In recent years the young adult
novel has had a boost thanks to the various big screen adaptations, from Stephenie
Meyer with the Twilight series, passing through Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger
Games series to Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, of which the first film comes
out in March 21st.
Although we are still a few weeks
away from the movie premiere and only those that are more directly connected to
the film have seen it, i.e. director, editor, studio, actors, writers and
author, the first review has already been done. Summit Entertainment has made
an exception and “let” the series’ author share her experience on seeing her
creation adapted onto the big screen.
A few weeks ago I packed up a
suitcase and flew to LA and bought some Milk Duds and watched the Divergent
movie.
You know. As one does. (?!!)
It’s hard to prepare yourself for
an experience like that, watching something that once existed only in your
brain re-created on such a large scale. Every so often, as I was watching, I
would flash back to this image of myself in pajama pants with really gross hair
typing away on my computer, and then juxtapose it over the gorgeous shot of the
Sears Tower or Navy Pier or the Abnegation sector on this big screen in front
of me, and it was so ridiculously awesome and surreal I just wanted to laugh
and cry all at once.
As usual, I don’t want to spoil
anything for you. I’ll keep my comments vague and brief so that you can enter
the movie with relatively clean slates. But I will tell you…
…drumroll, please…
I loved it.
I was completely absorbed by it.
Even though I am so familiar with this story, I clearly remember grabbing the
arms of my chair when Tris runs to catch the train after the Choosing Ceremony
because I was nervous that she wouldn’t make it. (And then I thought to
myself…YOU WROTE THE STORY, VERONICA.) It was beautifully shot—Chicago is such
a gorgeous city, and to see it transformed into this futuristic wasteland was
incredibly cool—and suspenseful, and the cast did a wonderful job. If I start
calling people out specifically I’m just going to gush about everyone, but
since Tris is very much the anchor of the series, and Four is of particular
interest to many of you, I feel like I should say that Shailene Woodley as Tris
and Theo James as Four are everything I hoped for (or maybe more than I dared to
hope for). And we were so lucky to have Neil Burger driving this—his vision of
the world, the amazing details and subtleties of it, his understanding of the
story, and how seriously he took every part of it…I mean, you can tell. You can see it everywhere.
I was nervous to see it, as I
think any author whose book is being adapted for the screen would be, but I
remember remarking when I first went to set that everyone involved with the
movie seemed so thoughtful about the story they were helping to build, and I
feel like the final product reflects that. I can’t wait for you guys to see it
on March 21st! I also can’t wait to see it
again!
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