Writer/director Andrew Niccol’s The Host opens this holiday weekend with star Saoirse Ronan (Hanna).  Adapted from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi novel of the same name, The Host centers on Melanie Stryder (Ronan), one of the last human survivors of an alien invasion.  Unfortunately for Melanie, she’s quickly captured and implanted with an alien parasite known as a Soul, which attempts to replace her consciousness and take over her body; Melanie isn’t having it. The two entities must learn to cooperate or face the loss of the loved ones they each hold dear.

While Niccol makes his best attempt at adapting this story, the fault lies with the source material.  The tension that manifests in the first two acts rapidly diminishes in a lackluster conclusion that, while certainly an original take on conflict resolution, ultimately falls flat on screen.  Hit the jump for my review of The Host.

In the upcoming Andrew Niccol film The Host, Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) plays an alien named Seeker who becomes obsessed with tracking down a band of rebellious humans who continue to mount a resistance against the invasion of Earth.  At the heart of Seeker’s hunt is Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan), a human who continues to rebel against the Soul implanted in her body and who may inadvertantly lead the Seeker to eradicating the humans once and for all.

During a recent press event, we were able to interview Kruger about The Host, her playing a somewhat antagonistic character for the first time, the film’s aesthetics and Niccol’s vision, as well as Meyer’s input on Kruger’s character.  She also updated us on the progress of National Treasure 3, as well as her upcoming arthouse film The Green Blade Rises and the status of her new FX drama, The Bridge.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

Open Road Pictures has released a new trailer for writer/director Andrew Niccol’s (Gattaca) sci-fi film The Host.  Based on the novel of the same name by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, the film stars Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder, one of the last remaining humans on Earth after a race of parasitic aliens has taken over most of the world.  Melanie attempts to fight back against her parasite and sets out to free other humans, if they’ll accept her as one of them.  This trailer teases a bit more of the film’s love triangle and Niccol’s characteristically clean-looking sci-fi world.  Knowing very little about how the story plays out, I’m interested to see if the film marks a step up in maturity from Meyer’s Twilight franchise or if it skews closer towards the YA demographic.  Having Niccol onboard as the director is definitely a good sign.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer, and click here to check out five clips from the pic.  The film also stars Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, William Hurt, Frances Fisher and Boyd Holbrook.  The Host opens on March 29th.

Open Road Pictures has released a new trailer for writer/director Andrew Niccol’s (Gattaca, In Time) adaptation of the Stephenie Meyer sci-fi novel The Host. The story takes place in a future where a parasitic alien species is nearly finished wiping out the human population by taking over the consciousness of each person.  A soul named Wanderer is attempting to take control of Melanie Stryder’s (Saoirse Ronan) consciousness, but faces strong opposition by what remains of the girl.  This trailer finally does a swell job of explaining the film’s plot, and Niccol looks to have crafted a really cool-looking sci-fi world.  I’m still not entirely sure whether the story plays out as a romance or as more of a thriller, but I’m intrigued nonetheless.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer. The film also stars Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, William Hurt, and Boyd Holbrook.  The Host opens on March 29th.

FX has made a series commitment to one of its more interesting pilots.  The network announced today that it has ordered a 13-episode first season of the drama The Bridge, which stars Demián Bichir and Diane Kruger.  The show is based on the Scandinavian series Bron and centers on two detectives from the United States and Mexico who must work together to hunt down a serial killer operating on both sides of the American-Mexican border.  Meredith Stiehm (Homeland) and Elwood Reid (Hawaii Five-0) created the series and wrote the pilot with Bichir in mind for the male lead, and they will act as executive producers on the show.

The most compelling storytelling is currently happening on cable television, and viewers are moving outside network television more and more, as evidenced by this past Sunday’s record-breaking numbers for AMC’s The Walking Dead.  FX’s The Bridge sounds like a promisingly swell addition to the current cable landscape, and I look forward to checking it out when the series debuts this July.  The pilot was directed by Gerardo Naranjo (Miss Bala) and production on the remaining episodes begins in April.  Hit the jump for the press release.

Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger, and Emile Hirsch have signed on to star in 1940s drama Midnight Sun.  Written and directed by Chris Eigeman (Turn the River; he also starred in Whit Stillman‘s Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco), the film “follows two young post graduates recruited by the US Government to work on a top-secret project in New Mexico. Along with one of the students’ new wife, they drop their jazz-filled lives in New York and move to a secret community of scientists in the desert.”  As everyone knows, desert scientists hate jazz.

According to Screen Daily, shooting is set to begin this summer.  Hit the jump for a refresher on the stars’ other projects.

With a generation of Tweens (and beyond) saying goodbye to The Twilight Saga, a new Stephenie Meyer adaptation will fill the vampire/werewolf void with soul-stealing alien parasites; how dreamy!  The sci-fi flick from writer/director Andrew Niccol (In Time) stars Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) as a young woman who is among the last humans to be taken over by the alien parasites, though her spirit won’t give up without a fight.  We’ve got 13 new images from The Host, which opens March 29th, that also show off co-stars Diane Kruger, Boyd Holbrook, Max Irons and Jake Abel.  Hit the jump to take a look. 

