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Twilight Of 'The Host': A Sequel Is Not Likely

Twilight Of 'The Host': A Sequel Is Not Likely

Has The Host already entered its twilight as a potential film franchise? Stephenie Meyer has said she envisions her sci-fi follow-up to the blockbuster Twilight novel franchise, as a three-novel story arc, but the probability of those future books translating into a movie trilogy is looking iffy at best. more »

Variety Reviews... || ||

REVIEW: 'The Host' Is Silly Soul-Sucking Fun

REVIEW: 'The Host' Is Silly Soul-Sucking Fun

The teenage years can, don’t we all know, be an alienating experience, even when you don’t have an actual alien trapped inside your body. But such is the fate of the spirited young heroine of The Host, who finds that talking to boys and stuff is a whole lot harder when your soul is being sucked by one of the space invaders slowly wiping humankind from the face of the planet. This extravagantly silly but undeniably entertaining sci-fi soap opera — the latest adapted from the work of Mormon YA-lit phenom Stephenie Meyer — should prove shrewd distaff counterprogramming to G.I. Joe: Retaliation, posting solid (if less-than-Twilight-sized) numbers at home and other points throughout the galaxy. more »

On the Scene || ||

'The Host' Premiere In NYC: VIPs Reveal Their Favorite Celeb Parasites (Brad! Angelina! Tony Danza?)

'The Host' Premiere In NYC: VIPs Reveal Their Favorite Celeb Parasites (Brad! Angelina! Tony Danza?)

The central conflict of Stephenie Meyer's The Host stems not from vampires and werewolves, but something more intangible yet equally eerie. Depicted in the Andrew Niccol-directed film as a glowing organism of sorts, these parasitic alien "Souls," as they are called, gain access to humans through an incision made at the back of the victim's neck, where they override their host's human circuitry.

At least that's what's supposed to happen. In The Host, Melanie, played by Saoirse Ronan, does not relinquish control to her invader and eventually learns to coexist with her. Given this premise, Movieline thought that Cinema Society's screening of the movie, and the party that followed at Jimmy at The James Hotel in Tribeca, were good places to ask a single question of the VIPs and swells who attended: If your body was inhabited by a parasitic host, which celebrity would you want it to be and why?

There are some real provocative answers here, and if you want a really racy one, head straight for actress/model Meki Saldana's response:


Diane Kruger, actress, The Host: Michael Jackson. He's the coolest. He's my favorite singer. I cried when he died

Stephenie Meyer, author, The Host: If it's my body that's invaded, then I don’t get a choice. But, if I'm the invader, and I get to pick the body? I guess maybe Beyonce. I'd get the talent. I'd have the voice. She can do all that cool stuff. I could dance if I were her. My bones are not connected right; I can't do those moves. And I can't sing.

Saoirse Ronan, actress, The Host: A celebrity? I would want it to be…someone like Bill Murray or Jack Nicholson. They're fun and interesting and they've been around a long time. And maybe I could get some of their memories from all the things that they’ve done over the years.

Max Irons, actor, The Host: If my body was invaded? Stephen Hawking. If I said Jay-Z or something, he'd be in my body and he’d look in the mirror and go, What the fuck? Whereas, Stephen Hawking — he might be a little bit grateful. Just a little bit. We trade: I get his magnificent brain and he gets my body.

Jake Abel, actor, The Host: Somebody's coming in my body? I would say David Bowie, so I can sing and dance on stage.

Boyd Holbrook, actor, The Host: Larry Bird. Fantastic ball player. He'd be in my body. Final answer.

Lee Hardee, actor, The Host: Stephen Colbert! He's hilarious. The whole day would be entertaining. Everything you did, everything you said would be awesome.

Raeden Greer, actress, The Host: I think if I would have someone in my body, I think it would have to be…this is really hard. Maybe a guy. So, I could just, you know, see what it's like to think like a guy. I’ll go with Woody Allen.

Gabourey Sidibe, actress: You know what? I'm learning something about myself, because the first name that came to mind was Tony Danza. And I don’t know why. For some reason I see him tap dancing in there. What did I get into?!

Dylan McDermott, actor: My favorite celebrity of all time, Barbara Eden [from] I Dream of Jeannie.

Jason Wu, fashion designer: I want to be Diane Kruger. She's so glamorous. She's one of those girls I just love hanging out with. Amazing inside and out.

