Divergent star Judd shows her diversity.
Ashley Judd received a Golden Globe nomination in 2004 for her role in De-Lovely and then disappeared from movies for the next decade.
Instead she immersed herself with other interests, including humanitarian work in Africa, campaigning for women’s rights around the world and flirting with the idea of a run for the US senate as a candidate for the Democratic Party in her native Kentucky.
But in recent times she’s been tempted back to the big screen, first with a brief appearance as the President’s wife in Olympus Has Fallen (she was killed before the opening credits) and now a slightly more substantial role as the mother of the heroine in the film adaptation of young adult sci-fi novel Divergent.
Similar in style to The Hunger Games, it tells of teenager Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodly) who turns her back on her family to be trained as a peace-keeping soldier in a futuristic world where everyone has to eat, sleep and live within one of five categories. But when the rival groups are taken to the brink of war, Beatrice has to choose between faction or family.
“I semi-retired in 2006 and to have the opportunity to be on a movie this big, that has so much potential to have such extraordinary impact with a young woman who is coming of age as a star, is so joyful for me,” explains Ashley, who split with her husband, Scottish racing driver Dario Franchitti, early last year.
“It [working with Shailene] was a bit like visiting with myself when I was 21 years old.”
Divergent is at cinemas from Friday.
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