Douglas Wick: I think it all starts with the source material.
Is there an authenticity to it?
Veronica Roth, theres nothing derivative about her vision of the world.
Theres so many resonant ideas.
You have a chance of getting a really good filmmaker.
So I would say it starts with something original to say.
I would also say for us, we dont frame it in terms of YA.
We frame it much more in terms of .
a great story, whether we didThe Craft, orGirl, InterruptedorThe Outsiders, which Lucy produced.
This reminded us a lot ofThe Outsiders.
She was 17 years old, S.E.
Hinton, when she wrote that book and it was a huge bestseller.
Adults didnt even know what it was, but the kids did.
But you need a little bit of luck.
Are you ready for that?
We said, No.
Thats a really unfair thing to plant on our movie.
If this doesnt do it, then…
But as Doug said, the whole category existed without a title before YA.
So we treated it like a regular movie.
Was it very early on when it was decided that this last book would be two movies?
Wick: Yes, pretty early on.
Fisher: We got a manuscript ofAllegiantwhile we were halfway throughDivergent.
So it wasnt from the very beginning because we didnt even have the book yet.
In fact, I thinkDivergentwas already happening by the time we got started on this one.
There was certainly this precedent because ofLord of the Rings, andHarry Potter, andHunger Games.
So it wasnt like a brand new idea.
Was it easy to find a natural point at which to end the first movie?
Wick: Yes, because it had two climaxes in the book.
And thats what we were looking for, was two standalone movies.
The last book has a lot of story in it.
Just so much talent.
So now we just have a little more room to explore those characters.
Luckily, or unluckily, Veronica kills off a few every time.
Now we can explore Zoe, explore Miles, do more with them.
The storys scope expands so much in this film, going outside of Chicago, going across the Fringe.
What were the challenges of bringing that to life?
You employ a lot more visual effects and green screens to create these new places.
Wick: You know that thing where opportunity is challenge?
It was more opportunity than challenge.
We were definitely hungry for a new visual life.
InInsurgentwe had more of the visual life at the sims.
But by then, youd explored the world of Chicago.
So the opportunity to go outside was a really good one.
The opportunity/challenge was, okay, now the audience has expectations, as do the characters in the story.
Whats it going to be like as they journey there?
So it was mostly the opportunity of just some new theatricality.
We knew it was 200 years in the future.
We knew technology would have evolved, so we knew wed have some flying craft.
We were very curious about what OHare Airport transformed 200 years in the future would look like.
Plus now things like Trumps proposed wall have relevance to your story as well.
Fisher: Veronica wrote it two or three years ago and we shot it a year ago.
So there was no wall in our vocabulary except for the Berlin Wall when we were making it.
Theres certainly thematic similarities now, for sure.
So we were very aware of those politics.
In the book, the idea that we can only survive by community is a very true thing.
And the tendency to build walls, to divide ourselves, and making ourselves weaker and less.
So I think we were very aware of those politics.
How much of a resource has Veronica been?
Fisher: She didnt want to do that.
Weve had very good experiences with all of our authors.
A famously not good movie that wasnt my fault.
Fisher: That movie.
I would keep him informed.
I said, I dont think you should or whatever.
But he said, No, when you sell a book, its like you sell your house.
You take the money and then you dont drive by afterwards and say, I dont like their curtains.
Thats what he said.
Veronica was much more involved than that, but she thought the book was its own thing.
And she would say, I dont know.
And there was just something very interesting about, OK. Heres your creator.
Also she would come and go, I miss Tony Goldwyn.
Wed go, Well, yeah, but you killed him!
[laughs] She killed a lot of people.
Can you talk about what happened withInsurgentandAllegiantRobert Schwentke deciding not to come back and directAscendant?
Fisher: He was just too exhausted.
This was two movies in a row 24/7, literally 24/7.
We needed to make a decision and he honestly hadnt slept in like two months.
How much of the continuity is important to keep as well?
Wick: I think whenever you get new people, you want to bring their talent to it.
Fisher: We changed directors between the first and the second one.
They each have an aesthetic that obviously they bring.
Some of it is established now because weve already been to The Bureau.
We were lucky that this book isnt the same story just recycled again.
So I think its something to look forward to, to have another iteration evolve.
Was there any talk ever of shooting the two parts back to back?
Wick: We really didnt even want to consider it.
Fisher: Obviously its not impossible if you are Peter Jackson!
[laughs]
Whats happening with the remake ofThe Craft?
Wick: We have a fantastic female director, Leigh Janiak, who didHoneymoon.
She and her writing partner wrote a brilliant script.
So its coming along.
Fisher: Were real excited.
Allegiantis out in theaters now.