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.@TheDailyBeast Interviews @ShaileneWoodley For #CandorWeek

Posted on Mar 7, 2014 in Divergent | 0 comments

The Daily Beast posted a brand new Q&A with Shailene Woodley as part of Candor Week. It’s honestly one of the best interviews we’ve read with Shai and you won’t want to miss any of it.

Here are a few of our favorite parts:

When we last discussed Divergent at Sundance, we spoke of how relevant the story is to the times we live in.

That’s part of the reason why I did this movie. There’s so much opportunity for conversation since the movie is so metaphorical to today’s society. One of the most beautiful quotes in the book is when Tris says, “Back in the day, my mom had a choice between eating naturally-irrigated food and genetically-engineered foods. Now, there is no choice. That’s all we have.” I thought that was so powerful because we’re getting to a point where all agriculture is going to depend on seeds that were created in a lab—which is so counterintuitive to the way Mother Nature meant it to be. There’s the issue of a tyrant taking over and genocide—someone going in, choosing a particular class of people, and murdering them by brainwashing other people. And there’s the issue of spying on other people and this whole drone situation going on now.

It’s cool that in today’s Hollywood, the young actress is sometimes cast first—in your case, or Jennifer Lawrence’s, or Kristen Stewart’s—and then they have a say in the casting of their male co-star. That would never have happened in Old Hollywood. How did you land on Theo?

Isn’t he so good in it? We auditioned a lot of guys, and a lot of these actors were playing male, masculine leaders. Even if they were good, they were still acting it. Theo walked in and just demanded it with his presence. Theo is smart as a whip—he majored in philosophy and traveled the world before he even became an actor—so he’s had a full life before the industry, and he didn’t feel like he had to prove his masculinity.

But we also discussed how you sent J. Law a letter asking for advice before taking the role of Tris in Divergent. How did she allay your fears?

She was like, “Small things will change, but if you stay who you are, nothing will change. The big picture won’t change. It’s only going to make your life greater and you’ll be so grateful for it. Don’t be stupid, don’t make a sex tape, don’t do drugs, don’t go to Whole Foods the day the movie opens, and you’ll be fine!” I thought, “I’m gonna love this chick when I meet her.”