Twilight writer's sci-fi novel heads for big screen
Stephenie Meyer's The Host, a love triangle involving alien body-snatchers, will be adapted and directed by Gattaca's Andrew Niccol

Ben Child writing in the guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 September 2009

The first book for grown-ups from the writer of the Twilight series, Stephenie Meyer, looks set to follow its teen-vampire predecessors into the multiplexes, Variety reports.

Andrew Niccol, who wrote and directed Gattaca, will reprise both roles for The Host, billed as a love triangle involving two bodies. In a near future in which Earth has been overrun by alien body-snatchers, one of their number is fused with a dying woman in an attempt to track down the planet's last remaining human resistance. However, complications ensue when the alien finds herself falling in love with the human's missing mate.
Producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz funded the rights deal themselves, apparently securing it after impressing Meyer with their vision and collaborative impulse.
"We wanted Stephenie to be involved in the adaptation and have her endorse and be part of the creative decisions," Wechsler said. "Twilight has proven she knows more about what works than most."
Meyer, who spurned a host of other offers for The Host, was heavily involved in the screen transfer of Twilight. It became a huge hit at the worldwide box office last November, taking $383m (£233m) worldwide on a budget of just $37m (£23m).
The next instalment in the Twilight saga, New Moon, arrives in UK and US cinemas on 20 November.