Various people have been cast in Divergent, but Summit has been difficulty finding the male lead. Actors such as Alex Pettyfer and Lucas Till have auditioned and the company has looked at people of various ages, but now they’ve finally gone for a actor who’s not too well known at the moment, but whose star is certainly on the rise – Theo James.
The 26-year-old has been seen in the TV series Bedlam, and in the films The Inbetweeners Movie and Underworld: Awakening, but its his lead role in the new CBS TV drama Golden Boy that’s really got people interested in him.
Based on Veronica Roth’s novel, Divergent is a adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities, Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it’s too late.
James will play Four, a man with a mysterious past, who is Tris’ intense yet charismatic instructor and one of the leaders of the Dauntless faction.
Variety adds that Miles Teller, Ray Stevenson and Aaron Eckhart are also circling roles in the movie (Teller seems set as he’s mentioned he’ll be in the movie on Twitter), but there’s no news on exactly who they might play.
Neil Burger (Limitless) will direct from a script by Vanessa Taylor. It commences principal photography this April in Chicago, with a March 21st, 2014 release set.