Photo credit: Kim Leeson – taken at Cinemark West Plano
Summit Entertainment is releasing DIVERGENT this weekend, and it’s safe to say the fandom of the Veronica Roth books is more than ready. Ticket sales have been very strong, and even social media seems to be very excited. With the TWILIGHT film series now over, it stands to reason Summit definitely wants this to work, and lead to another successful Young Adult big screen franchise. Earlier this month I had a chance to chat with two of the film’s stars, Miles Teller and Jai Courtney, who came to Dallas for a special advance fan screening. As you can see in the first video from the red carpet, the fan excitement was intense. Both Miles and Jai signed a ton of autographs and took a bunch of photos with enthusiastic girls in attendance. While talking to them that night, we discussed their characters a bit, and I asked them about their upcoming roles, Miles being cast as Mr. Fantastic in the FANTASTIC FOUR reboot, and Jai being cast as Kyle Reese in TERMINATOR: GENESIS. The following morning, we talked again, this time without the screaming fans, as they sat down for a press junket with select Dallas journalists. You can see both videos below, and check out DIVERGENT this weekend. My sincere thanks to Ric Mulligan for shooting the red carpet interviews, and to Rachel Parker for shooting the press junket.
Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff. 
