George Clooney encouraged Shailene Woodley to star in the 'Divergent' franchise

Shailene Woodley is always chasing butterflies.

Not literal ones, of course. The metaphorical kind — the internal fluttering when she reads a script and immediately resonates with a character or finds out who's attached to the project and knows with certainty that she needs to be part of it.

"Everything is butterfly-based for me," Woodley tells Business Insider.

This intuition has been Woodley's north star throughout her career, guiding her to roles as a teen mom in "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," the brave protagonist in the "Divergent" film franchise, and a single mother carrying trauma in "Big Little Lies," which earned the actor her first Emmy nomination in 2017.

It also led her to her most recent role as a grieving writer named Gia in Starz's new series "Three Women," based on Lisa Taddeo's best-selling book of the same name.

Her character, a fictionalized version of Taddeo, travels across the country and convinces three women to share their stories as part of an assignment to write about sex in America.

The series is a raw and honest look at female pleasure, something that Woodley delights in talking about, even if it still makes some people uncomfortable.

"One of my favorite subjects is desire and pleasure and sex," Woodley says. "Also, it's something that's fascinated me from such a young age because it's constantly in our faces in this country, and yet there's still something very taboo about talking about the nuance and the realistic situation behind the thing that's advertised to us."

That was the first instance of butterflies. The other, stronger rush of feelings that reaffirmed her interest in "Three Women" came when she met Taddeo over Zoom.

"The way that she saw the world is so particularly special because it just comes through the lens of honesty and truth, and there's no pretense," Woodley says. "There's nothing bubblegum about Lisa, and I loved that."

For the latest interview in Business Insider's "Role Play" series, Woodley reflects on the formative experience of working with George Clooney as a teen, her short-lived time on the set of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" with Andrew Garfield, and if she'd ever reprise her "Divergent" role as Tris.

On her brief stint on 'The OC' and the biggest takeaway from her breakout role on 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'

One of your earliest roles was playing Mischa Barton's younger sister, Kaitlin Cooper, on "The OC" when you were 11. How aware were you of the sheer magnitude of that show, and what did you learn from being on it so early in your career?

It's funny, I'm working with Ben McKenzie right now on a film, actually, and I haven't seen him since I was 11 years old. And he's like, "You're all grown up!" I'm like, "Yep, 32, still kicking!"

It's a funny thing to grow up as an actor and work with certain people when you're a child and be a part of something that's such a zeitgeist culturally. But being a child, I wasn't watching "The OC" at 11 because there were things that I wasn't allowed to see, but I was able to see my scenes and it just felt like a fun opportunity. It wasn't until I was a little bit older that I was like, "Oh, damn, that was a pretty big deal. That was pretty cool."

It's cool to be a part of something that people relate to, but what's cooler to me is to be a part of something that I relate to, because when I go to sleep at night, it's what I think about and it's the healing that happens in my own life because of certain things. And then the ripple effect of that, it just feels like magic. So, as a child, it was exciting.

A couple years later, you had your breakout TV role with "Secret Life." You've said before that the show was challenging because some of the show's belief systems differed from yours — and you were on that show for five seasons. In what way did your involvement in that show push you to be more vocal about your own beliefs? And afterward, did you have a need to give more input on the projects that you signed on for?

I don't think the show made me any more vocal. I've just kind of always been a very vocal person when it comes to things that I think are worth being vocal about. The thing about that show that it really taught me was just to be mindful when you sign a multi-year contract. That's it. That was my biggest takeaway from "Secret Life" was you sign a contract, and then there's legal responsibility. And I learned that lesson at a young age, which was a great lesson to learn.

On George Clooney's 'magic heart of gold' and if she'd still do a fourth 'Divergent' movie

Your first big film role was "The Descendants." What was it like having George Clooney play your onscreen father, and what did you learn from working with a movie star like him?

Luckily for me, even though I started acting at such a young age, movies and TV were never really a part of my childhood. It could have been soccer or gymnastics that I was doing — it just happened to be film. No one in my family was in the industry at the time. And my brother and I, we didn't really watch many movies or TV shows.

So when I met George, I had only ever seen "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" I knew he was famous because he's George Clooney, but I really didn't care at all. And because of that, I got to meet a dude who was kind and funny and courteous and had a magic heart of gold.

