The Host is Stephenie Meyer's first non-Twilight adaptation, directed by Andrew Niccol. Serving as a producer on film, Meyer faced the unique challenge of observing the film's production while simultaneously penning a sequel. "It’s really tough. I mean, it’s such a different kind of creative expenditure. When you’re working on the movies, it’s very collaborative, there’s a lot of other people involved. When you’re writing, it’s all you all the time and it is interesting to have the actors in the back of my head and think, ‘Anything that I write down, they may have to do.’ It’s a little bit more challenging to have that distraction."
Meyer on why she won't write a screenplay: "I just don’t think I can abridge. I can make it longer. I can always make things longer than I intend for them to be, but cutting things down is just brutal. It’s like cutting off your fingers every time you lose a word. I know that I can’t do that, and I’m happy to have someone come in who can be a little bit more distanced from it."
Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, National Treasure) plays The Seeker in Meyer's sci-fi, dystopian adaptation -- about a future in which human bodies have been taken over by alien Souls -- which is planned to expand into a trilogy. "The Seeker is very interesting because on paper, she’s portrayed as the bad guy, but the judge is still out whether or not she really is the bad guy," says Kruger. "My character has more possibilities still to come [in future sequels]. Especially with the human aspect."
Jake Abel (I Am Number Four, The Lovely Bones) is at the heart of the story's love triangle as Ian O'Shea, the skeptical human who falls for a Soul called Wanderer. "I play a lot of villains, so I’ve been wanting to play someone that had something different going on and Ian was definitely that," says Abel.
