Shailene Woodley's new film "White Bird In A Blizzard" is far from what the actress has done before. Mostly because her role in the upcoming drama thriller required her to get naked, seduce a much older man played by Thomas Jane, and shoot a sex scene while looking straight into the camera.
But the 22-year-old actress, who rose to prominence for her portrayal of Beatrice "Tris" Prior in "The Divergent" film series and Hazel Grace Lancaster in "The Fault in Our Stars," told reporters at the Monday, Oct, 20, junket for the Gregg Araki-directed film that she had no problem going nude for the French-American flick, Us Weekly reported.
"I felt like it was very truthful," Woodley said of her multiple nude scenes in the movie. "I feel like it lent itself to this movie. It wasn't exploitative. There's nothing that bothers me about seeing people have intimate scenes in films. The woman has clothes on, has full makeup, and the man has boxers -- that's just not how it works."
Based on the novel of the same name by Laura Kasischke, the film follows the story of Kat Connors (Woodley), a 17-year-old girl whose sexual awakening and coming-of-age dramas are thrown into chaos following the sudden disappearance of her mother.
During the junket, the Golden Globe-nominated actress said that the film offers a realistic depiction of growing up. "My opinion is that intimacy is a natural part of being a human being," she said. "Especially when you're young, you're exploring that part of yourself for the first time. I think that a lot of films that have young people in them don't often explore that factor for various reasons. But I do love Gregg's films in that way. Because they are truthful and they're daring. Especially this one."
Speaking at AOL's live interview series BUILD in New York on Oct. 16, Woodley revealed that she knew that her role would include nude scenes before she signed on to do the project. "When I signed on to do the film, I knew that that was part of this character and part of her world," said the Simi Valley, California-born actress, as quoted by Huffington Post. "I think it's so refreshing to see a coming-of-age film that actually deals with sex and that has sexuality be a large theme."
Though the film includes a seduction scene between Woodley and Jane's characters, it does not necessarily suggest that sleeping with a middle-aged man is a good thing.
"You watch my character put herself in this situation, and you're like, 'Oh no, don't do that! That's not a good choice! What are you doing, stop stop stop!,'" Woodley explained in an interview with MTV News. "But we can all relate, even if we didn't go seduce a 50 year old man when we were 17 years old. There's still that reliability of trying whatever when you're young. You don't know necessarily what you like or don't like. You're exploring yourself for the first time."
"White Bird in a Blizzard" hits theaters Friday, Oct. 24.
