Vanity Fair talks with Ansel about TFIOS, Acting, and Shai

Ansel chatted with Vanity Fair's Krista Smith about acting, TFIOS, and more.

Source: Vanity Fair, Bjorn Iooss

Here are the highlights:

On college:

I never really did that well in school because I was so absorbed with doing acting. I think for about nine years of my life I never was not in a production, [and] that got me really in that rhythm, but because of that, I didn’t love the idea of going to college, to be honest. It didn’t really make sense when I was clearly on a path to be a performer. In my head, I knew I was going to make it, so I was going to be fine and that was going to be my excuse to not go.

On Divergent to TFIOS progression:

As much as they wished that I wasn’t ever cast in Divergent, I don’t think they would have cast me if I wasn’t in Divergent. I think you have [to] take those steps, because that’s the way the business works—you take one step at a time and then eventually you get to star in a big movie opposite Shailene. That’s why I am starting to believe in luck a little bit.

On working with Shai:

She is obviously really good. I don’t think she ever really did any acting training, so she is just really present and there and just real. So it is pretty easy to just work off of her, like those scenes are going to be good, because every take is different. She sort of just lets it happen naturally, and that is what you want to be working off of. She definitely prepares and does her homework, but that non-rehearsal aspect of it makes it really raw and organic when it first happens. I definitely don’t mind working with her.

For more on Ansel's family, childhood in Manhattan, and more, be sure to check out the rest of the article here.

Thanks to LadyofErudite for the tip!