Well, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you Kate. We see you in Divergent in a slightly
different way from the way we've seen you before. It's action. You're a baddie. Did
you enjoy playing a baddie, and how did you get into the wicked mode?
I don't know how I got into the wicked mode. I think I was maybe helped by the fact that
the character of Jeanine that I play in Divergent, she's very very well constructed in the book.
And so for me in particular, I just sort of soaked up all of that, but I loved it. I loved
being slightly intimidating. I loved walking on set for the first day, and they'd already
been filming for 17 weeks, and they were all clearly a little bit, a little bit intimidated
I think both by the Jeanine part of it and perhaps that I had suddenly turned up. I don't
know why I seem to have this effect on people. They get really scared, and so I just thought
I'll let them be scared. I'm just going to let them be scared. So I let them be scared
for a few days, and then of course they realised I was the biggest softie out of the lot of them.
Yeah, they were all crying on my shoulder by week three.
So you didn't give them an inkling that you're actually not a nasty person?
No, no. No, I didn't. For the first couple of days, I really just let them think that
I was horrible and was there to intimidate and destroy. Haha! It worked.
You were five months pregnant while filming. How was that?
It was, you know, at the end of the day, it was probably just quite funny really. Endless
undergarments trying to smooth everything down. You know, it's difficult trying to hide
a pregnancy when the last thing in the world that you want to be doing is hiding it.
So no, we just had to keep tweaking costumes, letting them out a little more and a little more.
But apart from the swollen ankles, it was fine.
I couldn't do as many stunts as I wanted to do. We did have a little bit of re-shooting,
which actually only happened about six weeks ago, so having just had the baby, I did find
myself back on set and I was actually able to do a little bit of the stunty stuff, which
I always love. So that was great.
Now the film of course is about making that choice, that moment in your life where you
decide whether to go with the way you were raised or sort of follow your internal compass.
I know it well, that moment when you kind of decide you want to rebel a little bit.
Did you ever rebel?
I never really had that rebellious moment. I was quite an independent teenager, but also
I was working. I started working when I was about 15, 16, and so I think when you're out
in the world, you have to be responsible and you have to sort of take care of yourself,
so perhaps now, actually in playing a baddie in Divergent, maybe I'm finally rebelling.
Maybe this is my, channelling my inner bitch moment. But I do think that one of the things
about the film that for me was so strong when I first read the script is exactly what you
say, that you do reach a point in your life where you have to choose really, make that
choice. Who are you going to be? What kind of person do you want to be for the rest of
your life and actually being true to yourself? You know, these are big questions, and I think
the fact that the film does pose those big questions. It really does I think make you
think, and I love that.
Will your kids be watching Divergent?
They've seen it, and they loved it. They really loved it, and they had lots of questions afterwards.
Really intelligent questions, which I liked. But it's very much a film I think for that
age range. They're sort of the younger end of that age range, but it's got a bit of everything
for everybody. There aren't just these young teenage actors in it as well. It's got lots
of really old cronies like myself.
You're not an old crony! Just finally, are there any of your films that they won't be
watching for whatever reason?
Oh, most of them. They can't see most of my films. I mean, no. No no no.
Why is that?
Out of half the films I've made, I've ended up having to take my clothes off, so that
would be the first reason. But secondly, they're just much more... I don't know, they're just
more adult or into dramas I suppose. I haven't done, I haven't really done any kids films
as such. So this is a bit of a first really, as far as they're concerned because it is
something that they can go and see.