Jennifer Lawrence Helped Convince Shailene Woodley to Do ‘Divergent’
For many actors, leading a massive film franchise would be a dream come true. However, Shailene Woodley had her reservations. Though the California native had been acting since she was just 5 years old, she was never interested in being famous. But portraying Beatrice “Tris” Prior in the Divergent movies would put her in the middle of an impassioned fan base. Furthermore, the role was a multi-year commitment that she wasn’t sure she wanted to make.
Shailene Woodley was the only choice to play Tris Prior in the ‘Divergent’ movies
Woodley was already in pretty high demand prior to landing a spot in the Divergent cast. Critics were positively raving about her performance in The Descendants opposite George Clooney. She was top choice for Divergent. In fact, Lionsgate, the studio that produced the film, wasn’t looking at any other actors to fill the role.
Why ‘The O.C.’ alum was hesitant to accept the coveted role
But while Woodley felt connected to Tris, and had plenty of survivalist skills, she wasn’t sure she should take the role. Thanks to her time on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, she didn’t want to be locked into a contract for multiple films over multiple years.
“Having come off a TV show, I was kind of in the place where I was like, ‘I’m never signing a contract for more than one movie,’ because once you do sign a contract, legally, you’re liable,” Woodley explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “[Even] if you don’t find something creatively stimulating anymore, you’ve still got to do it legally.”
Jennifer Lawrence helped convince Woodley to join the ‘Divergent’ cast
In order to convince Woodley to take the role, Lionsgate enlisted the help of Jennifer Lawrence. As Lawrence was the face of the wildly popular film franchise, The Hunger Games, they knew she’d be the perfect person to encourage Woodley to join the Divergent cast. The pair exchanged a number of emails where Lawrence got candid about the ups and downs of the experience. Ultimately, however, she shared that the positives of the experience outweighed the negatives.
“‘You must do it,” Lawrence penned in an email to Woodley. “You will not regret it for a second. Yes, there are some hard things, but there are so many beautiful things that will come from an opportunity like this.'”
Woodley was onboard after exchanging emails with ‘The Hunger Games’ alum
Apparently, Lawrence’s advice went a long way to help allay some of Woodley’s fears. In the aforementioned interview Erik Feig, who was co-president of Lionsgate motion picture group at the time, shared that Woodley was onboard after her chats with Lawrence.
“I don’t know what happened,” Feig admitted. “But I do know that after that interaction, Shailene said: ‘OK, now I’ll make Divergent. Let’s talk.'” Clearly, the executives at Lionsgate were wise to bring Lawrence into the conversation. And while the Divergent franchise may not have performed the way they thought it would, Woodley was still a solid choice for the role of Tris.
