Actors Theo James, left, and Shailene Woodley pose for a photograph as they promote the movie "Divergent," in Toronto on Thursday, March 6, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO - "Divergent" star Shailene Woodley says she was attracted not just to her character's physical brawn, but also her strength in the romance department.

Without giving too much away, Woodley's 16-year-old character Beatrice (Tris) Prior has a budding romance in which she flexes her willpower and moves at her own pace, particularly in one intimate scene.

Woodley says that quality shown by Tris was part of the reason she took the role in the much-anticipated sci-fi action film that opens Friday.

"I think that Tris is overall somebody who finds her core strength at a very young age," Woodley, 22, said in a recent interview.

"Gosh, if I had been 16 or 17 and known how much I was worth at that age and known my own sense of bravery and sense of self, I think things would have been different as far as my journey.

"So that's definitely one of the biggest things for me, and also the relationship, the fact that it's built on pride and respect."

As fans of the Veronica Roth dystopian novel that inspired the film and a trilogy know, that relationship involves Theo James's character, Tobias Eaton, a.k.a. Four.

He's an instructor of the initiates into Dauntless, one of five factions the city of Chicago was divided into after a war.

At age 16, every citizen must go through a series of tests to determine which faction they belong to. Those who don't fit into any group are deemed uncontrollable by the government, labelled a Divergent and cast away as homeless and factionless.

Tris is actually Divergent, but her test results were covered up to protect her and she ends up joining Dauntless, a physically strong faction that believes in ordinary acts of bravery and extreme adventure.

Woodley says cast members had about a month of training prior to filming and had to learn hand-to-hand combat as well as fight choreography and a new fighting style involving Muay Thai.

"We definitely got some scars, some bumps and bruises," said the California native, former star of the series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" who got her film breakthrough in the 2011 drama "The Descendants."

"If you do a stunt scene and you're not bruised in some way, then you're doing something wrong," added James, who was born in England and is known for his roles in the series "Bedlam" and "Golden Boy."

The two even go head-to-head in a scene Woodley admits was "intense."

"He boxes in real life and is incredibly tough and so that scene scared me,'" she said, sitting on a hotel room couch beside James.

"I was like, 'If I don't pay attention, he's going to knock me out cold.'"

"That was a big scene for us as well because it's such a cool scene in the book," he added.

"Because it's not only a really big fight scene and it's kind of part of the big climax of the movie, but also it's the moment where they really truly fall in love for the first time amidst this huge fight. So it was good."

___

Follow @VictoriaAhearn on Twitter.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014