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Jai Courtney Takes a Role Alongside Shailene Woodley in 'Divergent'

by Ethan Anderton
March 14, 2013
Source: THR

After surviving A Good Day to Die Hard, both the film and the critical explosion against the action sequel, Jai Courtney is heading to young adult territory. The actor played John McClane's hard-ass son Jack in the February release, and now Deadline reports he's taking the male lead in Divergent, Summit Entertainment's adaptation of Veronica Roth's book of the same name. Shailene Woodley is leading the story set in a dystopian future Chicago with the city separated into five factions where a girl discovers she's a divergent, a person who doesn't fit into any of the established groups and is considered dangerous. Read on!

Rather than taking the news lying down, she aims to find out why the divergents are considered a threat and uncovers a conspiracy to destroy them all. Basically, it sounds like The Sorting Hat from Harry Potter, but applied to a Hunger Games-style society. Since we're unfamiliar with the books, we're not sure what kind of character Courtney will be playing, but fans will likely be able to determine that themselves. Courtney is the newest cast member (though we haven't heard confirmation about Kate Winslet joining the cast) but there a few other additions as well.

THR reports Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III), Zoe Kravitz (X-Men: First Class) and Ansel Egort (the Carrie remake) have all landed roles. Q will play Tori, the inked owner of a tattoo parlor who is part of the ceremony that divides people into factions, but ends up helping Woodley's character Beatrice, or Tris, as she comes to call herself. Kravitz is playing Christina, a member of the Dauntless faction, the embodiment of bravery, and one of Tris' friends. Finally Elgort is playing Tris' brother Caleb, who turns his back on the family, switching from the Abnegation clan to the Erudite clan. Honestly, this sounds like a cool young adult franchise, especially with Woodley on board, poised to become the next Jennifer Lawrence.

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