Tatiana Maslany, actress: Nicki Minaj. She’s amazing. I would love to have the guts that she has and her "whatever" [attitude].

Ve Neill, academy award winning makeup artist and reality TV judge: Would it have to be a female? Let's say Johnny Depp. I've worked with Johnny off and on for many years since I did Edward Scissorhands with him. He's fabulous and I adore him.

Meki Saldana, actress and model: Either Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie or both. I want both of them inside me. Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Let me back up, let me back up. Oh my god, I just said something I shouldn't have said. No, no, I just think that they’re very strong personalities, but at the same time very humble. I would definitely want something that they have inside me. Still wrong.

Holly Kiser, Make Me a Supermodel: Joaquin Phoenix, because he's a crazy-ass motherfucker, or Robert Downey Jr. [They] have all these, like, demons inside of them, and they’re just trying to work with that as actors.

 Nell Alk is an arts and entertainment writer and reporter based in New York City. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Manhattan Magazine, Z!NK Magazine and on InterviewMagazine.com, PaperMag.com and RollingStone.com, among others. Learn more about her here.

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Interviews || ||

WATCH: 'The Host' Author Stephenie Meyer Loves Sex & Sci-Fi

WATCH: 'The Host' Author Stephenie Meyer Loves Sex & Sci-Fi

The Host author Stephenie Meyer is a sci-fi grrrl. Now that the Twilight creator is transitioning from vampires and werewolves to aliens, I asked her what it was like to work in the male-dominated science-fiction genre. "I grew up reading science fiction!"  she told me. "There are many women out there reading science fiction and enjoying it — it's our genre too!" more »

Contests || ||

'The Host' Contest: Channel Your Inner Parasite & Win A Nifty Prize Pack

'The Host' Contest: Channel Your Inner Parasite & Win A Nifty Prize Pack

It's the first day of spring and a perfect time to celebrate young love of the parasitic alien variety. And how do we do that? By giving away a prize pack for Open Road's adaptation of Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer's novel, The Hostto one budding poet out there who can capture the spirit of the movie in an original haiku.  more »

Sundance || ||

'Austenland' Director's Note: Jerusha Hess On Her 'Girlishly Indulgent' Sundance Rom-Com

'Austenland' Director's Note: Jerusha Hess On Her 'Girlishly Indulgent' Sundance Rom-Com

Nine years after Napoleon Dynamite made Sundance darlings out of its makers, screenwriter Jerusha Hess is set to make her directorial debut with the femme-centric comedy Austenland, adapted from Shannon Hale's best-seller about a Jane Austen obsessee on holiday at a resort where the Regency authoress is venerated like a goddess.
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Sundance || ||

Sundance 2013: Where Stephenie Meyer, Harry Potter & Pussy Riot Worlds Will Collide

Sundance 2013: Where Stephenie Meyer, Harry Potter & Pussy Riot Worlds Will Collide

The unveiling of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival line-up has begun! (Get the first wave of titles in the U.S. and World dramatic and documentary slate, plus the NEXT selections here.) Here are ten intriguing, surprising, and promising figures and filmmakers to look forward to following around Park City as their films vie among the 16 dramatic and 16 documentary films in competition this year — including a certain Twilight maven, everyone's favorite boy wizard, and two kinds of Bries.
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Watch This || ||

WATCH: Trailer For Stephenie Meyer's 'The Host' Is 'Twilight' With Aliens

WATCH: Trailer For Stephenie Meyer's 'The Host' Is 'Twilight' With Aliens

Can aliens be bigger drama queens than vampires?  Next spring will tell. With the last installment of The Twilight Saga opening this weekend, Summit Entertainment has begun priming Twi-Hards for its next Stephenie Meyer project, The Host, which hits the big screen on March 29.  more »

Contests || ||

Pen a 10-Word Review To Win a Signed Copy of Stephenie Meyer's The Host (Updated With Winners)

Stephenie Meyer - The Host - signed

After introducing the world to Bella Swan and Edward Cullen in her 2005 global hit novel Twilight (thus launching a multi-billion-dollar franchise, which draws to an end in November's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2), author Stephenie Meyer wrote the sci-fi best-seller The Host, about human heroine Melanie Stryder, the alien "soul" who comes to inhabit her, and the dual lives and loves they have while sharing the same body. With a Saoirse Ronan-starring adaptation set for 2013, now's the perfect chance to give The Host a read. Get your shot at winning a signed copy of the book by entering Movieline's latest 10-word review contest! [UPDATED - Read the winning entries!]
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First Looks || ||

