“The Twilight Saga” may not be over quite yet — “Breaking Dawn Part 1” opens next week, with “Part II” following in 2012 — but Stephanie Meyer fans can start looking forward to the movie version of her other fantasy tale, “The Host,” which has just found its leading man.
Max Irons has been tapped to play the lead role of Jared Howe in the big screen adaptation of Meyer’s best-selling 2008 science-fiction novel.
According to EW.com, the actor (the son of Oscar winner Jeremy Irons) joins Saoirse Ronan (“Hanna,” “Atonement”) and Jake Abel in the film, to be directed by Andrew Niccol (“In Time,” “Gattaca”).
Ronan will play Melanie Stryder who, similar to “Twilight,” finds herself as the object of affection for two very different suitors (Irons and Abel). Oh yeah: Stryder’s body is co-inhabited by a powerful alien force known as “Wanderer.”
The film plans to start shooting in Louisiana and New Mexico this February.
Irons was seen in “Being Julia” and the “Twilight” crowd-friendly “Red Riding Hood.” He’ll soon play the title role in the biopic “Vivaldi.”
“The Host” will be released nationwide March 29, 2013.