An alien situation
A space invader experiences the complexity of young love and loyalty in Thehost.
Host.
its film version, directed by andrew Niccol, shows a future in which an alien species called the Souls have taken over mankind’s existence. There are a few remaining humans, like Melanie (irish actress Saoirse ronan) and Jared Howe (Max irons). They find comfort in each other and eventually fall in love.
Unfortunately, their happiness turns out to be brief as Melanie is captured and a Soul named Wanderer – or simply Wanda – is “inserted” into Melanie. Strangely enough, Wanda begins to form an emotional attachment to Melanie’s memories and, ultimately, to accept the concept of loving someone.
To ensure everything is kept faithful to the 650-page novel, director Niccol worked closely with Meyer – who doubles up as a producer – to make a125-minute film. Below is an interview transcript provided by the film distributor, Nusantara edaran Filem, with Meyer answering some questions about the movie.
Twilight
The
What did you do to capture the same audience as the book’s?
Most of it was andrew Niccol, who also did the screenplay. From the beginning, i felt like i was in really good hands. it wasn’t too much what i had to do besides just sort of be a part of the conversation, what we were doing and talk about how i wanted the feel of it to be. i really liked what he was able to glean as he sorted it down, which i SaoirSe ronan had a voice whispering in her ear while working on the new sci-fi romance The Host. and it wasn’t the film’s director.
ronan plays Melanie, a young woman whose body has been taken over by an alien, known as Wanda. The two end up sharing a body, which meant most of the time during filming, the irish actress was talking to herself.
ronan recorded the lines for the alien, which were played back to her through a tiny earpiece. only she and the director, andrew Niccol, could hear both sides of the conversation.
She laughs, saying that part was easy because she tends to chat with herself anyway.
“it did take a bit to get used to it,” says ronan. “also, because we were shooting out in the desert, it would go in and out of frequency. and it had this really high-pitched sound when the signal was gone.
“So that would come into my ears and my ears are very sensitive anyway. So that was a pain.”
Dealing with those technological issues were just part of the demands of the role.
First, ronan had to make both sides of her character come across as different as possible. She accomplished this through body language
can’t do. i can’t abridge.
What is it like to see your story come to life on the big screen?
it’s a really interesting process because there’s stuff you lose with a book this long when making it into a movie. But so many of the things we were able to do really had the heart of the story. The casting is always such a big deal and if you can get that right then things tend to work out. i felt like the cast was just amazing on this. They did such a good job. it always makes me cry.
It was probably a relief to know that you are working with such as seasoned actress (Ronan) – essentially she’s playing two in one.
That was really huge because we knew we were going to ask someone to play two characters. and initially this was a very complicated independent movie, this wasn’t done with a studio because a lot and using two american accents – one slightly Southern, the other more Middle america.
once she found the right voices, there were the physical demands that come with making a sci-fi tale. of studios just didn’t understand how you are going to make that clear. and the director and i always felt like it was just a really great performance, this isn’t going to be special effects and we just knew we had to have a really great actress. Then we got Saoirse and we were all very, very happy.
has been getting a lot of comparisons with Is this warranted?
For me, they are so separate. But because i wrote them both, they’re always going to have that ... since Twilight was this big deal. There’s always going to be comparisons, but i wish that we could separate them a lot more because i feel like it’s something so different.
and what these gentlemen have done, what Saoirse has done is just this really amazing thing and i wish we could do it in a vacuum, but of course it’s not possible, so we’ll just deal with what we have. That part was easier because ronan had made the physically demanding 2011 release Hanna, which prepared her for stunt work. it was Hanna that convinced The Host producers ronan could handle the
Your books contain all these complex worlds. What’s the writing process like when you are coming up with all these ideas?
Coming up with the ideas is the easy part. This story started with three characters, two bodies. i had the idea of two people in one body in love with the same person and that was the seed it started from. once you have an idea of your characters, all the rest of it just sort of grows around that. i’ve never had a problem fleshing it out; my problem is going too long. So keeping it a nice tidy story is not my gift; being complicated is a lot more of what i do.
My life has a lot of really good people in it, so i tend to look at people and try to understand their demands of the role.
and now there are the demands that come with making a movie based on a popular Stephenie Meyer book. The last young actors who starred in movie based on april 3 (today)
9pm 9.30pm GSC Tropicana City Mall, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Date: Redemption: Screening: Venue:
> Just cut out this coupon and redeem your tickets at the cinema stated above. > only original coupons will be accepted (no photocopies, please). > each coupon redeems two tickets, on a first come, first served basis while stocks last. The screening is free seating. > each person is entitled to redeem one coupon only. > Please note that the method of distributing the tickets is at the sole discretion of the distributor and no correspondence will be entertained. motives. i think people act in ways that seem reasonable and right to them, but this doesn’t apply to everyone.
in this i don’t have a lot of real bad guys because the aliens are super nice, kind of like Canadians and polite all the time, so they’re not bad except that they’ve wiped us all out. it just depends on where your priorities are.
With the other series, there are different levels of evil and different levels of how sick some of them get, but i like to think the world is a good place, full of good people. i get proven wrong a lot, but i guess i’m still hopeful.
TheHost is in cinemas on April 4. Meyer’s books ( Twilight saga) were vaulted into superstardom.
ronan hasn’t thought too much about that kind of residual effect. She looks at The Host as just another acting job, plus she’s worked on three other projects since shooting wrapped.
“i am aware with a movie like this, that at least in book form, becomes part of a franchise and you do get a lot of attention. i don’t know how i will react to something like that because the film’s i’ve made have never gotten attention like that,” says ronan.
“So i’m not used to that kind of stuff. But, i’ll just wait and see. it may not happen. You never know.”
if stardom comes, the actress is ready. Despite being only 18, ronan’s worked as an actress half her life and already has an oscar nomination for her work in Atonement.
Her fellow actors and Niccol agree: ronan is so grounded and professional they know she can handle fame.
on hearing that praise, the actress blushes slightly and jokingly suggests she paid them all to say it.
She adds, in a more serious tone: “if you are in love with the work, and working, then you won’t get swept up in it.” – The Fresno Bee/ McClatchy-Tribune information Services