Singer On 'Giant Killer' and Niccol Tackles Meyers' 'Host'
Can a Meyers' novel that's not Twilght find a theatrical audience?
First off, The Hollywood Reporter brings word Bryan Singer will direct Jack the Giant Killer for New Line Cinema and Legendary Pictures. The film is described as a fantasy adventure written by Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard), telling a story set in motion when a princess is kidnapped, threatening a long-standing peace between men and giants. A young farmer is given an opportunity to lead a dangerous expedition to the giants' kingdom in hopes of rescuing her. Darren Lemke penned the original draft of the script taking a more adult angle at the popular Jack and the Beanstalk tale.
The film is most likely going to be Singer's next movie. The project has no start date but is being fast-tracked. Beyond this Singer is attached to Battlestar Galactica and a remake of John Boorman's 1981 Oscar-nominated King Arthur tale Excalibur.
Secondly we have word Andrew Niccol (Lord of War) is set to write and direct a feature adaptation of "Twilight" author Stephanie Meyers' The Host for producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz who have used their own money to acquire screen rights to the first adult novel written by Meyer.
Mike Fleming at Variety tells us Meyer's novel is a love story set in the near future on Earth, which has been assimilated by an alien species that call themselves "Souls." They are benevolent parasites that subsume the conscious of humans and take possession of their bodies. One such soul, The Wanderer (so named because she has wandered among so many different worlds) is fused with a dying human named Melanie Stryder, in an attempt to locate the last pocket of surviving humans on Earth. The Wanderer cannot subsume the forceful Melanie, and they battle for the girl's memories and her spirit.
So, basically, a twist on Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The plan is to develop the project independently.
Showing 6 Comments
~ PLEASE NOTE ~
If, in any way, your comment is an attack on the author of this post or a previous commenter, your comment will be deleted without question.
Add a New CommentNOTE: The Facebook login option has been disabled. We apologize for any inconvenience. |
Click to Read Our Commenting Rules & Guidelines
So does that mean DJ Caruso is no longer directing a version of Jack the Giant Killer? Or are they planning two…? Caruso was announced at the beginning of the year.
What was the name of the film with Mark Whalberg and Christian Bale that Singer was also attached to do? Anyone know the status in that project?
What? Why is Andrew Niccol, probably one of the most talented and original screenwriters around, lowering himself to adapting a Stephanie Meyer novel? Whatever happened to "Dali & I"? Or "The Cross"? Or even "The City that Sailed"?
Maybe he's just too high-concept and studios aren't willing to hire him anymore, afraid that his ideas aren't commercial enough.
Well, I liked Lord Of War.
Stephenie Meyer is one of the best writers to ever live. I'm not she tells the best story, but I read through Twilight relatively fast because it was written to a point where every moment was entertaining. Most books with better plots bore me because of the way their written. New Moon on the other hand is a different story; it's like Twilight plus Underworld. Eclipse is far better than either one. Breakin Dwawn wasn't as good as Twilight though, it was ok.
I have not read "The Host" mainly because I think $27.99 is way too expensive for a movie or a book ($20 is enough for a movie, $23 for a book max in my opinion). However, anything even remotely similar to any version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers has me interested.
I just finished reading "The Host" last night and it was incredible. To say it is Invasion of the Body Snatchers with a twist is a slight understatement, as it is told through the first person by the "soul" or alien and is an interesting take on how our society would be viewed by an outsider.
That being said, I don't think this would really work as a movie. It is a quite dramatic story where much of it is built around the inner turmoil between the host and soul. Fantastic to read but it might be a little dull to watch
I am a pretty avid reader and not afraid to jump on certain bandwagons, thus I have read all of Stephanie Meyer's books. I did enjoy (for the most part) the Twilight series, but I really enjoyed The Host. It was a little reminiscent of Brave New World meets Invasion of the body snatchers, but still, I thought it was an interesting story. I do fear however, that they will exclude many vital parts of the story if it is made into a movie. I just cant imagine how it can all be put into a 2 hour movie. I enjoy Niccol for the most part, so there is hope.