports that Hurt would play the pivotal role of Jeb, eccentric uncle to Saoirse Ronan’s Melanie Stryder, whose brain is hijacked by the soul of an alien being known as Wanderer. Jeb is one of the grizzled leaders of the human survivalists fighting the alien invasion.
“Red Riding Hood” actor Max Irons landed the role of Jared back in November while “The Lovely Bones” actor Jake Abel is the front runner for the role of Ian.
Filming will begin in February in Louisiana and then New Mexico and will mark one of the first productions for Open Road Films, a young distribution company backed by AMC and Regal theater chains.
“The Host” is scheduled to be released on March 23, 2013. Saoirse Ronan will play Melanie Stryder, a young woman who shares her body with an alien force known as Wanderer.
Here’s the plot based on the book:
Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.
When Melanie, one of the few remaining “wild” humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
Wanderer probes Melanie’s thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer’s mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.
