Fans of Veronica Roth's dystopian novel Divergent are still waiting to learn who will play the role of Four in Neil Burger's feature adaptation of the first novel of Roth's planned trilogy. There's an update on the search for the male lead, and the latest bit of casting news is exciting by mysterious, as we have the actor's name, but no specified role to go with it. Kate Winslet is reportedly in talks to join previously cast Shailene Woodley in the movie.
Set in the future in what's left of Chicago, the story follows Beatrice "Tris" Prior, a teen who's of age to choose which of the five factions of society she's going to join. Her choice will determine her training and her way of life as she approaches adulthood. Woodley is on board to play Tris and as of earlier this month, Alex Pettyfer, Lucas Till and Jeremy Irvine were among the guys rumored to be vying for the male lead, which is (presumably) Four, Tris' trainer and the guy she forms a connection with throughout the story. But Variety's update on that front is that Summit might be looking for someone a little bit older, "after not finding its guy with the latest readings." I can't imagine they'd want to go that much older, considering Tris is just a teenager, unless they want to age her up a bit to pair her with older-Four. Either way, from what Variety's sources say, it sounds like Till, Pettyfer and Irvine might be out of the running.
As for Winslet, Variety says she's nearing a role in the adaptation. There's no word on what role Winslet is in talks to play, but we could speculate that she could play Tris' mother, Natalie Prior. There's also Jeanine Matthews, the leader of the Erudite faction. Those are the only two female characters I can think of that would fit Winslet's age bracket. Tori is the only other notable female character that I can think of that's past her training years, but is her actual age specified? Either way, I'm leaning toward thinking or hoping she's playing Tris' mother.
Regardless of who she's playing, assuming talks go through and everything works out, this is a great bit of casting for the film, which is expected to start pre-production soon.
Haven't read the book yet? Get it here or the Kindle version here.
