British actor , 29, gladly signed on for the three-film Divergent series. The longevity beats a job in his early career: he was killed off onscreen in only his second TV acting gig.
Granted, the deadly aftermath of Lady Mary’s (Michelle Dockery) tryst with James’s character of Turkish diplomat was a key plot point on Downton Abbey. But it didn’t do much for his career, he recalled with a chuckle.
“I was a jobbing actor, I took the job,†said James while on a recent stop in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøto promote Divergent, opening March 21, based on the first book in ’s young adult series. “And in a way at the time, it didn’t change my life at all. It (the show) got big here later. So to me I just did the job, pretended I could horse ride which I couldn’t, and then left.â€
James takes on a far meatier role as Four, starring opposite (Tris) in Divergent, the story of dystopian Chicago of the future, walled off from the hostile outside world, where citizens are split into five factions based on temperament and skills.
A member of the athletic Dauntless faction of brave risk-takers who keep the city safe, Four is tasked with training Tris as a fighter. She’s signed on with Dauntless but in truth is a Divergent, one who doesn’t belong to any specific group.
We’re not sure whether Four is a good guy or a menacing force initially and James said that’s what drew him to the role.
“That’s what I loved about the story. That’s what attracted me to it,†said James. “He’s an extremely complex character, but he’s also a kind of male figure that you don’t see in movies especially this genre very much.â€
Although Four “understands and believes the whole faction system,†he has a difficult past and a deep secret about his family and need to keep it all secret, even as Tris needs to keep her Divergent nature under wraps or risk expulsion from the city. Slowly, they come to trust each other and their relationship changes.
“He has to keep everything close to his chest and he can’t trust anyone,†said James. “And I think that’s the beauty of the story with (Tris), they begin to trust one another and in trusting her he’s able to warm up and come alive again somehow and show himself finally.â€
James studied philosophy at university and approached his character with an analysis of Four’s values.
“He’s like the old world where he believed in something, the integrity of this system,†James explained. “That’s something I’ve had to settle in my head before, because you look at the faction system in reality and you think well is it a viable construct? Probably not.â€
Taking the role also means a certain kind of recognition for James, who has been crowned “movie hunk†by various websites and magazines. “Becoming physicalized,†is what he calls it with a smile.
“I mean, I’m not 22. I’m 29 and I’ve been doing other stuff before so I don’t want to be in a place where it’s I’m a teen dream because that’s not the reality,†said James, who previously starred as Det. Walter William Clark Jr., in short-lived CBS cop drama Golden Boy.
“But in truth, I think what I will have done and what I will need to keep doing is that after this you have to make very bold decisions and choose extremely f——— carefully,†he added.
Among those jobs is the upcoming film Franny, where James and Dakota Fanning star as a married couple dealing with the fallout when a philanthropist (Richard Gere) inserts himself into their lives in unwelcome ways. It’s due out later this year and James is hopeful it will be invited to TIFF in September.
He’s also wrapped on black comedy-mystery London Fields, based on the Martin Amis novel and starring Amber Heard, Johnny Depp and Jim Sturgess.
“They were deliberate choices,†said James of the different kinds of films he’s making now, “and I definitely think I’ll have to push myself to keep making those deliberate choices.â€
Read the Star’s review of Divergent in the Movies section Friday and online at .
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