Production is underway on the feature adaptation of Veronica Roth's young adult dystopian novel Divergent and we now have our first look at star Shailene Woodley as protagonist Tris Prior in the story, which centers on a girl living in Chicago in the future, where society is broken up into five factions, which determine a person's way of life. This article contains a few vague but notable plot spoilers from the book as they pertain to the photo above, so if you're planning on reading it and don't want to be spoiled, read no further!
EW posted the picture above, which shows Woodley standing against a wall that's been penetrated by some very sharp looking knives. Those who have read the book likely remember the scene that has Tris and the other Dauntless trainees practicing their knife-throwing. As a new member of the Dauntless faction, Tris is coming to understand the word bravery, which occasionally translates to reckless. Jumping on and off of moving trains is one of the dangers. And having a knife thrown at you is another.
The scene we're looking at in the new still is presumably the knife-throwing scene from the first novel. Roth offered fans of the book an alternative look at this scene from the perspective of Tris' trainer Four (to be played by Theo James in the film), in the 16-page short story Free Four, which replays the scene from Four's mind. It's an interesting look at what was going on in the trainer's mind as Tris stood against the target and let him throw knives at her. If you haven't read it, the ebook is one more way to pass the time between now and next March when Divergent arrives in theaters. There's also the third book in the series Alliegiant to look forward to. The upcoming book follows last May's Insurgent and hits shelves October 22.
Divergent is directed by Neil Burger and stars Woodley, Kate Winslet, Maggie Q, Jai Courtney, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn and Ansel Elgort. It arrives in theaters March 21, 2014.
