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"Divergent" Film to Premiere This Week

Mayeesa Mitchell

Photo: Summit Entertainment
Four (Theo James) trains Tris Porter (Shailene Woodley) in
hand-to-hand combat during her first few days in the Dauntless faction.

Now that the popular sequel of  "The Hunger Games" has exited theatres, moviegoers are looking for the next big thing. 

"Divergent," the adaptation of Veronica Roth's best-selling novel, may be just that. The highly anticipated film starring Shailene Woodley as Tris Porter and Theo James as Four will premier nationwide Friday.

I definitely think "Divergent" could be a hit like "The Hunger Games," said Karla Alvarez, an HPU sophomore, Sunday. "I'm a bit more excited for this then I was for "The Hunger Games" because the probability of the world being like it is in "Divergent" is more realistic. 

The world of "Divergent" is set within a dystopian version of Chicago that separates its inhabitants into five factions: Dauntless (brave), Abnegation (selfless), Candor (honest),  Amity (peaceful), Erudite (intelligent). Tris Porter was born into Abnegation but decides to join Dauntless after her aptitude test matches her to multiple factions — a rare trait known as Divergent. Tris learns the importance of every virtue represented in the factions as she leads the fight to save the Divergent.

Photo: Summit Entertainment
Tris Porter (Shailene Woodley) trapped
in a box filling with water during
a fear simulation.

"A lot of who Tris is resonated with me," said Shailene Woodley, the actress who plays Tris, in an interview with Rob Lowman of the Los Angeles Daily News. "When I was her age, I was going through a lot of those struggles...She was raised in a society where she had to be selfless and then joined a faction that's all about being selfish — she had to find the balance between that."

Much like the movie's main character, the "Divergent" screenwriter, Evan Daugherty, had a balancing act of his own. 

"It's tricky because the book is a very packed read with a lot of big ideas," Daugherty said in an interview with Bookish in 2012. "So distilling that into a cool, faithful two-hour movie is challenging. 

Before being adapted into a film, Divergent began as a novel written by first-time author Veronica Roth. The novel was  first published in April 2011 by HarperCollins and skyrocketed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. 

Summit Entertainment bought the media rights of the book and began production of the movie in 2013. The cast for the film includes Shailene Woodley as Tris Porter, Theo James  as Four, Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews, Tony Goldwyn as Andrew Prior and Maggie Q as Tori.

According to Veronica Roth, the author of Divergent, the cast helps to create a realistic representation of the world she created.

"I was nervous to see it, as I think any author whose book is being adapted for the screen would be," she admitted in an interview with CBS news. "But I remember remarking when I first went to set that everyone involved with the movie seemed so thoughtful about the story they were helping to build, and I feel like the final product reflects that.

Millions of fans who read the book are now looking forward to Friday's premiere. 

"I'm excited to see the Dauntless world and how they actually live come to life in the movie," Alvarez said. 

To watch the "Divergent" trailer, click here.

To read reviews of the film, click here.