Comic-Con Shows Footage from the Film Adaptation of ‘The Host’

While most of the attention is focused on The Twilight Saga, I have to admit that I am even more excited for the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s 2008 novel The Host. To be released March 29, 2013 it tells the story of earth post-alien invasion where ‘souls’ take over human bodies. One ‘soul’ called Wanderer is put inside the human body of Melanie who has been living with the last group of unoccupied humans on earth. Melanie’s mind fights the implantation of Wanderer and leads them both back to the group of ‘rebel’ humans.

The film is being directed by Andrew Niccol who also wrote the screenplay. The cast will include Saoirse Ronan as Wanderer/Melanie, Diane Kruger as the Seeker who is trying to catch the rebel humans, and William Hurt, Jake Abel, and Max Irons as part of the human community she is after.

Some footage from The Host was screened at the Twilight panel at Comic Con this week and reported on it. Here is what they said:

The footage they showed, not unlike Breaking Dawn, began with Saorise Ronan’s character opening her eyes to reveal an inhuman coloration. She’s in some kind a facility and has just been taken over by an alien life force. Diane Kruger’s character (also taken over) talks to her and reveals that most of Earth has been invaded and that human bodies are conquered and controlled. This new girl was formerly a famous resistance fighter and she needs the alien inside her to probe her memories.

The scene turns to a series of flashbacks with, in each shot, much of the frame blurred. Ronan explains that the girl was named Melanie Stryder and that she managed to escape the early wave of attacks on Earth. We see a home in Louisana where Melanie’s father kills himself rather than let his body be taken by men in all-white suits with white ties.

When the alien in her body reveals that she has a brother, Melanie’s personality fights back in her head, furious that her own mind is being used against her.

We see the story progress and Melanie go on the run with her brother and Max Iron’s character. There’s also a scene of Irons and Ronan making out against the side of a trailer.

A (presumably later) scene has the inhabited-Melanie being led to a cave in a series of desert mountains. There are men there that want to kill her because they don’t trust the alien within her, but William Hurt’s character (dressed like a grizzled cowboy) comes in with a shotgun and stops them.

A final scene shows a caravan of still-human people moving in trucks down a highway. They’re stopped by a helicopter (the body of which is completely covered in mirrors) and then pursued by cars of a similar design. There’s gunfire and the trucks finally pull over, but two of the drivers decide to crash into a wall rather than let themselves be taken. The footage cuts just as they’re about to collide.

I really wish that I could see these scenes for myself because I’ve been dying to know how they deal with the two-souls-one-body issue. I really enjoyed the novel so I hope that this film stays true to the themes the novel brings up, such as the definition of humanity and opposing perspectives.

What are you looking forward to in the film? What are you concerned about?

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