The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • E7

THE MORNING CALL FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2014 GO 7 'Divergent' finds hero with cause to rebel thing that is not allowed in the rigidly divided society. She hides her divergence and decides to join Daundess, the faction based on bravery. Her choice lands her among a group of tattooed warriors, including love interest 'Tour" (Theo James), and sees her leaping on and off trains, ziplining, shooting and knife-throwing, and facing off against other kids as part of a brutal initiation into the faction. But as it becomes more difficult to hide her divergence, Tris realizes that the faction system is flawed. "She starts out questioning where she fits into society and then by the end of the movie she's questioning society itself," Burger said.

It was a demanding role, and filmmakers sought in casting someone who could hold her own in the company of more experienced cast members, including Kate Winslet and Ashley Judd, and embody both the brave and at times reckless warrior as well as the ordinary, vulnerable girl. They found their heroine in 22 -year-old Woodley. "She really is very, very self-sufficient and is her own land of warrior in terms of she wanted to do her stunts herself," producer Lucy Fisher said. "She has a huge amount of inner strength. She's very principled.

She has a position and a point of view on almost everything. She's very mature beyond her age, as is Tris." For Woodley, the draw was the story's universal appeal, she said, and its parallels with the world we live in. "It's not just about young people figuring their way through life," Woodley said. "It's about young people being in really adult situations, and they're treated like adults, which is how adolescents are these days. Everybody's incredibly smart, and there's not a lot of movies that do that age range justice." That's just what Roth was aiming for.

It's one of the guiding By Noelene Clark Tribune Newspapers When the director and producers of the dystopian action-adventure film "Divergent" sought inspiration for the movie's teenage heroine, they didn't turn to "The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen or "Twilight's" Bella Swan as might be expected. Instead, the filmmakers recalled James Dean's Jim Stark, the rebellious protagonist who defies his parents and his peers in 1955's "Rebel Without a Cause." "He just doesn't feel at home," director Neil Burger said. "So he goes looking for something more." Such can be said of Beatrice "Tris" Prior, who struggles against the pressures of conformity in "Divergent," based on the first book in the best-selling trilogy by first-time novelist Veronica Roth. The tale, adapted for the screen by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor, is set in a future version of Chicago Burger filmed on location in which people are tested when they are young and subsequently divided into five factions based on their personalities and virtues. "This is a sort of dream city," said producer Douglas Wick of the film due out March 21 from Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment, the studios behind the box-office giants "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games," films that reached heights executives are optimistic "Divergent" can attain.

"It is a city that saved the world from great chaos. It is a city that has great harmony, and the factions worked, but that system is starting to fray, which is our story," Wick said. At the heart of that story is Tris, played by rising star Shai-lene Woodley Descendants," "The Spectacular Tris is born into Abnegation, the faction that values selflessness, but her personality test reveals she is divergent, having an aptitude for multiple factions, some PHOTO BY JAAP BUITENDIJK Shailene Woodley appeared in "The Descendants" and "The Spectacular Now" before taking on the role of Beatrice "Tris" Prior, above, for the "Divergent" movie. The film is set in a future version of Chicago. happens to be a young woman, but above all it's a story about empowerment and facing your physical fears, your inner fears, and taking your own measure," Wick said.

"Part of what sets it apart is someone really had something original and true to say. I think the audiences really smell the difference." nclarktribune.com principles that led Roth to create the character. And though she doesn't necessarily consider Tris a role model she can be impulsive and self-destructive she is at least guiding her own story. "Tris is a character with a lot of agency and a lot of power, maybe a slighdy unbelievable amount of power in her world given her age," Roth said. "One of my rules for myself was Tris has to be somehow responsible for what happens to her, for better or for worse.

