GIVEAWAY: Win Prizes from “The Host”!

March 18, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in General News 6 Comments

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It’s one of the most anticipated films of the year and we’ve partnered with Open Road Films to give away some great prizes to celebrate the release of “The Host”!

What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye? “The Host” is the next epic love story from the creator of the “Twilight Saga,” worldwide bestselling author, Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about — Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) , proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.

THE HOST hits theaters nationwide March 29th, 2013! Click below to see what’s up for grabs. This contest is for US RESIDENTS only. Sorry international fans!

“The Host” Star Max Irons Confirmed for “Posh”

March 17, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

max-irons “The Host” star Max Irons is the first actor to be confirmed to be joining Lone Scherfig’s adaptation of hit play “Posh”, according to THR. On Friday Irons, Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth and Robert Pattinson were first reported to be in various stages of discussions with the production about taking four of the ten or so roles available.

THR also echos the original report that Pattinson, out of all the actors, is the least solidified, indicating “he’s being circled more than he’s circling” the project. Laura Wade’s 2010 hit play of the same name concerned The Riot Club, a fictional version of The Bullingdon Club, an exclusive society at Oxford University to which such prominent British figures as Prime Minister David Cameron belonged. The entire play is set over the course of one evening when the ten members of the club have their termly dinner. As their President, James, considers leaving his post, the other boys jocky for position, leading to tragic consequences. No word on who Irons will play, though we initially heard he is in talks for one of the lead roles.

The son of legendary actor Jeremy Irons, the younger Irons has quickly racked up a teen heartthrob reputation thanks to roles in Catherine Hardwicke’s “Red Riding Hood” fairy tale redo opposite Amanda Seyfried and the upcoming alien invasion action romance “The Host” opposite Saoirse Ronan, based on “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer’s novel. He recently wrapped up filming on BBC miniseries “The White Queen”, which will premiere later this year.

Robert Pattinson, Max Irons, Sam Claflin and Douglas Booth In Talks for “Posh”

March 15, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

posh Make room for the new Brit Pack. Some of the hottest rising British actors are in various stages of negotiations for “An Education” director Lone Scherfig’s adaptation of play “Posh”, with The Daily Mail reporting “Twilight”‘s Robert Pattinson, “The Hunger Games”‘ Sam Claflin, “The Host”‘s Max Irons and “Jupiter Ascending” star Douglas Booth are just four of the names being bandied about.

An adaptation of Laura Wade’s 2010 hit play of the same name, Irons, Pattinson, Claflin and Booth would play members of The Riot Club, a fictional version of The Bullingdon Club, an exclusive society at Oxford University to which such prominent British figures as Prime Minister David Cameron belonged. The entire play is set over the course of one evening when the ten members of the club have their termly dinner. As their President, James, considers leaving his post, the other boys jocky for position, leading to tragic consequences. Daily Mail reports Irons is being sought for one of the lead roles, while Pattinson is still in very early talks and also mulling over other projects.

Irons, son of Jeremy Irons, was last seen in “Red Riding Hood” and will soon appear opposite Saoirse Ronan in “The Host”, so he could probably use a film such as this, which will show off more serious acting chops. Pattinson was the original Stephenie Meyer heartthrob, having originated Edward Cullen to screaming fans in “Twilight” in 2008 and only wrapped up the five film series last November. he’s moved on to much more interesting projects, including the currently filming David Michod thriller “The Rover.”

Claflin is one of our Faces to Watch in 2013, mostly because “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” may test once and for all whether he has blockbuster leading man potential (his past blockbuster roles in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Snow White and the Huntsman” were rather lackluster). Booth, the only one without a YA novel franchise adaptation under his belt, will be seen as one half of the titular “Romeo and Juliet” opposite Hailee Steinfeld later this year and is now filming the Wachowskis’ “Jupiter Ascending” with Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis.