The Host Teaser: Stephenie Meyer's Freaky-Eyed Aliens Are Coming For Your Mind, Body, and Soul

The Host (2013)

It's brief, but the newly debuted teaser trailer for the sci-fi romance The Host is here to tantalize you with images of freaky-eyed pod people and star Saoirse Ronan's fierce, unearthly qualities. Adapted from author Stephenie Meyer's non-Twilight novel about a human and an alien symbiote who share the same body, The Host is headed to theaters in 2013 under director Andrew Niccol (In Time), and while this oughta give Host readers a twinge of anticipation, non-fans are likely scratching their heads wondering what Ronan's eyeballs and the vaguely Benetton-like reel of faces has to do with anything.
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Close Reads || ||

Hunger Game-Changer: How Suzanne Collins Made the Most of Hollywood's Young-Adult Obsession

Hunger Games Do's and Don'ts

Suzanne Collins can start her victory lap now. The film version of her first Hunger Games novel is on the brink of blowing up box-office records – and critics and fans like it, too. Other young-adult fantasy authors haven’t been quite so successful in dealing with Hollywood. Some of Collins’s success was luck and good timing: her first Hunger Games book was released a month after Stephenie Meyer’s final Twilight novel appeared, sending publishers and studios alike scrambling for the next young-adult franchise. But Collins also skillfully played the game with and for the filmmakers, making deliberate choices about how she wrote the novels and how she helped market them to the books’ fierce fans. Forget teenage love triangles or wizards vs. werewolves; here's a far more practical list of dos and don'ts for when your popular young-adult fantasy book is being adapted by Hollywood. (Spoilers for lesser movies ahead.)
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Close Reads || ||

Twilight vs. The Hunger Games: Which Series Will Come Out On Top?

Hunger Games vs. Twilight

With Lionsgate's big screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ teen-centric sci-fi survival-adventure The Hunger Games hitting screens this week, it’s kind of impossible not to draw comparisons to that other YA juggernaut series, which concludes its billion-dollar run on pop culture this fall. So how does The Hunger Games measure up to Twilight?
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Close Reads || ||

Summit and Lionsgate Hoping for Sixth Twilight Movie, Of Course

Summit and Lionsgate Hoping for Sixth Twilight Movie, Of Course

File under "Duh": Summit and new overlords Lionsgate say they'd totally be interested in making a sixth Twilight movie, y'know, if author Stephenie Meyer is into it. I get it! It's hard to pass up another shot at making hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention fortunes in merchandising. And it's not like we didn't see this coming; with a first trailer for Breaking Dawn Part 2 set to be attached to Lionsgate's Hunger Games in theaters next month, the studio's pushing hard to make the most of its newfound YA synergy. How can it not try and keep the Twilight cash train rolling?
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Interviews || ||

On Bella's Desire and Beyond: Going Deep on Breaking Dawn with Twilight's Melissa Rosenberg

On Bella's Desire and Beyond: Going Deep on Breaking Dawn with Twilight's Melissa Rosenberg

Throughout the Twilight franchise, one screenwriter has adapted author Stephenie Meyer's bestselling book series about a teenager and her love for a vampire for the screen: Melissa Rosenberg. It's a tricky job, balancing the desire to satisfy fans with the need to make Meyer's 500+ page-novels cinematic, all while transforming heroine Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) from unsteady teen to self-possessed woman. But in Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Bella finally is an agent of her own destiny, her senses awakened, and her choices confident. Was she, as Rosenberg insists, an active heroine under the surface just waiting to spring into action all along?

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Newswire || ||

Weekend Receipts: Breaking Dawn Births Fifth Biggest Opening Weekend of All Time

The Twilight Saga sparkled to another #1 opening, as if you had any doubt; it was just a matter of how many millions Breaking Dawn would rake in, after Friday's $72 million opening day. But while all the excitement over weddings, butter-colored honeymoons, and monster vampire babies couldn't quite help BD eclipse New Moon (groan), it still nudged out Pirates of the Caribbean: The One with the Kraken for the #5 biggest opening of all time. That's forever, baby. Let's get our imprinting on in today's Weekend Receipts.

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