Lending a little star power to her cast

Insurgent co- stars benefit from close association with Shailene Woodley

Shailene Woodley seems to be a lucky charm for her three male co- stars in the Divergent movies. How so?

Theo James, Miles Teller and Ansel Elgort are advancing nicely in the celebrity world of high- profile movie roles.

Elgort returns to play Caleb, who is Tris’s ( Woodley) brother in the second sci- fi film instalment, The Divergent Series: Insurgent. And he earned rave reviews for his role as the cancer- stricken patient opposite Woodley in the hit drama The Fault in Our Stars last year.

Theo James — who made his Hollywood debut in Underworld: Awakening with Kate Beckinsale — continues as Tris’s love interest Four, and will be seen next in Johnny Depp’s upcoming thriller London Fields.

Miles Teller, who co- starred with Woodley in The Spectacular Now, is back playing the troublemaking Peter in Insurgent after his featured role in Whiplash last year. And he just wrapped his Mr. Fantastic part in the Fantastic Four reboot set for an August release.

All the young adult actors will reunite for the two- part Allegiant, the third book in the Veronica Roth trilogy, which will be made into two films, out in 2016 and 2017.

Meanwhile, there is Insurgent. Her parents dead, Tris, with newly acknowledged boyfriend, Four, by her side, is determined to overthrow Erudite despot Jeanine ( Kate Winslet) and dismantle the city- state’s oppressive faction system.

New to the proceedings are Oscar- honoured actors Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts; Spencer plays the leader of the hippie- like faction called Amity and Watts is head of the Factionless rebels.

Certainly, the cast and crew of Insurgent wondered about the potential impact of Robert Schwentke replacing director Neil Burger, who had helmed the first film, Divergent. Schwentke has built his reputation on stylized action movies such as the 2005 thriller Flightplan and the 2010 spy comedy Red.

“I had a good time with Robert,” said Elgort of the new director. “We talked about my character’s arc, and I realized that sure, he’s a big action director but he’s an actors’ director, too.”

Indeed, the filmmaker spent as much time with the villains as he did with the heroes in Insurgent.

As the revolution progresses, for instance, Caleb and Peter fall into the former not the latter category. Teller said his portrayal of Peter was specific — “every movie needs an instigator.”

Meanwhile, James and Woodley made sure the blossoming love between Four and Tris didn’t get lost in the mayhem.

“I like that fact that ( the characters) have mutual respect for each other,” he said.

When in doubt the three actors — James, Teller and Elgort — had Woodley to rely on. They are fans of her personal and physical strength and her unassuming camaraderie with everybody on set.

“She’s an open book,” said Elgort of Woodley. “Most of the things she wants people to know she tells, but she keeps other things private.”