Eric’s physical appearance in the movie is quite a bit different than his description in the book. How much input did you have on bringing that character to life, and how much makeup did it require?
Jai Courtney: It didn’t require too much makeup, that tats probably took the longest. But I had a lot of input, and it’s funny because showing up with the reference from the book, that he has long greasy hair and too many piercings on his face to count, was like “alright, cool, this’ll be fun.” That’s the first thing we went for, I was like “let’s just go for it.”
Miles Teller: I remember when you first walked in the trailer.
Jai Courtney: Yeah, I had this weird Jesus wig on and fucking spikes hanging out of every pore. It looked ridiculous, pretty much. It was good for a laugh. It was this funny session where it was myself and the makeup supervisor and the producers and Neil all in a room, and we pretty much just dialed it back until it reached a point where everyone was kind of happy.
I think on the page, an idea like that might sound scary, but put into reality it’s just pulling focus, and that’s all you’re looking at. It was about taking that idea, but moving on with it. I think you reserve the right for license in those areas, even though it might piss off some of the kids. [laughs]
Have you had any fandom backlash about making changes to the character?
Miles Teller: Eric’s entourage is strong. Strong and growing. [laughs]
Jai Courtney: Yeah, I’ve got a strong backing, they’re just rolling with it. I don’t know, probably. I don’t really tap into…
Miles Teller: The internet?
Jai Courtney: Yeah, I still have dial-up at my house. [laughs] But yeah, I’m sure there is. Purists always have an attitude towards things. I remember doing [Jack Reacher], people were up in arms that Tom Cruise was playing that guy, but you get on with it. You’re not recreating the book, you’re adapting it.
The training had to be one of the most difficult things, but also one of the most fun. Were there any training mishaps, anyone getting punched in the face or anything like that?
Jai Courtney: The training, for me, was the easiest process I’ve ever been through on any movie…
Miles Teller: Because you didn’t do any. [laughs]
Jai Courtney: Because I didn’t do any. [laughs] I showed up the day before we filmed and [everyone else] was at the end of a boot camp, and that was it.
Miles Teller: You just went in the hair and makeup trailer and figured out your bolts.
Jai Courtney: Yeah, that was about it, just gluing things to my face.
Miles Teller: We were out there for about two and a half weeks. Both our stunt coordinators are just complete bad asses. One of the guys, Garett, he’s got an eye patch, and he has it because a guy attempted murder on him and shot him in the face, and he survived.
Jai Courtney: That’s a true story.
Miles Teller: He’s an absolute psychopath. I’ve partied with Garrett a couple of times. And then this other dude, J.J. is like special forces and stuff. They weren’t treating us like actors, it was a lot of push-ups, a lot of sit-ups, a lot of knife throwing, a lot of gun tactical work. But no real injuries. Shailene got beat up on this movie a couple of times. I remember running to the train, she slipped and fell on the tracks. She took a pretty nasty fall there.
Jai Courtney: Zoë [Kravitz] got hit in the face with a trailer door. [laughs]
Miles Teller: Did she?
Jai Courtney: Yeah, that wasn’t funny at the time.
What did you each learn about yourselves from playing these characters?
Miles Teller: On the page, I thought [Peter] was a little more one-dimensional, especially when I read the book. I was like “this guy’s just mean all the time, he just says ‘stiff’ after every sentence and he’s always picking on her.” So for me, it was nice to get in that head space. He’s very competitive, he wants to be the best in that program, but he’s also pretty mischievous and conniving, and what I learned is that you don’t have to worry about who likes you. And that’s fine sometimes.
Jai Courtney: I don’t know if I learned anything from Eric.
Miles Teller: You spent some time with him. You got pretty drunk with him a couple night, right?
Jai Courtney: Yeah, a couple nights.
Miles Teller: I liked watching your dynamic with Four. I saw a lot of history there when you guys first started doing scenes together.
Jai Courtney: Yeah, it’s fun playing those kind of stakes, even if you’re the guy who has the attitude problem. But I don’t know, I don’t necessarily agree with his approach to things, but I don’t judge him either.
I know we’re talking Divergent today, but talk a little bit about your next projects. You’re both going to be in some massive productions next, maybe even bigger than this.
Miles Teller: Yeah, I’m really excited about Terminator.
Jai Courtney: I can’t wait for Fantastic Four. I think we probably should’ve been cast the other way around.
Miles Teller: I auditioned for Terminator.
Jai Courney: Well, I passed on yours.
Miles Teller: Yeah, right. I know.
Jai Courtney: That’s not true. [laughs] Very, very excited, man. It’s gonna be good. It’s weird to think they’re coming up so soon.
Miles Teller: Yeah, I’m heading down to Baton Rouge in like two weeks, and then we start April 7th. I’m excited for the way the cast came together, I’m excited for Jamie Bell. I remember watching him when Billy Elliot came out. I was pretty young, I watched that movie with my mom multiple times. He’s great, Kate [Mara] is really fantastic, especially in House of Cards recently. And then Michael B. [Jordan], who apparently I’m doing movies with for the next ten years.
Jai Courtney: It keeps happening.
Miles Teller: Yeah, it just keeps happening. But yeah, I’m excited. I think [Josh] Trank is a pretty inventive director, and I think that we’re gonna have a lot of fun with this franchise for the next few years.
It must be interesting looking at your schedules, because there will be Divergent sequels as well as new franchises.
Jai Courtney: We’ve given them hell, between us two.
Miles Teller: I just got cleared like a week ago, but there was about a three-week scramble. Kate Winslet actually moved her schedule around for me.
Jai Courtney: Fox and Summit aren’t too happy with us, but that’s alright.
Obviously, Divergent has a built-in audience, and the same can be said for your next projects. Do you look forward to things like going to Comic-Con, knowing that you already have a built-in fanbase?
Miles Teller: I don’t if it’s something that I necessarily look for, but it’s nice when people are excited about something. At the same time, you also get a lot of these things that have recently come to life, they’re called “internet trolls,” and as soon as you’re announced for anything they’re like “Stupid, worst decision in the world” and this and that.
And as much as you’re not thinking about it, of course, I know that with this role of Reed Richards comes a lot of [scrutiny]. That was my dad’s favorite comic, and a lot of people have an opinion on that guy. But we’re doing something pretty different with this. So I think it’s nice that your work will be seen, because I’ve done some stuff that really hasn’t.
If you want to be a big movie star or whatever, you’ve gotta do some big films and take some risks. I’m excited to kind of latch onto this character for the next couple of years and put my stamp on something that somebody else has already done. That’s what I’m excited about, to kind of reinvent it.
Jai Courtney: It’s funny, because quite a few of the things I’ve worked on have some sort of following, whether it’s a pre-existing franchise or a book adaptation. I’ve never really thought about whether that’s something I chase. I don’t think it is, I don’t think there’s a fast track to anything by latching onto something that’s already popular, even if it’s in another medium.
People talk about the pressure of that, but I don’t think about that too much. I will say that I knew nothing about these books when the role was made available to me, and when you research that and see that they’re largely popular, that’s definitely intriguing. Making the decision to come on board came down to the creative people involved, but it’s like “cool, this thing could be really big, it could be really popular.” And I think that’s only a positive thing.
Miles Teller: You want some successful movies on your resume. [laughs] You do it for the art all the time, but it’s nice to have one that makes money. You don’t want to be a part of a bunch of flops.
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Divergent opens March 21 in theaters everywhere.