“, hopefully it’s a bit of a swoon moment. “It was to draw attention to the kind of places girls notice on guys,” says Nicholson. For much of “Divergent,” only a bit of the tattoos peek out from beneath his shirt. Luckily, James didn’t have to endure that routine every day. When they’d run out of conversation topics, the actor would put his headphones on and listen to Bon Iver. HISTORY : Dauntless was a faction formed by those. Note: Being fearless and being undaunted are two different things. Undaunted: resolute, especially in the face of danger. Courageously resolute, especially in the face of danger or difficulty not discouraged. It took three people three hours to apply them while James stood. DEFINITION : Pronounced: Dawn-t-less Fearless, undaunted. In reality, they were printed on cellophane paper backed with acrylic adhesive and applied almost like temporary tattoos.)įor Four’s elaborate back tattoo, makeup department head Brad Wilder had to stick on around 40 numbered, printed pieces that connected like a puzzle on actor Theo James’ back. (In the film, tattoos are applied via a tube that injects ink through a patch. Lead initiate Tris (Shailene Woodley) has three birds representing her mother, father and brother, and the makeup team was able to apply them consistently each day using her moles as references points. It was very much about world.” From top left, Mekhi Phifer, Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Zoe Kravitz, Jai Courtney, and Maggie Q “We weren’t trying to reinvent tattoos ,” says Nicholson. In particular, they wanted the tattoos to be rudimentary enough that an isolated, relatively young society could believably create them.

The design process for the film’s ink began with production designer Andy Nicholson (a recent Oscar nominee for “Gravity”), who worked with director Neil Burger to create a “bible of the future” that set forth rules about visuals not explained in Veronica Roth’s book series. While the citizens of the Dauntless faction in “Divergent” love a good death-defying leap, they’re equally passionate about something a little more benign: tattoos.Īnd these aren’t just any tattoos.

Dauntless divergent