Though reports yesterday indicated the news, Lionsgate has now confirmed that filming for the Divergent movie is now underway.

In addition, the studio’s announcement included a bit of casting news: Mekhi Phifer will play Dauntless leader Max, and Ray Stevenson will play Four’s father Marcus. You can see a photo of the two below:

The cast is as follows:

“Tris” – Shailene Woodley
“Four” – Theo James
“Jeanine” – Kate Winslet
“Caleb” – Ansel Elgort
“Marcus” – Ray Stevenson
“Peter” – Miles Teller
“Christina” – Zoë Kravitz
“Al” – Christian Madsen
“Will” – Ben Lloyd-Hughes
“Molly” – Amy Newbold
“Edward” – Ben Lamb
“Eric” – Jai Courtney
“Max” – Mekhi Phifer
“Tori” – Maggie Q

Also in their start of production announcement, Lionsgate noted the latest numbers concerning the Divergent books. “Sales are now over 3 million copies for both novels combined,” they write, “and both titles are HarperCollins most successful e-books ever in regards to sales.”

Speaking of the books, author Veronica Roth has arrived in Chicago to oversee filming. She Tumblr’d the following the photo and message this morning:

“It’s looking kind of dystopian in Chicago today…”

We’re hoping some set photos surface when the cast is participating in outdoor filming. We’ll be sure to share them with you if they do. Divergent will be released on March 21, 2014 – exactly two years after their film The Hunger Games hit theaters.