At the start of this month we told you about an open casting call for the book to film adaptation of Veronica Roth’s Divergent.

Now, a report indicates that there was a huge turnout for the event.

Northwestern.edu reports that over 1,500 “tattooed, pierced and martial-arts trained” people turned out on February 9.

When the casting call was announced, organizers said they were looking for “hundreds” of people to appear in the film in some capacity. This casting call was not for major roles. They were looking for the specific types of appearances:

– People with a “rural” farm hand look
– People with military, weapons or martial arts training
– People with stunt and/or stage combat training
– People with a “hippie” or Bohemian look. Longer hair preferred (both men and women)
– People with visible tattoos and/or piercings
– Ages 16 and up, all ethnicities

The big turn out suggests that there is indeed a lot of anticipation around Divergent. Lionsgate, the film’s studio, has told investors in the past that the book’s popularity is tracking at similar levels that Twilight and The Hunger Games did at this stage of their life. In our opinion, this is the first physical evidence supporting claims of strong anticipation.

Last week, the Divergent trilogy’s publisher announced that the third and final book will be released this October. A title and cover have not yet been unveiled.

Thanks to Divergent Lexicon for the tip.