The Brutal Buzz by Indie: Why Theo James Doesn't Want To Be Defined By "Divergent"

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Why Theo James Doesn't Want To Be Defined By "Divergent"

Best known for one episode of Downton Abbey , the 29-year-old actor is poised for a kind of megastardom he’s not quite sure yet how to handle.

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Unless you're a Downton Abbey obsessive or one of the few viewers of some unsuccessful CBS dramas, most people who see Divergent this weekend will be unfamiliar with the film's male lead. And that's how Theo James prefers it.

The actor plays Four in the adaptation of Veronica Roth's best-selling novel, set in a post-apocalyptic world in which the fenced-in citizens of Chicago are broken up into five separate factions. He's an enigmatic instructor of the Dauntless faction who pays special attention to Tris (Shailene Woodley), a young woman with a predisposition for three different factions (i.e., being "divergent"), which puts her life at risk within her society's rigid structure.

While Woodley is a critically acclaimed actress (for The Descendants and The Spectacular Now) and a former ABC Family star (on The Secret Life of the American Teenager), U.K. native James is likely best known for his single-episode stint on the first season of Downton Abbey in which he played Kemal Pamuk, the Turkish high society stud who died while in flagrante with Lady Mary. Since then, James has also appeared in films (Underworld: Awakening) and as the title character of the CBS series Golden Boy, which was canceled after its first season in 2013.

But the 29-year-old actor had to fight for the role of Four during the kind of exhaustive search filmmakers embark upon when attempting to launch a major feature film franchise in the vein of The Hunger Games.

Although this has all happened for James over a scant four years since his memorable visit to Downton, he still doesn't quite feel like he's made it just yet.

"I think being the youngest from a big family, I've always been fairly pragmatic," he told BuzzFeed while hunched over on a couch in a Beverly Hills hotel. "So every time I get a part, I luckily haven't fallen into [reacting with] Yes! — and then being like, Oh shit," he said with a laugh. "You know, some people do get this huge thing, and it's a bang that kind of changes their life. ... In terms of breaks, in a funny way, I haven't felt like one thing has done anything specific [for my career]. It feels likes I've just been kind of incrementally moving up."

If Divergent hits big, it could be the true big "bang" moment in James' career — and certainly director Neil Burger (Limitless) and screenwriters Evan Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Vanessa Taylor (Game of Thrones) give the actor plenty of opportunities to smolder and shine.

Here are seven essential things to know about James as he negotiates moving from That Handsome Guy from Downton Abbey into a far bigger spotlight.