The fear factor among Divergent stars

Fondly remembered for her role as Rose (to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack) in Titanic, even if she has done other landmark roles since then (among them Revolutionary Road, Finding Neverland and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Kate Winslet makes a surprising about-face by playing a villainess in Divergent, the first book in the hit trilogy (Insurgent and Allegiant are the second and the third books, soon to be filmed, too) by new author Veronica Roth.

“I’ve never played an evil person and I’m thrilled,” Winslet, 38, is quoted in the production notes. She plays the Erudite tyrant Jeanine Matthews whom she describes as “a master manipulator” deadset on destroying Beatrice “Tris” Prior, the Divergent character played by Shailene Woodley.

She added, “The book is so good. I’ve done a lot of films that have been adaptations and I love doing it because for any actor it’s just so great to have something to always refer to because there’s always something more than you can find when you’ve actually got those pages to flick through. It makes it so much more interesting and fun ultimately. This is true to the book and often that doesn’t happen. The thing for me that was the most fascinating about this story is that human beings want to count for something, come from somewhere and belong, whether it’s a family, a cult, a religion, a group of friends. Whatever it is, we all want to belong somewhere. That is what this film is about.”

Unfortunately, Winslet didn’t make it to the movie’s junket last week at the Four Seasons in L.A. but several other members of the cast were there, including Ashley Judd (A Time To Kill, Double Jeopardy, Ruby in Paradise, etc.) who plays Natalie Prior, the mother of Tris; and Maggie Q (Live Free Or Die Hard, Mission Impossible III, Priest, Deception, etc.) who plays Tori, an unwilling aptitude-test administrator.

Asked how different doing Divergent was from her previous films, Ashley said, “This one has a bigger budget. Well, I do a lot of physical work in my movies whether it’s the TV series Missing or an independent film coming soon in which I do physical comedy. And so, I enjoy throwing my body around.”

According to Ashley, her maternal instincts were aroused in the finale scene in which she does the heroic act of putting her life on line while protecting the Woodley character Tris.

“There’s a revelation there,” warned Ashley, “so I’d rather not go into details. I would say that my being a mother came into play while I was doing that scene with Shailene.”

As soon as Maggie learned that I come from the Philippines, her face lit up. 

“I love Filipinos! I’m also a big fan of Manny Pacquiao,” volunteered Maggie (who speaks Cantonese) just like Divergent leading man Theo James (as the trainer Four) and almost all the actors at the junket. “I was supposed to meet him during his fight in Macau but I missed my flight.”

About her character, Maggie said, “There’s a challenge in the depth of the layering of the character. I think that we all have those layers. We all have the medium to see what we are feeling and what we are actually expressing. Whether the pain that my character Tori has gone through is allowed to find out or not is the dilemma that she’s facing.” 

Divergent is also about fears since one of the challenges in the aptitude test for 16-year-olds (leaving home) in the “choosing ceremony” that determines what factions they fit in — Erudite, Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless or Amity; while a Divergent is a trainee who fits into two or three or more factions — is confronting their fears and learning how to overcome them.

So I asked the supporting cast what their fears were.

 Ansel Elgort (as Tris’ brother Caleb; he is Woodley’s leading man in the forthcoming The Fault in Our Stars; the son of Vogue photographer Arthur Elgort and opera director Grethe Holby)): I don’t know. Luckily, if I do have fears, you know, I’m pretty good in dealing with them.

 Mekhi Phifer (as Dauntless trainer Max; appeared in Spike Lee’s Clockers, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and recently with Ashley Judd in Flypaper): I’m fearful of the ocean. Am I hydrophobic? Not really. I can swim in the pool and I can dive, but being stranded in the middle of the ocean is a big fear for me. I tried to tackle that fear when I was in Mali and I went snorkeling with some friends.

 Tony Goldwyn (Tris’ father Andrew Prior, member of the Abnegation council; has appeared in A Walk in The Morning and several TV shows including Grey’s Anatomy and The L Word, and directed some films): My biggest fear is not being able to achieve my goal or failing to realize a dream.

 Ben Lloyd-Hughes (as Erudite-born trainee Will; theater-trained; after shooting Divergent returned to London’s West End to play The Dauphin in Henry V starring Jude Law, etc.): Learning how to drive. I came from London, so I never learned how to drive. During my first few trips I took to L.A., I crashed!

 Christian Madsen (as Tris’ confidant Al; attended nursing school in Chicago; has appeared in the NBC hit show Chicago Fire): One thing I’m afraid of is people judging me. That happened when I was starting in this business. I’m glad that I have overcome it.

 Jai Courtney (as Dauntless fundamentalist Eric; has appeared in Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise and in A Good Day to Die Hard with Bruce Willis): I don’t like small spaces. Yes, I’m claustrophobic. So sometimes, I have to take my shoes off because they make me feel boxed in.

 Miles Teller (as Peter the bad guy; had his movie debut in Rabbit Hole opposite Nicole Kidman and starred with Woodley in the critically-acclaimed The Spectacular Now): Losing memory and losing connection with my family, especially in this kind of work that takes you away from your family for long periods of time.

(Produced by Summit Entertainment and released in the Philippines by Pioneer Films, Divergent opens nationwide today.)

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