Divergent is an upcoming American science fiction adventure film directed by Neil Burger, based on the novel of the same name by Veronica Roth. The film is produced by Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shabazian and Douglas Wick, with a screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor. It stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Jai Courtney and Kate Winslet. The story takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic version of Chicago. Divergent is scheduled to be released on March 21, 2014 in the United States.In a futuristic Chicago where people are divided into five factions based on their personalities, a teenage girl learns that she is Divergent — a person who does not fit into any one faction — and soon discovers a sinister plot brewing in her seemingly perfect society.
In March 2011, Summit Entertainment picked up the rights from for Divergent with Douglas Wick’s production company Red Wagon Entertainment. Neil Burger was announced as the director on August 23, 2012. The screenplay is written by Evan Daugherty who said, “I get hung up on the toughness of the movie but of equal importance is the love story between Tris and Four. It’s inherently and inextricably linked to Tris’ character journey. There will be plenty of sexual tension and chemistry, but it’s important that all of that stuff doesn’t just feel like it’s thrown in, but that it all helps Tris grow as a character.” Daugherty, who co-wrote the script with Vanessa Taylor, further added, “It’s tricky because the book is a very packed read with a lot of big ideas. So, distilling that into a cool, faithful two-hour movie is challenging. Not only do you have to establish five factions, but you have to acknowledge that there’s a sixth entity, which is the divergent, and you also have the factionless. So there’s a world that really has to be built out for the big screen… the movie is going to do it a little more efficiently.” Author Veronica Roth said about the script of the film: “Reading a script is a really interesting experience. I’d never read a script before. I was really impressed by how closely it stuck to the general plot line of the book.”Initially budget of the film was $40 million but later Lionsgate increased it to $80 million due to the success of The Hunger Games. Analyst Ben Mogil said, “Divergent is more similar to Hunger Games in that the company owns the underlying economics (i.e. production) and the budget (at $80mn) is more manageable.”
