Monster Love from L.A. Times' Hero Complex & Two New Images

Twilight is over and the Hunger Games' tributes are still doing their pre-game stretches. What are moviegoers to do in their spare time? How about spending some time with the undead, dark, and alien. L.A. Times' Hero Complex chatted with the directors of Warm Bodies, Beautiful Creatures, and The Host about finding their audience and tackling teenage romance. 

From Hero Complex: Romance proved challenging too for writer-director Andrew Niccol, who in his quest to adapt Meyer’s lesser known yet still bestselling novel “The Host” was tasked with creating a believable love-triangle-turned-love-rectangle when his protagonist played by Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (“Atonement”) is invaded by an alien being, nicknamed Wanda, who falls in love with a different boy from the one the host character Melanie loves.

“In this case I think it’s the complexity of this particular relationship [that's attracting audiences],” said Niccol, who collaborated closely with Meyer in adapting her sprawling 650-page novel into a digestible film due out on March 29. His budget was $35 million. The New Zealand director’s previous work included such sci-fi films as “Gattaca” and last year’s Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried vehicle “In Time.”

“I think that’s great for teenage girls who are starting to think romantically about the choices they have. The complexity of that is enticing,” he said.

Check out the entire article here.