No acts of God." A sequel titled "Insurgent," based on the second installment in Roth's series, is in the works for March 2015, evidence that the filmmakers have faith that "Divergent" will appeal to a wide audience, Wick said. "It's just a really true, well-observed hero's journey, and it Tailor-made cable 'El Mariachi' director Robert Rodriguez launching El Rey Network BY MEREDITH BLAKE Tribune Newspapers Robert Rodriguez helped ignite an independent film movement in the 1990s with "El Mariachi," shot for a mere $7,000, before moving on to blockbuster fare such as "Sin City" and the "Spy Kids" franchise. Now the restless filmmaker, 45, is trying to revolutionize the small screen with the recently launched cable network El Rey, aimed at a young, English-speaking Latino audience. It's available on Time Warner and DirecTV, among other outlets. The following is an edited transcript of our conversation.

jwjjipSJr tf hiE'v, IZ The network's first original series is "From Dusk Till Dawn," adapted from your movie, which premiered Tuesday. What made you want to revisit that material? For the first show, I didn't think it would be a good idea to present a property no one's heard of on a network no one's heard of. I thought it would be better to have a known tide to help point people toward the network. I thought it was worth revisiting the film, especially having a Hispanic slant. You can dive into this Mayan and Aztec culture, explore in a way that you never see on TV, and give all the original characters a bigger life on-screen.

We added a character, a Hispanic American cop who doesn't really speak Spanish but who travels to Mexico after his partner is killed, and he's the eyes of the audience. El Rey Network is aimed at young Latinos, but is there a common thread in the programming "Starsky Hutch" reruns, genre movies, "From Dusk Till Dawn" other than you? It's funny, Quentin (Tarantino) called me up the other day and said, 'Starsky Hutch' is on your network. What's Latin about that?" A lot of the programming we eventually want to do for a Hispanic audience has to be You've had a lot of success in films. So why start a television network? I had always loved television. In fact even networks were interested in me doing TV as far back as "El Mariachi." But I had so much creative freedom in the film world, whereas I would have a friend trying to make TV shows and they had no control over it.

I didn't like the process of TV, but I did like the medium, so I just stuck with movies. Movies always seemed like the safer bet, until about three years ago when John Fogelman, who used to be Salma (Hayek)'s agent, came to me with a proposal. Comcast is giving away networks as part of their merger with Universal. The first four had to be minority, and my hand went up right away. It just hit me on a personal level.

I have five kids. They are bilingual but really they live their lives in English, like most second-and third-generation His-panics, and there really wasn't anything on television that represented who they were. I looked at the landscape, there were around 110 English-language networks in the U.S., about 10 or 11 are African-American. The largest minority is Hispanic, and there wasn't one English-language network aimed at them, but there's two dog channels. It needed to happen.

created. There's not a lot of stuff right now that we can license, so we're licensing stuff that I love until we can create our own. A lot of the identity that I've had, that Quentin has had, is educating people about older movies, cult classic films and TV series. They are all affordable to license and they're given a lot of love and context on El Rey, with some filmmakers introducing their films. In the meantime, we'll begin to make shows that fit the mold.

Right off the bat, "From Dusk Till Dawn" will fit that. Half our cast is Hispanic, most of our directors are Hispanic, most of the writers are Hispanic. I want to cultivate more voices, more people who can contribute. You always go up against closed doors in Hollywood. Well, once you have your own network you do the opposite, you open the doors and turn the pyramid of power around where it can really become a people's network with true diversity.

El Rey Network arrives at a time when the Latino vote is becoming more and more important. Do you plan to get into political and social issues facing the community? I haven't decided yet We certainly have a way to reach people with things that are important I've worked with the president JENNIFER S. ALTMANPHOTO FOR TRIBUNE NEWSPAPERS Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez of "El Mariachi," "Sin City" and "Spy Kids" fame, is making the jump to television from movies. He recently launched cable network El Rey. and the White House before when they've asked for help in reaching people in the community.

I think that could become part of it, but for now it's all about the entertainment and making something that has a brand and an identity that people can feel good about and they can go there and feel taken care of. You've got a track record as an innovator. Any other big ideas for the network? I want to do a show called "The Mariachi Project" where I give $7,000 to a filmmaker to go make a feature. We'll show it on the network, give it some critiquing. At the end of the season the winner, chosen by the audience, will get to remake the film with a bigger budget, a real crew and bigger actors.

If I did "El Mariachi" now it would cost $700. The biggest expense was the film stock and now everybody shoots digitally. The film camera I had was so noisy, I had to record the sound separately. It sounded like all my money running away..