I’ll admit a bit of a soft spot for writer/director Andrew Niccol. He manages to create pretty amazing worlds and tell stories with style. Plus, and this is a disclaimer, I had the pleasure to work with him a bit during the making of Gattica and enjyoed it very much, so I’m probably a bit biased.

It’s with much interest, then, that I watched the new trailer for his upcoming film In Time, which Fox and New Regency released over the weekend. It’s a futuristic science fiction thriller that takes place in a world where people who want to live past age 25 have to purchase more time.

Here’s the setup: “When Will Salas is falsely accused of murder, he must figure out a way to bring down a system where time is money – literally – enabling the wealthy to live forever while the poor, like Will, have to beg, borrow, and steal enough minutes to make it through another day.”

Check out the trailer after the break. In Time, which features Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde and Cillian Murphy, opens on October 28th.

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I have mixed feelings about this news coming out of Cannes today. At least I’m happy to see this guy getting more work as I’m a fan and had the pleasure of working with him once long ago.

It seems Truman Show writer and Gattica director Andrew Nicol is taking on directing duties for the big screen adaptation of the Stephanie Meyer book The Host. The project, which is being shopped at Cannes by Inferno Entertainment and producers Nick Wechsler and Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz, will star Saoirse Ronan.

Here’s some more info on the film:

Ronan will play Melanie Stryder, one of the last humans battling an alien species called Souls. These parasites invade human bodies, fuse to each person’s consciousness and systematically erase their personalities.

The story follows Melanie as she is captured by the aliens and implanted by a Soul called Wanderer. Wanderer wants Melanie to give up the remaining humans, but instead the alien finds Melanie to be unique in her unwillingness to surrender her consciousness.

Wanderer is so overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories and feelings that she is driven to reconnect with Melanie’s old life, which includes falling for Melanie’s boyfriend. The result is a complex, romantic and emotional human/alien love triangle.

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News broke a while back that there are plans to return to the Men in Black franchise with a third film and original stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones would also return to reprise their roles. Smith was on board and ready to go, until another film of his got greenlit over at Fox. That film? The City That Sailed. From Variety:

Penned by Andrew Niccol, “City that Sailed” revolves around a New York street magician who is unhappily separated from his young daughter. The girl, who moves to London, finds magic candles that make her wishes comes true, with unintended consequences: The island of Manhattan separates from the continent and floats toward England, bringing her dad ever closer. There’s no director yet on the project.

Smith has been off-screen for some time and hasn’t had a hit since his 2008 film Hancock (which is also being talked about for a sequel). Smith has been wearing his producer pants more lately, with his company Overbrook Films. They’re currently producing the reboot of The Karate Kid, starring Smith’s son, Jaden.

With the deadline for casting coming up for both films pretty soon, Smith will inevitably have to make his decision, which could mean we won’t see a third Men In Black film for quite some time.