Theo: Shooting Insurgent was liberating

Theo James says there’s less pressure shooting the second film in a franchise.

The 30-year-old British actor reprises his role as Four in Insurgent – the second movie in the Divergent series.

And in a new interview, Theo said he felt he and his co-stars were given more freedom.

“When you’re doing a first film in a franchise the stakes are very high and there’s a lot of people who have investment and want it to succeed,” Theo told Collider.com. “So when you do a second movie you are liberated a little bit and given more freedom. And I think the great thing about returning to another movie is that you can look at the lessons you learned from the first one and apply them to the second film.”

Insurgent also stars Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts. It also has a bigger special effects budget than the first film – something that has definitely paid off in Theo’s opinion.

“It was also very important that if you make a second movie you make it bigger, better and broader,” he said.

Another of Theo’s upcoming projects will see him team up with Johnny Depp on London Fields, based on Martin Amis’ book of the same name.

And Theo said he was thrilled to be given the opportunity to work on such a unique project.

“It was good,” he said. “It was kind of crazy. In tone it’s a bit like Fear and Loathing – kind of wacky and psychedelic. It was fun because those films are hugely different from something like Insurgent, so it’s good to flex both muscles.”