Dear Veronica Roth,
You probably don’t know this but before That’s Normal I used to write letters (daily sometimes) to a little known YA vampire book series. After four years of sparkly adonis’s and clumsy girls, their real life counter parts, their bad fashion choices and epic-forever love stories, reading your YA book series Divergent has been like changing the radio dial from the Valentine’s Day Love Song special with Ryan Seacrest (I Will Always Love You played on the hour, every hour) to the Deep Cuts Independent Vinyl station on Spotify (playing shit no one ever heard or thought they wanted to hear). Or maybe like going from Pinkberry original to Ben and Jerry’s Late Night ice cream (is that a chocolate covered potato chip in my ice cream? Yes, it is. See I do better in ice cream metaphors). It’s been like space traveling to different universes one where people you like die and characters scoop other character’s eye balls out with a spoon (gross spoiler!) and you’re not totally sure what’s going on but you’re buckled in and committed to the ride and ready to see what other grossness will happen to these characters.
I like that your main character, Tris doesn’t have to be clumsy, that she doesn’t need the main guy, Four to get our out of scraps (though he defs does occasionally. Ferris Wheel of death anyone?), that she can handle herself thankyouverymuch but I like that she lets him in and they find a secret common ground that bonds them together. Oh and what the eeeffff is going on with this world?
A few weeks back under the cloak of the mid day Santa Monica sun, I (and some other awesome bloggers) got to interview you about Divergent which is now filming in Chicago, Insurgent and the upcoming… DRUM ROLL PLEASE… ALLEGIANT! Yup, no ENT so you tricked us all, but we’ll take it.
You never know what to expect going into these interviews, will the interviewee be a jokester, will they provide good answers, will they play around with you a bit, will they talk about their personal existential crisis, will they be NORMAL? On an interview scale of John Malkovich to Jackson Rathbone with John being super John Malkovich-y (you KNOW what I mean) and Jackson being that friend you used to get drunk with in college, you fall very close to the Jackson end of the scale. So much so I almost asked you (like, 20 times) what Twilight tattoo you would get if you had to (and you do, cause that’s normal). Then I remembered.
You were super normal and into stuff we’re into aka HARRY POTTER! You mentioned it a bunch (including an awesome Hufflepuff reference and a fangirl moment over Mugglenet host Andrew who was also in the interview) you even talked about dressing up at Comic Con in a robe, I’m sure Bekah would let you borrow the one she wore for Halloween a few years back. So we’ll see you on the Convention Center floor and cast a few spells together or just point our wands at dorks in Steam Punk costumes. Anything goes there.
Before our interview I got to thinking about this dystopian YA genre and why it’s so popular… I mean think about it these stories are everywhere, Divergent, Hunger Games, Ender’s Game (a lot of games), Maze Runner, Delirium, Matched and on and on and on, why is that? Your answer:
“I don’t know. I have thought about that a lot. I think it’s interesting cause it sort of pulls you in both directions.. You are interested in the forward thrust of the the story and you are interested in the history of the world and how it became that way. SO I think that anything that pulls your mind that way will be really interesting. Also it creates a really dynamic backdrop for kinda like very human struggles in stories so.”
RIGHT?!?!? Why are there five factions? And why can’t people be more than one with out being a Divergent “freak?” But tell me MORE about Four. Also give me more sky scraper zip lining! Ok, ok I see what you’re getting at there, Veronica! Also what can we expect from Allegiant?
“What can I share? God… is there anything I can share? I’m trying to think. I can’t say very much. I think the things that you expect to learn more about, you do. SO you will find out who this Edith Prior person is and how they are related.”
WHO IS EDITH PRIOR?!?!?!!? Besides somehow related to Tris and Caleb… can you tell I’m in the middle of Insurgent?
Annnnddd the question we all think when reading these books: which faction would I be in?
“That’s an interesting question. I used to think I would chose dauntless. I think that’s just like a desire, like a lot of people have. Like oh yes, I get to be a bad ass. But I’m not. So I’d actually choose Abnegation. I’m a hufflepuff so it seems…”
I also would like to choose Dauntless but I think I might be more Erudite or Amity or whatever I’m Divergent. Let’s go there! Why not?! Put me in a simulation coach, I’m ready!
So there are tons of big names in this film, Shaliene Woodley (daughter of George Clooney), Ashley Judd (related to THE Judd’s), Theo James (Mr. Pamuk, natch) and now Kate Winslet (the Rose to Leo’s Jack!) That’s gotta be pretty crrrraaazzzzy to think about, right? And then you, Veronica said the best thing ever:
“When they told me they were talking to her, I was like psh… like that’s gonna happen. I don’t believe anything until it’s actually like official. Then when it was official I was, I had like a little panic attack. OMG it’s really happening. The official strategy is defensive pessimism always. But lately I have been allowing myself to get a little more excited.”
“Defensive Pessimism” is like my new motto about books to film adaptations. In the interview you also talk a lot about being realistic in casting and how the sets, design and actors look. It’s kinda like you read our post about “accepting it now” in regards to Twilight. Everything will NOT be EXACTLY.THE.SAME as the books.
“I think, um, I would be a little disappointed if it was exactly how I pictured it. Then there is no reinterpretation. No new discovery. And what I was most concerned about when they were casting was finding actors that could capture the internal world of the character as opposed to exactly matching the description that I wrote. And in that sense its been really amazing because when I was watching them act I was like YES, this is it. This is the person. You did such a good job. Even with people who I was on the fence with I was really swayed by the end of the day. They’ve done a good job. I mean I have been overwhelmingly positive on twitter and on line. It’s because I feel overwhelmingly positive about it. If I wasn’t feeling that way I would probably just be quiet.
Preach on it sister. Ok, and to round it off she has to have obsessions like we do, right? I mean we’re all NORMAL, right? Well, duh someone who falls high on the John Malkovich to Jackson Rathbone scale has to be obsessed with something cool. She is…
“I mean, Harry Potter. I have a wand. I am going to comic con this year, and I was really thinking about making myself some robes. I am a big fan of that.”
After that Veronica proceeded to fangirl over Andrew from Hypable aka the host of much ballyhooed Mugglenet cause she is an HP fangirl and all. And we would totally fangirl over Andrew if we didn’t like, know him personally already and fangirl in our heads. KIDDING. Not really. No we are.
You’re a gem Veronica and we can’t wait to read Allegiant and see your books come to the silver screen!
Wants to be a Dauntless probably more like an Amity,
Nikki
PS Want to read the entire Veronica Roth interview? Head over to Fangirlish and Page to Premiere for the transcripts!
PPS THE ALLEGIANT COVER YOU GUYS:
Thoughts?
Source: 1, My iPhone, Summit/Lionsgate
