Author Stephenie Meyer is obviously best known for writing the Twilight books, but she also wrote a best-seller not filled with vampires, werewolves and teen lust. It’s called The Host and the film version, directed by Andrew Niccol, has just released its first teaser trailer. Starring Saoirse Ronan, The Host is about one woman’s struggle in world where aliens have fused themselves with the majority of humans to create an ideal society. It’ll be released March 29, 2013 and you can check out the teaser after the jump. Read More »
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For quite some time, Disney has been developing a new live-action version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in which the old story would get a fairly modern makeover. Michael Chabon wrote the initial version, but the film has been tweaked a few times over the past decade with directors as disparate as Yuen Wo-ping and Francis Lawrence attached at different times.
Then something happened. Or, really, two somethings happened, as Universal and Relativity Media beat Disney to the punch with Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror, Mirror, both of which are set to open this year. Two live-action Snow White re-tellings is goofy enough, and adding a third would strain audience interest like crazy.
So the Disney movie, which has had various titles over the years (most commonly Snow and the Seven) has been reworked again to eliminate all overt Snow White ties. What’s left is The Order of the Seven, a martial arts action film centered around a young heroine. Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, Hanna) is in talks to take that lead role. Read More »
Posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 by Angie Han
Although this November’s Breaking Dawn Part 2 is the last film currently planned in The Twilight Saga, Stephenie Meyer will be back at the box office again just four months later, with March’s The Host. The adaptation of Meyer’s first non-Twilight novel has been in the works for a couple of years now, and picked up steam last year when Saoirse Ronan and Andrew Niccol (In Time) signed on to star and direct, respectively. Max Irons, Jake Abel, and William Hurt joined a few months later, and now Inglourious Basterds actress Diane Kruger has been announced as the latest addition to the cast. More details after the jump.
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Posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 by Angie Han
Jay Baruchel has built a nice career playing lovable nerds, but for his newest role he’ll be transforming himself into a full-on rock star. The former Undeclared actor has signed on to star in The Rebel Kind, based on a memoir by John Armstrong. As frontman of The Modernettes, Armstrong — or “Buck Cherry,” as he was called then — was at the heart of the rising Vancouver punk scene in the ’80s.
Reg Harkema (Monkey Warfare) has written the script and is set to direct, with Patrick Carroll, Andria Spring, and Kevin Eastwood producing. The Rebel Kind will shoot next fall in Vancouver. Baruchel will next star in the hockey comedy Goon, which he wrote with Evan Goldberg. [Variety]
After the jump, Atonement actress Saoirse Ronan revisits World War II — this time as a New Yorker — and Skins star Kaya Scodelario steps in for Rooney Mara.
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Posted on Monday, November 14th, 2011 by Angie Han
Hot off two of the year’s most buzzed-about performances in Albert Nobbs and Martha Marcy May Marlene, Glenn Close and Elizabeth Olsen have signed on to star in Thérèse Raquin. Charlie Stratton is writing and directing the erotic thriller, which is based on a 19th century novel and play by Émile Zola. Olsen will lead the cast as the titular young woman, who’s pushed into an unhappy marriage by her overbearing aunt (Close). Thérèse eventually falls into a passionate affair with her husband’s friend Laurent, with destructive consequences for all involved.
Close has reportedly been attached to the film for years, though Olsen’s involvement appears to be a recent development. Thérèse Raquin is scheduled to begin shooting this spring. [Entertainment Weekly]
After the jump, David Schwimmer gears up to kill people and Saoirse Ronan gets another love interest for The Host.
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Posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 by Angie Han
With Saoirse Ronan already locked in for Andrew Niccol‘s The Host, the search is on for two handsome young lads to play the male leads. Jake Abel has just been selected for the part of Ian, beating out several competitors including Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines), Thomas McDonnell (Prom), and Augustus Prew (Charlie St. Cloud). Abel, who’s still negotiating his deal, has worked with Ronan once previously on Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. More recently, he’s also starred in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and I Am Number Four.
Based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer, The Host revolves around a woman named Melanie (Ronan) whose body is possessed by an alien parasite named Wanderer. Ian is a human who initially attacks Wanderer, but eventually falls in love with her. The other major mail character, that of Melanie’s boyfriend Jared, is still being cast; Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones), Jai Courtney (One Shot), and Max Irons (Red Riding Hood) are among the contenders for that part. [Deadline]
After the jump, Taken 2 adds another newcomer and Rose McGowan gets some company in Napa.
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Posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 by Angie Han
With the uber-successful Twilight film series due to end next November, Hollywood is turning its attention that other Stephenie Meyer adaptation, the sci-fi romance The Host. In Time writer/director Andrew Niccol boarded the project earlier this year with Saoirse Ronan set to star, and now a group of young up-and-comers are getting ready to compete for the two male leads.
Liam Hemsworth (The Last Song), Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones), Jai Courtney (Spartacus: Blood and Sand), and Max Irons (Red Riding Hood) are set to test for a character named Jared, while Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines), Thomas McDonnell (Prom), Augustus Prew (Charlie St. Cloud), and Jake Abel (The Lovely Bones) will test for the part of Ian. More details after the jump.
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I’d like to make this the ‘leading lady’ edition of Casting Bits, but I don’t think Caleb Landry Jones would like that very much. (Jason Segel would probably be OK with it.) Still, after the break you’ll find that two films have chosen their lead actresses, while Jones joins Jordan. Ahem. To wit:
- Alexandra Maria Lara (above) takes the (female) lead in Ron Howard’s racing movie Rush,
- Cody Horn will be the leading lady in Soderbergh’s Magic Mike,
- Caleb Landry Jones, aka the First Class version of Banshee, joins Neil Jordan’s Byzantium,
- and, as a final note, Jason Segel appears to be confirmed for Judd Apatow’s This is Forty.
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