Saoirse Ronan just landed the biggest role of her life: She will be playing leading lady Melanie Stryder/Wanda in the upcoming adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's "The Host."
The news comes to us from Deadline, who learned that the "Hanna" star landed the leading role for the flick. "The Host" is currently without a director (Susanna White pulled out) or any other cast, but the news website seems to think those announcements will be coming during the Cannes Film Festival.
But back to that announcement. At long last, some news on "The Host"! Stephenie's adult sci-fi novel is a big step away from "The Twilight Saga" in terms of content, but everything that we love about Bella, Edward and Jacob's tale is still in this story. There's a strong female lead, a melt-your-heart love triangle and a really interesting take on a seemingly overdone genre.
For a quick brush up on how Saoirse's role(s) will work, the human she will be playing is Melanie Stryder. But Melanie is possessed by Wanda, the alien whose perspective the story is told from, which means Saoirse will be playing two characters in one. Think "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" but, well, cooler.
At first glance, the casting might seem a little bit strange, since Melanie is described as tan skinned with dark hair, and Saoirse is very pale and blond. But beyond that, the fit is perfect—light eyes, athletic build, about 5' 7"—and we actually think with a tan and some hair dye Saoirse would end up looking like a perfect Melanie. We like this casting even more than our earlier suggestions.
And it's not Saoirse's first time playing a kick-butt heroine. "Hanna"'s box-office performance probably lent itself a lot to the fact she was cast as Melanie. She's definitely got the acting range to play two different personalities at the same time, and we're looking forward to seeing some romance tossed into her roles. Maybe now that "The Host" has a perfect Melanie/Wanda, Stephenie Meyer will to get to work on that trilogy she has planned. We can only hope!
Do you think Saoirse is the right fit? Who would you have cast?
** Hollywood Crush Twitter