Divergent
Short description
Divergent is set in a future Chicago where society is divided into five factions, each built around a distinct virtue: honesty, selflessness, bravery, peacefulness and intelligence. Every sixteen-year-old must choose the faction they will belong to for life. Beatrice Prior, raised in the selfless faction, takes an aptitude test that yields no single result, marking her as Divergent, someone who does not fit any one group. She makes a choice that startles those close to her and adopts the name Tris. While training alongside other new members, she learns of a conspiracy against Divergents and must work out why people like her are seen as a threat. Theo James plays Four, with Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson and Zoë Kravitz among the supporting cast.
The film was directed by Neil Burger, whose earlier features include The Illusionist and Limitless, and it followed those as his third release in the chronological list of his work. Vanessa Taylor and Evan Daugherty wrote the screenplay, and Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher and Pouya Shahbazian produced it for Summit Entertainment and Red Wagon Entertainment. Released in March 2014, it runs 140 minutes.
Made for a budget of 85 million USD, it took about 289 million USD worldwide, a strong return on its cost. Audiences received it moderately: on IMDb it holds 6.6/10 from roughly 517,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.9/10 from over 13,000. A film critics' rating of 5.4/10 from 236 reviews sits below those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on Veronica Roth's novel "Divergent" (2011).
- Lucas Till, Jack Reynor, Jeremy Irvine, Alex Pettyfer, Brenton Thwaites, Alexander Ludwig, and Luke Bracey were considered for the lead male role.
- Kate Winslet was five months pregnant during filming. Despite only being on set for four weeks, her stomach grew so much that she had to carry various folders and tablets to conceal her pregnancy on camera.
- The sound Peter (Miles Teller) makes when Tris (Shailene Woodley) hits him in the throat is genuine. Woodley was afraid of hurting Teller and initially held back. However, throughout filming, Teller and Woodley became increasingly aggressive. Eventually, during one take, Woodley actually hit Teller in the throat, completely unexpectedly. That take made it into the final cut of the film.
- Before filming began, the entire cast underwent a two-month preparation period in a military boot camp.
- During non-studio filming, the filmmakers used the name “Catbird” to avoid information leaks.
- Initially, the filmmakers envisioned Jeremy Irvine in the role of Tobias Eaton, but he turned it down, saying he didn't want to be seen as a teen idol.
- Aaron Eckhart was considered for the role of Andrew, but he left the project before filming began. Ultimately, the role went to Tony Goldwyn.
- When Tris and Tobias Eaton climb the Ferris wheel, one of the steps breaks under Tris's foot. However, in the next shot, as they continue climbing, all the steps are in place.
- When Janine's hand is pinned to the computer screen by the knife thrown at her by Tris, you can notice the handle of the knife rising and falling as Janine screams.
- When Four injects himself and Tris with the serum for fear landscape training, the neck is shown in close-up after the injection and there is no injection mark.
- During the scene where Janine and Tris are talking, around the 35-minute mark, Tris’s hairstyle changes between shots.
- When Four takes the throwing knives – there are three of them, but when he starts throwing them – there are four.
- In the scene where Tris and her friend jump from the train onto the roof of a building with gravel, the friend in white doesn’t get dirty at all, while Tris’s coat is torn on the sleeves. It’s clear that it’s not gravel stuck to the coat, but actual holes. But when the leader asks – “Who will jump first?”, and Tris replies – “Me!”, it’s visible that her coat is intact, except for a hole on the right sleeve.
- Tris was stabbed in the ear with a knife. During the conversation with Janine, the wound disappears, and the hair sometimes hangs over the ear and sometimes doesn’t. Later, in subsequent scenes, the wound reappears.
- Miles Teller initially auditioned for the role that ultimately went to Theo James. Teller was told he wouldn't get the part, but several months after his audition, the producers watched "The Spectacular Now" (2013) and were so impressed that they called Teller and offered him the role of Eric (which Jai Courtney eventually played). Teller turned it down, feeling he couldn't handle the role. He was then offered the role of Peter, which he eventually agreed to, but only after Shailene Woodley sent him a message asking him to accept the role so they could work together again.
- It was difficult for Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller to film their fight scene due to their close friendship. During filming, Woodley even addressed Teller by the name “Sutter” (the name of his character from the film "The Spectacular Now" (2013), in which they played a couple in love).
- When creating the tattoo on the back of actor Theo James, production designer Andy Nicholson drew inspiration from abstract Soviet Constructivist art of the 1920s. To apply the temporary tattoo, special carbon paper was cut into approximately 40 pieces, which together formed a “giant puzzle.” Then, three people spent more than three hours assembling the design on James’ back. During the procedure, the actor listened to jazz music.
- As part of her preparation for the role, Shailene Woodley attended firearms training sessions for several days, conducted by Discreet Protection Security Group (DPS group). The instructors from this group are real officers from the Los Angeles Police Department: Charles Wunder and Jamie McBride. These are the same officers on whom the screenplay for the film 'Patrol' (2012) was partially based.
- Most of the weapons used in the film are props, with the shots rendered using computer graphics. However, the futuristic revolver in the hallucination scene featuring Shailene Woodley and Theo James is a genuine Chiappa 'Rhino' revolver.
- The structure shown several times in the film, called a protective wall against the outside world, has a real-life prototype. In fact, it is a Soviet over-the-horizon radar station (OTH radar) for the early warning system for the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles called 'Duga,' also known as 'Chernobyl-2.' This secret facility is located nine kilometers from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and ceased operations after the 1986 radiation disaster. The size of this facility is astonishing: the height of the low-frequency antennas reaches from 135 to 150 meters, and the length ranges from 300 to 500 meters.
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