While she did star in in "Titanic," which wound up becoming on of the biggest movies of all time, Kate Winslet has, before and since, stayed away from franchise territory. The closest she's ever come to a tentpole was probably Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion," or maybe the Aardman animation "Flushed Away," but in general, she's preferred to stick to artsier, more awards-baity fare, working with directors like Roman Polanski, Todd Haynes and Jason Reitman.
But it looks like she might have found something tempting, as Summit Entertainment reveals that Kate Winslet has joined "Divergent," the studio's adaptation of the best-selling young adult novel. With a script from "Snow White & The Huntsman" scribe Evan Daughtery, rewritten by Vanessa Taylor ("Game Of Thrones," "Hope Springs," winner of the 2012 most incongruous credits award), and Neil Burger ("The Illusionist," "Limitless") in the director's chair, the studio are clearly hoping for the film to be the next "Twilight" or "Hunger Games," and look to be landing as prestigious a name as has been involved with either series.
The plot is set in a dystopian future where people are divided in factions separated by their qualities — selflessness, intelligence, honesty, peacefulness and bravery — and focuses on a girl, Tris, who discovesr she's a Divergent, caught between multiple traits. "The Descendants" and "The Spectacular Now" star Shailene Woodley is signed on to play the lead, while Jeremy Irvine, Lucas Till and Alex Pettyfer were testing for the male lead, but Variety says that the filmmakers have decided to go older for the role.
What isn't clear is what role Winslet would play. Our quick glance at Wikipedia doesn't suggest an older female character, other than Tris' mother Natalie, but there's no indication of how big a role that is. Is there some kind of villain that Winslet might play instead? Fans of the book, please do illuminate us. At any rate, we should be finding out soonish, as the film will open on March 21, 2014.
