Our last interview of the day was also the most important: Shailene Woodley. Before speaking to us the quickly-rising actress who most recently starred in The Spectacular Now (opposite fellow Divergent actor Miles Teller) had spent a full day shooting scenes with Theo James (Four), Zoë Kravitz (Christina), and other supporting cast.
She arrived at our press table with a mason jar with water bottled in mountains far north beyond the United States. She is someone who tries to maintain a life that is as earthly as possible, even in the middle of Hollywood work.
The actress plays Tris Prior, the antagonist of the story who discovers she is Divergent just as the relationships between the five factions are starting to come apart. She can use her special trait to help intervene, but exposing her secret could be extremely dangerous.
Woodley has taken on a role that will be thrown into the brightest Hollywood spotlight. The only thing more powerful than stardom will be the pressure fans put on the actress to pull off a loyal depiction of one of their favorite YA characters.
Despite the loud fan base, the actress isn’t all too worried about criticism no matter how good or bad it is. “I don’t feel necessarily a pressure at all,” she told us in the most nonchalant fashion possible. “I don’t pay attention to the internet. For me, we’re making a movie based on really truthful characters in a book, and hopefully we’ll do them justice. And hopefully everyone will respond to it the way we’re responding to it. But at the end of the day if you’re making a movie for someone else, I feel like you’re not doing justice to your character.”
Woodley was drawn to the role of Tris because of how normal she is – a trait that both ladies share. “I really liked the fact that she was a very normal person put into very bizarre situations,” she said. “And that she’s not a super hero, and she’s not any more brave necessarily than anyone else in the world but she has to rise to this particular occasion because she’s in this situation that calls for it. I think it’s really beautiful that we’re allowed to explore the courageous side of young adults.”
Through that exploration the leading lady is facing a couple of challenges when bringing the fictional character to screen. While she admits that there are physical hurdles with a film that has sequences like ferris wheel climbing (her favorite scene) and train jumping, the biggest challenge for her is an emotional one. “I’m trying to play the fact that she came from a selfless society and moved into one that values bravery. I don’t want it to seem obvious, so keeping it subtle is the biggest challenge,” she admits.
Hypable will have much, much more from the set of Divergent in a few months.
The movie opens in theaters March 21, 2014. You can discuss Allegiant with those who’ve read it in this spoiler-ific article we published Tuesday.
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