(PCM) There’s a lot of talk about Shailene Woodley following in Jennifer Lawrence’s footsteps now that “The Descendants” star has top billing in “Divergent,” the latest young adult novel to make it to the big screen.
And truth be told, Jennifer did influence Shailene’s decision to sign on for the Summit Entertainment film, even though the two young women have never met.
“We had one conversation,” Shailene said at a press conference to promote the sci-fi flick. “I sent her an email. I was curious. She had gone from doing indie films to doing ‘Hunger Games,’ which is a giant film obviously. I wondered if that had changed her life in positive ways. If she was happy with the decision — just what that looked like because I had zero reference to what doing a studio film would be like in my personal life.
I asked her and she said, ‘Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t do drugs, don’t make a sex tape, and don’t go to Whole Foods the day that it opens — other than that it will be fine. There are some hard things that come with a decision like this but the amount of beauty and positivity that come with it will transcend the other situations.’”
So Shailene signed on the dotted line and this weekend will tell whether or not she made the right decision when “Divergent,” the first of three planned films, opens in theaters nationwide.
For those who haven’t read the Veronica Roth book on which it is based, “Divergent is set in Chicago in the distant future, where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities: Abnegation (the Selfless), Dauntless (the Brave), Candor (the Honest), Amity (the Peaceful), and Erudite (the Intelligent). Each citizen, on reaching age 16, undergoes testing to determine which faction is most appropriate for them — but they also have a choice in the matter.
Shailene’s character, Tris Prior, learns that she doesn’t fall into one of the regular categories and is cautioned that she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. Later, she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents and she must figure out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it’s too late.
At the press day for “Divergent,” Shailene spoke to reporters about doing the stunts, working with her co-stars Kate Winslet and Ashley Judd, scary moments filming and more.
Are you like Tris in any way?
A lot of Tris resonated with me because I felt like when I was her age — maybe 17 or 18 — I was going through the struggle — I was raised by two psychologist parents, who are the most beautiful, selfless people I have ever met — and so compassion and empathy were two of the things that, as a young child, were engrained into my system, which was such a lovely gift because I feel they are two lessons that [will benefit me] later on in life.
But as a teenager, my struggle was: How do I balance between being compassionate and empathetic to my peers, and also living my life for myself and not basing my decisions on those around me? And living a life that I receive my happiness from my own experience, rather than people pleasing. Tris goes through that as well. She was raised in a society where she had to be selfless, yet she joins this other faction, where it is all about being selfish, and she has to find the balance. I feel like I went through something similar, so I relate to her, as well as being a strong and powerful woman. I feel strong and I live my life with a lot of integrity, based on what I want for my life and who I am. I think Tris is similar. As far as being different, Tris has really long hair and is blonde and I don’t anymore.
You worked with two great seasoned actresses in this film — Ashley Judd and Kate Winslet. What was that like? What did you learn from then?
It was amazing. Ashley and I were very kindred spirits — Kate, as well. We all sort of connected on that level, but the thing that I thought was so neat about them is they are both so empowered. They are both women among women. They are strong and live their lives with integrity. The thing I found was so profound about both of them — especially Kate — because we talked about it so much is she loves the art of acting. She loves being on a set. She shows up early, she knows her lines, she shows up with questions for the director to enhance the movie, to bring more awareness to certain situations.
She is never in her trailer, whether it is hanging out with the actors, the crafts service dude, or the transpo guys, she is just a citizen of the set. As obvious as that may seem, a lot of actors, two hours after you get there, are complaining about being there. You’re like, “Then why don’t you go do something else? We are kind of lucky to have this life and do what we do.” Kate fully knows that. She brings this sense of enthusiasm and excitement to the film set, which is so special and, which should be so obvious, but is generally not the case.
You actually climbed the Ferris wheel. Are you a fearless person? Were there any accidents on the set? You did get beat up a lot.
We definitely did get some black-and-blue bruises and have a few scars on our bodies still. But Theo James [who plays Four] always says, “If you do stunts or you do a big action movie, and you don’t walk away a little banged up, you are doing something wrong. The Ferris wheel was super fun. We got to climb the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. I don’t think anyone has probably ever done that before. And, we got to climb it during the full moon and it was also a super moon, I don’t know if anyone is into astrology, but that was really exciting to me. We got to watch it cascade across the sky as we climbed up and down the Ferris wheel. It was gorgeous.
You weren’t afraid of the height?
I am afraid of heights but that sort of fear … I love adrenaline, so that got me excited to get going. Also, we were hooked up. We could have fallen off of the side of it and been fine. The 20 degree weather was the hardest part.
Following up on the stunts, there were a lot of sweaty-palm moments. Was there anything that gave you actual sweaty palms? Also, because the story is so much about making choices, deciding where you fit in and belong and contribute, how difficult was it for you to decide Hollywood and acting is the life you wanted? Do you feel you are making the contributions so that you fit in the way you want to?
Just to clarify, I never thought that Hollywood is the life I want to do. Acting is the life that I want to do. It is not even that. I started acting when I was five, which is 17 years, which is crazy to think of. It has always been something that was really fun for me. It was a passion project in a way, and it still is, even though it is a career now, because it takes up all of my time really. It is something that I enjoy doing. The day that that fun disappears, if that day ever comes, then I am not going to do it anymore. At the end of the day, as entertaining as movies are, part of them in a way is this beautiful art form. That is what it feels like to me. I am not a painter, but I can express myself visually in a way that is artistically creative.
Then the sweaty palm thing, the fight scenes are so intense, specifically the ones with Theo at the end of the movie. He boxes in real life. He is strong and not afraid to be strong. If I forgot to duck at the right time, or if I moved left instead of moving right, he would have decked me, and I would have been out cold. So that was a terrifying fight scene when my palms were sweaty and my adrenaline was spiked the whole time. We were moving so quickly. I learned the sequence that morning and we filmed it a few hours later, so we really had to be on top of our toes it was so intense. He makes it look so amazing, but at the same time, “Oh, well, we are acting, but it was kind of real.”
The zipline scene was scary. Was it completely CG? How much was shot 
location-wise? My stunt double went through five blocks of actual Chicago streets on the zipline, going really, really, really fast. She was maybe 50 stories up in the air going through the streets. She went maybe a couple of thousand feet. I did the last 600 … I did two blocks of Chicago streets. It was really fun, but also a scary, sweaty-palm moment. That was for the wide shots. The rest of it was all done with green screens, with giant fans blowing in our faces and [director] Neil Burger on the microphone going, “Okay, now there’s a building to your right. Look! Look! Look! Now there’s a building to your left. Look! Look! Look!” And you’re, “Oh, my gosh. I get to be a kid again and use my imagination again. It’s so wacky.” Working with the green screen is so different than working with another human. But I think the song they did for that scene was really well placed.
“Divergent,” also starring Jai Cortney, Ray Stevenson, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Maggie Q, Tony Goldwyn, Ansel Elgort, Mekhi Phifer, Ben Lamb, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Christian Madsen, and Amy Newbold, opens in theaters on March 21.
The post Shailene Woodley Reveals What It’s Like to be ‘Divergent’ also appeared on PCM Reviews.