Tuesday 27 August 2013

Miles Teller Talks to 'Vulture' About Divergent, Auditioning for Four, the VMAs & More

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Vulture talks to Miles Teller (who plays Peter in Divergent) about starring in the movie, and which roles he was originally considered for. He's says he's also looking forward to the sequel where he'll get to play opposite Kate Winslet.

Vulture: You were probably out late last night for the VMAs. Are you going to be hung-over when we talk?
Uhhh, yeah. I thought it was a bit rude for my publicist to invite me to these VMA after-parties at the same time she was scheduling me for, like, Good Day New York starting at eight o’clock.

What did you think of the VMAs?
I thought they were great. I was one of the dancing bears in Miley Cyrus’s act.

Were you the one who got the anilingus?
[Laughs.] She has a long tongue, right?

So the Divergent trailer premiered last night, too. I think I see Peter kicking Tris?
Yeah. That’s my knee. The trailer could have used some more Peter.

They did bring you all the way out here. Are you at all disappointed you're playing Peter as opposed to the heartthrob, Four? And did you audition for Four?
Well, Theo [James, who plays Four] is very tan. [Mocks sadness.] He’s always going to be tanner than me. No, I auditioned for Four originally and maybe, yeah, that would have been cool to do. But it’s nice to play against type. I think I play usually very likable characters, and so it was refreshing to be on set and not have to make people laugh. It was just like, Get in shape and pick on Shailene. That’s really all I do in that whole movie, just pick on her.

How did you go from maybe playing Four to playing Peter?
I auditioned for Four and then they said I wasn’t going to go further. I said okay. And then the producers had seen Spectacular Now — this was like months after I auditioned, maybe a year later. So they had seen Spectacular Now and they said, “There’s this part Eric maybe you could play.” I said, “I don’t know" — because [as Eric] I’m supposed to be intimidating to Theo. I don’t know if that works. Plus I think Eric would be a little older than me. So then they said, “What about Peter?" And then Shailene shot me a text message saying, “Please come do this movie with me.” It seemed like a good idea: Kate Winslet, the director of Limitless ...

You won’t get any scenes with Kate Winslet this movie, right? It’s following closely with the book?
I didn’t get any scenes with Kate. I left as she was coming. So I’m looking forward to that in the second one. She’s fantastic. I saw Titanic when I was 11 with my girlfriend and it was pretty special.

You had a girlfriend when you were 11?
Yeah. When I was 11, that was a cool year for me. It was the first time that I made out with a girl. And I just think Titanic ... being able to go to a theater and seeing such an epic love story that lasted three hours and your parents aren’t there — it’s like you’re in a cocoon. It’s a great freakin’ movie.

It is. Do you feel the stress of the Hunger Games comparisons?
No. I mean, maybe Shailene does. But for me, I just kind of come in and play Peter. But I think Hunger Games is — you look at Jennifer Lawrence, and she’s a pretty great actress. If it’s anywhere close to Hunger Games, that would be great. Because then you get what’s called “international value,” which I don’t have. So once I get that, then I can get movies made. Like Spectacular Now, we got made pretty much because of Shailene.

I saw a video of you moonwalking. Did you moonwalk at your prom?
Uh, I moonwalk every chance I can get. If you can do a moonwalk, you don’t have to do anything else. People just assume you’re a good dancer. Which, I do have really good rhythm; I am a good dancer. I usually think I’m the best dancer in the room.

[A publicist ask us to wrap things up. As we're leaving the room, Teller asks if anyone has an aspirin.]

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

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