Last year, Miles Teller broke out by playing a charismatic, but alcoholic high schooler who began dating Shailene Woodley after she helped him when he passed out on a lawn that was on her paper route. The Spectacular Now? More like the spectacular then.
Now Teller gets to play a jerk to Woodley in Divergent. Jai Courtney (Spartacus: War of the Damned) is the superior who gangs up on Beatrice (Woodley) during training.
Training for what? Teller and Courtney are each currently training for big new franchise reboot roles in The Fantastic Four (Teller as Mr. Fantastic) and Terminator: Genesis (Courtney as Kyle Reese). But while we do get to talk about those films in the interview below (sort of), the training in Divergent is – more than anything else – making sure you don’t become homeless. Whoops. Beatrice, you didn’t know that? That was a new rule created by Courtney’s Hot Topic military doll, Eric.
For those uninitiated to Divergent’s (what’s left of a) world, here’s a synopsis: after war has decimated the USA, Chicago has built up a large enclosed fence around its city and divided up society into five different labor groups. Everyone has to take a test at age 16 to determine where their skill set would place them. They can choose to go through training of a different faction; however, if they fail during training they’ll be “factionless” i.e. without a place in society… homeless.
The five factions are:
Abnegation – meant for the selfless; they provide aid to citizens – including the factionless. Basically they’re social workers. They also head the government! The thought is that they’re incorruptible because they put society ahead of themselves.
The closest faction to abnegation is Amity – meant for the peaceful; basically they’re the farmers and provide the goods and wear autumnal clothes.
The other three factions are the more learned or brutish, so of course, these are the ones thirsty to overthrow abnegation by force or gossip.
They are:
Candor – meant for the honest; these are the lawyers and judges.
Dauntless – meant for the brave; these are the police, military and rescue.
Erudite – meant for the intelligent; these are the bookies, but also the baddies.
So what’s “divergent”? Find out this weekend, in theatres.
What can you look forward to about The Fantastic Four and Terminator: Genesis? Teller and Courtney tell you above.
Feeling Divergent…?
VIDEO: Shailene Woodley hasn’t seen enough “Arrested Development” to recognize a “Beatrice.”
VIDEO: Theo James talks jazz, tattoos and Divergent.
VIDEO: Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd describe the real-life political parallels to Divergent.
VIDEO: Christian Madsen and Ben Lloyd-Hughes pick their Hollywood movie star factions.
VIDEO: Maggie Q and Mekhi Phifer take Brian Formo’s video interview virginity.
Brian Formo is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrianEmilFormo.