A new trailer for The Host has gone online.  It does a solid job of setting up the plot, and sells the love-story angle hard, which is what you would expect when you bill the flick as coming from Stephanie Meyer, author of The Twilight Saga.  I’m just not sure if the sci-fi element will attract or turn off the audience the movie intends to attract.  Even though Twilight has werewolves and vampires, no one would call it anything but a romance.  Hunger Games has an easier time of selling itself as an action-adventure with a romantic subplot.  But The Host hasn’t been the literary success of either of those franchises, and without that support, I don’t know how the film will do, especially when March is so crowded with big releases.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, William Hurt, Jake Abel and Max Irons.  The Host opens March 29, 2013.

Fresh off a great but minor role in Pitch Perfect (which she also produced), Elizabeth Banks has been set as the lead in the comedy Walk of Shame.  The actress will play an aspiring Los Angeles TV news anchor who, after losing an audition for her dream job, goes out for an uncharacteristic night of hard partying and drinking.  She wakes up the next morning with no money, car, or memory of the previous night’s events, but finds a message from her agent telling her that she actually won the audition and must be on the air by 5pm.  She then “must embark on a ‘walk of shame’ across hostile neighborhoods” in a presumably eventful quest that will lead her to the station by 5:00.

Per Variety, Steven Brill (Heavy Weights, Mr. Deeds, Little Nicky) is directing from his own script, with production set to begin in January.  Hit the jump for casting news concerning the romantic comedy 5 to 7.

Another Abraham Lincoln feature film has arisen and it is set to star Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds).  The Green Blade Rises will see Kruger play the 16th President’s stepmother, Sarah Lincoln.  This summer has already seen the rise and fall of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and we’ll see Steven Spielberg’s effort, Lincoln, this November with Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. Produced by Terrence Malick and written/directed by A.J. Edwards, The Green Blade Rises will focus on the formative days of Lincoln, the tragedy that ended his life and the women who guided him along the way.  Hit the jump for more on this project.

The first trailer for the adaptation of Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi novel The Host has gone online. This is the very definition of a teaser trailer, but the lack of footage isn’t exactly unexpected given that the movie’s still filming and doesn’t come out for over a year. I’m not sure what all this glowing eye stuff is about, but I’m sure those who have read the book can fill me in. In the world of the film, a parasitic alien species is nearly finished wiping out the human population by taking over the consciousness of each person. A soul named Wanderer is attempting to take control of Melanie’s (Saoirse Ronan) consciousness, but faces strong opposition by what remains of the girl. I’m a big fan of writer-director Andrew Niccol‘s work and Ronan is a killer actress, so I’m quite intrigued by the project as a whole. I’m not exactly sure what the point of releasing a trailer this early was, but I’m sure we’ll get a better look at the film later this year (in front of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, perhaps?). If you missed them, check out the first images from the film here.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, William Hurt, and Frances Fisher. The Host opens on March 29th, 2013. [Update: We've updated the article with four hi-res images from the film]

The first scans of images from Andrew Niccol’s (Gattaca) adaptation of Twilight author Stephanie Meyer’s The Host have gone online. The first trailer hits tomorrow, even though the film doesn’t come out for another year. In the world of the film, a parasitic alien species is nearly finished wiping out the human population by taking over the consciousness of each person. A soul named Wanderer is attempting to take control of Melanie’s (Saoirse Ronan) consciousness, but faces strong opposition by what remains of the girl. Though I’m wary of anything by Meyer, I’m a big fan of Niccol’s work (even In Time had its moments) and he’s assembled quite a cast.

Hit the jump to check out the images, which feature Ronan, Max Irons as one of the male leads, and Diane Kruger as the villain/alien president. The Host opens on March 29th, 2013.

As production looms closer for Andrew Niccol’s (In Time) adaptation of the Stephanie Meyer sci-fi novel The Host, the director continues to fill out his cast. Saoirse Ronan is onboard as the protagonist Melanie, a young woman whose body is invaded by an alien name Wanderer. Diane Kruger (Inglorious Basterds) is now apparently in talks to play The Seeker. In the world of the film, a parasitic alien species is nearly finished wiping out the human population by taking over the consciousness of each person. A soul named Wanderer is attempting to take control of Melanie’s consciousness, but faces strong opposition by what remains of the girl. Hit the jump for more.

Back in August, we reported that a number of actresses were in the running to star in one of two lead female roles opposite Tom Cruise in Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski’s sci-fi pic Horizons (the project has also been referred to as Oblivion, but every story seems to go back and forth on what the title is). Jessica Chastain eventually won the role, and since “shortlist” and “reading with” stories are all the rage, three actresses are now apparently poised to read for the other lead role with Cruise this weekend: Kate Beckinsale, Diane Kruger, and Captain America’s Hayley Atwell. Hit the jump for more.

Now that Len Wiseman’s remake of Total Recall has Colin Farrell in the role originally played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1990 Paul Verhoeven film, the film is casting for the lead female roles.  For those who haven’t seen the original film, the two lead female roles are Douglas Quaid’s (Farrell) wife Lori (played in the original film by Sharon Stone) and the other is Martian freedom fighter Melina (originally played by Rachel Ticotin).

Deadline reports that Diane Kruger and Kate Bosworth have read for the role of Lori; Paula Patton, Jessica Biel, and Eva Green have read for Melina, and Eva Mendes has read for both roles.  Hit the jump for my thoughts on the casting.  Total Recall is set to open on August 3, 2012.