Stephanie Meyer's "The Host" Adapted by Gattaca Director
What just happened to me must be one of the perils of writing for a horror website... I just read (well, skimmed) someone's blog entry - er, on what appeared to be an industry news site - breaking down point-by-point why Stephanie Meyer is a good writer, using the first paragraph of "New Moon." I threw up in my mouth.
I'll stick with Stephen King's opinion, that Meyer, "...can't write worth a darn." Yet still... still... I work in a bookstore, and I pass by the book cover pictured to the left several times a day, for her book "The Host", and it's kind of striking. I find myself idly wondering what the book is about. Now, thanks to it being optioned for film, I kind of know... synopsis at the bottom.
Apparently Meyer held out giving the rights to anyone until the producing team of Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz convinced her they'd treat the sci-fi story with respect. presumably, that means trying to cast Matt Damon. (warning, MTV link).
The producing team asked Meyer what her favorite sci-fi films are, and "Gattaca" and "The Truman Show" were on the list - so they've managed to get Andrew Niccol, who wrote both films and directed the former, so adapt the book into a screenplay and direct. I have a lot of respect for Niccol, and the story sounds... interesting, so this film could actually be promising.
Here's the synopsis of "The Host" from Meyer's website, which advertises the book as "Science fiction for people who don't like science fiction." There I go, vomiting in my mouth again!
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.