Watch: Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons in third trailer for “The Host”

February 16, 2013 | Posted by Araceli Roach in Videos 1 Comment

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It’s still up in the air whether Stephenie Meyer’s follow-up to “Twilight” has what it takes to be the next big young adult franchise, but the newest trailer for “The Host” at least gives us a lot more to go on. An alien invasion, the battle for the human race, a girl fighting for control of her own mind, and searching for the brother and love she lost, is exactly what made the original novel so compelling in the first place.

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol (“Gattaca”), the film stars Saoirse Ronan as Melanie, one of the lone survivors of an invasion by Souls, aliens who take control of their hosts and have set out to protect the planet from the destructive human population. After Melanie is taken over by a Soul called Wanderer, she must fight back to stop them from using her to find the last of the resistance.

The trailer, which premiered this past week during a Google Hangout with the film’s three leads Ronan, Max Irons and Jake Abel, also features glimpses of stars Diane Kruger, William Hurt and Frances Fisher. “The Host” will be in theaters next month on March 29th, but for now you can see the new trailer below.

The newest YA heroine needs a co-star. Who should play Four in “Divergent”?

January 31, 2013 | Posted by Lindsey Young in Casting, Features 1 Comment

With the announcement that Shaliene Woodley has been cast in the lead role in the upcoming dystopian “Divergent“, as well as Kate Winslet being in talks for an unknown role, this adaptation of the YA novel just got a little more real. Naturally, the next course of action will be to seek out other young individuals (well-known or perhaps not) to fill out the rest of the roles of Tris’ friends and foes alike. It’s no surprise that among Tris’ circle of friends is a love interest, and yes, it’s time to play the casting game again.

After Woodley’s negotiations became public knowledge last year, names were thrown into the casting mix for the pivotal role of “Four”, Tris’ mentor-turned-love interest. Alexander Ludwig (Cato of “The Hunger Games“) tweeted that he had a meeting with Lionsgate about the role. Not too long after, “Teen Wolf” star Colton Haynes caused much speculation among fans when he announced his departure from the MTV show and soon after followed Veronica Roth, author of “Divergent” on twitter while tweeting that he had some “news” to share soon. Related instances? Who knows. They were, however, perhaps meaningless ones as earlier this month, Alex Pettyfer, Lucas Till and Jeremy Irvine were reported to have auditioned for the role. The search is definitely on, but nothing and no one has been confirmed as of yet.

Of the names who have been thrown into the pool, there are some that we at Up and Comers could see as Four – but then there are also some that we think should stay far, far away from this adaptation lest they just turn him into another lacking portrayal of a character with so much to work with. In the words of our Tris Prior herself, “This character needs to be extremely masculine, and his eyes need to scream vulnerability and sensitivity.” We agree, Shailene. And so here are five actors that we think would be great as Tris’ mentor and eventual love interest.

EXCLUSIVE: Is Emily Browning playing a certain pivotal character in “The Host”?

November 20, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 5 Comments

Though this hasn’t been officially confirmed and should be considered a rumor for all intents and purposes, a reliable source tells us that Australian actress Emily Browning plays the pivotal role of Pet in Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer’s “The Host.”

The alien invasion action-romance stars Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Boyd Holbrook, Diane Kruger and William Hurt and has already wrapped filming, but Browning is a pretty logical choice for the role which has been kept tightly under wraps until now, considering the cameo-sized part would have taken no time at all to shoot and she was dating Irons in real life at the time of filming. If you haven’t read the book, we won’t spoil the details of her character, but suffice to say she shows up at towards the story’s conclusion. “The Host” will be released on March 29, 2013.

Browning earned raves as the star of Julia Leigh’s “Sleeping Beauty” and recently wrapped up a quartet of indie films: period romance “Summer in February” with Dominic Cooper and Dan Stevens, thriller “Magic Magic” with Michael Cera and Juno Temple, musical drama “God Help the Girl” with Hannah Murray and Olly Alexander and erotic thriller “Plush” with “Twilight” stars Cam Gigandet and Xavier Samuel.

