Shailene Woodley avoided Hollywood franchises for years

Shailene Woodley was initially uninterested in starring in upcoming blockbuster Divergent because she didn't want to be tied into a Hollywood franchise.

The 21 year old admits she was wary of joining the big-screen adaptation of Veronica Roth's novel, which has been compared to The Hunger Games because of its dystopian themes.

She tells MTV.com, "My whole thing, to be honest, was that I never wanted to do big films. I've been acting for 16 years and it was never something I wanted to do, to be in a big blockbuster film. Especially one that was similar to Hunger Games or Twilight, one that had a huge pre-existing fan base, something that would carry on for multiple years."

The Descendants star changed her mind after checking out the book, the first in a trilogy by Roth, and was eventually cast in the lead role of Beatrice Prior.

Woodley adds, "After I read the book, I was really profoundly moved. It's very metaphorical for things that are going on today. Specifically things that I'm passionate about, things I want to make public, and things that I want to educate people on. So I think it's a really great platform, not only artistically but just from a human level of being able to expose these messy, nasty things that are going on in our country."

Divergent is due to hit theatres next year (14).