Calling all young actresses: book a movie with Alexander Payne and your career will be all set. Just over a week ago The Descendants star Shailene Woodley was in talks to take the Mary Jane Watson role in Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and now the actress is getting a franchise she can lead on her own.
According to a report over on Deadline, Woodley is Lionsgate-Summit’s pick to lead a new sci-fi project called Divergent and the actress has reciprocated, entering talks for the film. Based on Veronica Roth‘s novel, Limitless helmer Neil Burger is set to direct the film which follows a teenage girl in a dystopian Chicago as she splits off from her faction (one of five in this world, split up by human characteristics).
The comparisons to The Hunger Games seem apt and one can see why the studio is looking to launch another similar franchise, as they’ve already set a March 21st, 2014 release. As for casting, they’ve certainly started off on the right foot with this talented up-and-comer. Expect much more news on this as it gears up for a production next year.
Check out a synopsis of the first novel below via Amazon.
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
Have you read Divergent? Are you looking forward to Woodley leading?