Watch: New trailer for “The Host” shows the beginning of a love story between Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons

November 13, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 3 Comments

Without any sequel novels written as of yet, the big screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s “The Host” probably doesn’t have much of a chance of being the next “Twilight”, but it’s certainly reaching for a chunk of that soon-to-be-in-mourning audience with this newest trailer. Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons are featured heavily as the star-crossed lovers who get torn apart in the midst of an alien invasion taking over the bodies and brains of human beings. When Ronan’s Melanie is captured and taken over, she fights against the new alien Soul inhabiting her body and attempts to return to Irons’ Jared, but he’s not so sure the new Melanie can be trusted.

Since it’s an alien vs human action flick directed by Andrew Niccol, the aesthetics are more cerebral and rather muted, making the action scenes look somewhat awkward, at least as far as we can see from this new trailer. Let’s hope the human relationship drama is stronger and the beautiful young cast has some chemistry, but given how big of a disappointment Niccol’s last film “In Time” was, we are keeping our expectations lowered for this one.

“The Host” will be released on March 29, 2013 and the trailer can be viewed below.

Choose: Saoirse Ronan flanked by Max Irons and Jake Abel on new poster for “The Host”

November 12, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 1 Comment

Sure, Andrew Niccol’s new action flick “The Host” is mostly about the alien invasion, but it’s also based on the novel of the same name, which was written by the author of the “Twilight” series, so you betcha romance plays a big part of it too.

The new poster shows Saiorse Ronan front and center as Melanie Stryder, a human who’s been overtaken by an alien “Soul” (you can tell by her weird eyes), but who still fights to hold on to her humanity, flanked by Max Irons as Jared and Jake Abel as Ian, the two guys Melanie gets caught between in the midst of trying to fight off the aliens and save the small pocket of humans still left fighting. It’s not easy being the heroine of a YA novel!

“The Host” is set for release on March 29, 2013. See the full size poster below, via Fandango.

Watch: First footage from the set of “The Host” with Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons

May 28, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

Filming is still underway in New Mexico, but today MTV has our first look at some filming footage from the set of Andrew Niccol’s alien invasion actioner “The Host”, based on “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer’s non-vampire adult novel. Saoirse Ronan takes the role of Melanie Stryder, one of the last few remaining humans on earth who haven’t been taken over by alien Souls (or hosts). When she does get taken over, her will to live is so strong she and the new inhabitant in her body, an alien called Wanderer, fight for dominance as they try to track down Max Irons‘ Jared, Melanie’s boyfriend, and their small pocket of human resistance, forced literally underground into hiding.

We have our first look at some of the intricate caves and tunnels that the group lives in, and naturally, much of the focus is on the romance aspect of the story. Irons’ Jared is conflicted because he can’t decide whether to kiss or kill the new and not-so-improved Melanie. Hmmmm, sounds pretty similar to another Meyer heartthrob.

“The Host” will be released on March 29, 2013, and you can watch the brief first footage from the set below.

New still images from Saoirse Ronan-starrer “The Host”, including first look at Jake Abel as Ian O’Shea

April 19, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 2 Comments

UPDATE: The images have been taken down by studio request, though as far as I can tell they are still accessible at the Facebook page from which they originated.

Several new stills from Andrew Niccol’s alien actioner “The Host” were released today, featuring new looks at Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder and Wanderer, the alien Soul that has invaded Melanie’s body (you can tell she’s no longer “human” by the eyes), Max Irons as Melanie’s boyfriend Jared, and last but not least, the first look at Jake Abel as fan-favorite Ian O’Shea, the sensitive guy who falls for Wanderer. Ta-da, a love quadrangle in three bodies is born.

Niccol is currently shooting the film based on “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer’s first adult novel, in New Mexico. Also below is a first look at William Hurt as Jeb, Melanie’s uncle and the leader of a small group of human resistance who live underground and are the last of the humans on earth who haven’t been taken over by aliens. We’ve already seen Diane Kruger as the alien Seeker, sworn to follow Wanderer/Melanie to their group.

“The Host” is still just about a year away from release, with an expected date of March 29, 2013 but The Host Spanish Facebook page posted the new stills~~, which you can see below.~~

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