Theo James Caused His ‘Divergent’ Co-Star to Get 25 Face Stitches
Theo James has been making headlines as of late. Many Sanditon fans were devastated to learn that he wouldn’t be returning for the second season of the show. However, James has some new projects in the works that are causing some serious buzz. The Divergent alum has the lead role in the upcoming HBO series, The Time Traveler’s Wife. Furthermore, he was recently added to the cast of The White Lotus Season 2, which also airs on the popular streaming service.
But despite the number of projects that James has under his belt, he is still best known for the Divergent series. In the films, he portrayed Tobias Eaton aka Four. As the deuteragonist of the series, Four serves as Tris’ romantic interest. He also does his best to fight evil in the dystopian society.
Theo James did a lot of his own stunts in ‘Divergent’
Because of the action-packed nature of Divergent, James had to undergo some serious physical training for the films. Before the cameras even started rolling, the actor spent a month getting in shape for the films. But while some actors may have found the fitness component to be difficult, James enjoyed it. The Lying and Stealing star relished the opportunity, even doing his own stuntwork frequently.
The ‘Sanditon’ star accidentally injured his co-star in a fight
One such stunt scene was a scene when Four gets into a fight with a group of antagonists. James really took the opportunity to get into character. But he accidentally took things a bridge too far. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actor admitted that he unintentionally injured one of his fellow Divergent castmates. In fact, the injury was so bad that James sent the other actor to the hospital.
“I had a fight scene, which happened very quickly,” James explained about filming the blockbuster movie. “It was, like, six guys coming at me doing various things. And unfortunately, one of the guys ended up getting 25 stitches in his face, which was not great, and I felt very guilty about it.”
James admits that his toughest stunt was kissing Shailene Woodley
Of course, not all of James’ stunts were combat-based. He and his main scene partner, Shailene Woodley, also got to climb a Ferris wheel. Funnily enough, it wasn’t the physical components that were the hardest for James. In an interview with Games Radar, James cited an emotional moment as the one that was trickiest for him to nail.
“Toughest stunt was, I guess… genuinely the kissing scene,” James explained. “Shai and I, in a real way, wanted that to be as good as possible because it’s the only time they get together and the only really kissy smooshy scene and we wanted it to be good and to fulfill the things that it needs to fulfill and be real and not ebb on the side of lots of cheese.” Fortunately, Woodley and James nailed that infamous kissing scene in Divergent. And, luckily, they both came out of that stunt unscathed.
