Join The Community
Hall H was given a surprise sneak peek of body-snatcher sci-fi The Host at Comic-Con today.
The Twilight author's latest novel to be adapted for the big screen sees a dystopian future where parasitic aliens have taken over the bodies of much of the human race.
Saoirse Ronan plays Melanie Stryder, a young woman who becomes the 'host' for 'Wanda', an alien who begins to form a bond with Melanie.
Director Andrew Niccol (who Meyer described as a visionary) appeared briefly to intro the clips, saying they were rough scenes and that he feels like they only stopped the shoot a week ago.
As the footage opens we see Stryder haring up stairs and through corridors pursued by another woman. Finding no escape she smashes through a window and plummets to the ground below.
She wakes in a sterile cell, her irises suddenly strange and azure blue.
"Call me Wanda" She says.
We're then treated to a bit of exposition:
Almost all humans have been successfully occupied, there are small pockets of resistance still located about the country and 'Wanda' intends to use her host's memories to locate other stray humans still fighting back.
Cut to memories of Stryder and her younger brother, hiding under their house as their father shoots himself rather than succumb.
We see dusty pastel landscapes, Stryder and her brother meeting with others - lovers, friends, William Hurt as a sort of protector hiding her in a mountain cave.
Then cut to a road chase. Stryder and her band of rebels hide in trucks chased by impossibly shiny chrome low-flying mini-helicopters, cars, motorbikes and vans, until finally they're surrounded, where the footage ends.
Niccol's record is chequered with Gattaca proving his sci-fi chops and In Time calling them into question again.
Certainly this looks like it has an interesting aesthetic, mixing the natural and the clinical. Ronan's a formidable heroine, and Meyer can pen a decent love story so this could be one to watch.
Either way you'll have to wait until 29 March 2013 to find out.
