STACK NZ Aug #65

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Naomi and Jai. For me, I felt very lucky
to be another Aussie working with them.
It was pretty cool".
Given what happens to Uriah in the books
(don't worry – no spoilers here), how much did
Lonsdale know about his character in advance?
"I read the books, just because I hadn't actually
heard of Divergent", he chuckles. "I saw the film
a day before I found out about the audition. So
I felt I should probably read the books, and I
found out there was a lot of attention on Uriah,
so I wanted to understand why that
was. I loved the books.
"I found out what happens... but
for me, when I found out I got the
role, I was just happy. I felt lucky
that I got to be a part of something
so huge. I thought it would just be one
film, I thought it would just be Insurgent,
but then when I found out that
the character progresses, that
he's still involved with the others,
that made me pretty excited. I just
felt like I'd scored a pretty big goal for
myself in being able to do a few movies."
Lonsdale is remaining tight-lipped, however,
about what we can expect from the two-part
finale Allegiant, due in cinemas in 2016 and '17.
"I guess it's just like anything. Much bigger and
better than the last two," he offers. "There're
some cool surprises... when I was reading the
script I was thinking of the fans and I was like,
'the fans are really gonna like this'.
"And I think in terms of special effects, the
Divergent films have always had a really cool way
of doing that, and I think that will happen again.
I think fans can really look forward to that. And
characters develop a heap as well, so that will be
good to see".
A s Insurgent arrives on DVD and Blu-ray
this month, The Divergent Series cast
are hard at work on the final
installment in the franchise: Allegiant.
"I've finished my part, actually", says Keiynan
Lonsdale. "But Atlanta was really warm, and
everything was really full on. It was a lot of fun".
As far as everyone else being finished with
filming is concerned, he's unsure. "I have
no idea – I've just come back to LA. What I
needed to film for me is done. I have no idea
what they're doing anymore", he laughs. "I'm
finished. I chat to some of the people and I'm
like, 'How's it going?' and they're like, 'Yeah,
good'. It's kinda cool, you just go in and do
your job. Last year I felt like I was there for the
majority of it, with breaks in between. You just
never know".
Although his character Uriah Pedrad, a
member of the Dauntless fighting faction and
also a Divergent, appeared in the first novel of
Veronica Roth's Divergent Series , fans were
disappointed to find him missing from the first
film, Divergent. "Apparently they just wanted
to introduce Uriah in the right way, you know,"
explains Lonsdale. "They didn't just want to kind
of chuck him into the first one – they wanted to
do it properly. Which is good for me, because
then I got to audition for the second one."
Whilst shooting Insurgent, Lonsdale found
himself in the company of fellow Aussies Jai
Courtney and Naomi Watts. "It's always cool...
I guess you get to watch these people and you
hear about Australian actors going overseas and
making it and such. They always seem to be
of such a high calibre and it was the same for
Australian-born actor Keiynan Lonsdale shines in the second film in The
Divergent Series, Insurgent. STACK's Alesha Kolbe caught up with him.
FREEDOM FIGHTER
I saw [Divergent]
a day before I
found out about the
audition, so I felt I
should probably read
the books
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