Despite what taking a starring role in the next Stephenie Meyer adaptation might imply, Saoirse Ronan isn’t looking to become the next Kristen Stewart.
“That’s scary,” said Ronan, chatting with me at the press junket for her upcoming young-adult sci-fi film “The Host.” “I think that is for anyone. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen, to be honest. I think ‘Twilight’ was such a phenomenon that it will be awhile before anything like that will happen again. Cause it really influenced pop culture, and the stars of it – well, the people who became stars out of it – their lives were completely changed. And everything was documented. It was a massive change for them, I’m sure. And that’s something that…you know, that kind of attention I wouldn’t be comfortable with. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen, but I certainly wouldn’t know how I’d be about it…I mean, it’d mean at least that the film did well and people liked it, so that’s a good thing.”
Based on Meyers’ 2008 novel of the same name, “The Host” sees the Oscar-nominated Ronan taking on a dual role: “Wanda,” a parasitic alien who inhabits the body of a young woman; and Melanie, the stubborn consciousness of the human host (depicted only in voiceover for the majority of the film’s running time) who refuses to fade into oblivion. And yet despite the negative, “Body Snatcher”-style connotations of an alien race taking over the bodies of human beings as a means of conquering the planet, the “Souls” in question aren’t inherently bad creatures.
“They’re completely benign,” Ronan explained. “The whole ‘Soul’ race is harmless in some ways. I mean, effectively they are killing humans from the inside out, but essentially what they want to do is good. They want to make planet Earth a harmonious place, and make it somewhere that is a good, nice, safe, place to live. So what they’re trying to do is good, but the way they are doing it is a bit destructive.”
To check out the rest of my interview with Ronan, in which the actress also talks about embarking on her first full-on romantic role, you can click on the video above.
“The Host” hits theaters this Friday.