There's a joke, I call him my old man, or he'll be like, "I'm your old man." I felt like I had an angel and a protector. I've been very lucky, actually, my whole career. Molly Ringwald did the same thing when I worked with her, and Ashley Judd and Kate Winslet.

Sometimes I get emotional talking about George because I feel like he really... it makes me cry. He gave me the confidence to be exactly who I was in a world that so often tries to make you think that you need to be something that you're not in order to be successful.

Another movie that's a touchstone of your career is the "Divergent" series. It's been 10 years. With all that time, is there anything that you look at differently about that franchise or your experience working on it?

I remember when I got the offer. I was really scared to say yes because I had just gotten out of my contract with "Secret Life," and here comes another multi-year contract.

Acting, for me, was a fun hobby. It still kind of feels that way. I feel very blessed to do what I do, and I never wanted it to be something that took over my life. I love living the life that I live. Lifestyle is very important to me, and especially at that age, I was like, I'm in my early 20s, I want to see the world. And I don't know that fame and all the things that come with people knowing who I am, if I'm ready for that or if I even want that at all.

I called George [Clooney] and Alexander [Payne] separately and I asked for their advice. George was like, absolutely, you should do this. And gave me, again, the confidence to know that sure, maybe things will be chaotic for a minute, but you can always live the life that you want to live. That's your choice. That's not anyone else's. And then Alexander said to me, "Yeah, you need to go make that movie so that you can help me fund my future films."

I remember that was the first time that I started thinking, "Oh, I understand the studio and the indie world, and the business side of the industry makes more sense to me." They were two people who really helped influence me in making the choice to do the "Divergent" series. And what a fun adventure that whole thing was.

The final movie in that franchise never materialized and there were different stages of development of a TV movie and spinoff series. All these years later, do you feel like there's still unfinished business with the franchise, or have you made your peace with how things turned out?

It's funny. I totally made my peace, didn't really think about it. It was a massive bummer, but I made peace with it. And just in the last few months, to be honest, I'm like, "Man, maybe we should still do a fourth film." But we're all older now and the characters are older and there can be some navigating what that can look like.

It's funny that you asked, because just recently that thought came into my mind of how maybe there could be a different version of the fourth film now that we're all 10 years older.

On her scrapped role as Mary Jane Watson in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2,' and why she hasn't ruled out another superhero movie

And around the time of that franchise, you were also cast as Mary Jane in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Those scenes got cut, but if the franchise had gone on, that character probably would've been very important. What do you remember about your brief time on set, and were you surprised that those scenes didn't make the final cut?

I was disappointed, but I definitely wasn't surprised. And the disappointment didn't last very long only because it made sense to me. They introduced a lot of new characters in that movie, and had they continued that series with the Andrew [Garfield] version of the Spider-Man, had those continued to go on and I wasn't able to be Mary Jane, I think I would've been far more disappointed.

But it was just the nature of how it all unfolded. I'm also a very trusting person. I'm like, whatever's meant to happen happens. And so I just felt excited that I had the opportunity to be her for two seconds.

How long were you on set for? Did you get to work with Andrew Garfield at all?

Andrew and I had a couple of scenes together. Gosh, it feels so long ago now. There were three scenes or four scenes in the whole. It wasn't a lot, so it didn't feel like some colossal disaster. It just felt like, oh, OK, I get it. I get why they would want to wait to introduce MJ into the next film.

Would you ever try to do a superhero movie again?

It would have to be the right one, but sure. I'm all about action. One of my favorite genres is action, so I am kind of itching to do another action film or series just because I really dig it, and superheroes can fall into that category. So, never say never.

On the subject of franchises, is there any truth to this rumor that you were on J.J. Abrams' shortlist of actors to play Rey in Star Wars? Did you even audition for that?

No, I don't know that that rumor is true at all. I mean, if it is, cool, great, fun to hear it [laughs]. "Star Wars" is my favorite franchise of all time, so that's cool if that's real.

You've said before that you were interested in coming back as Jane in a potential third season of "Big Little Lies." Any updates now that it's in the works? Are you returning?

I know as much as you do. I don't even know if it's officially in the works. I thought it was still just a rumor, but everybody, all of us do want it to happen. We all still text each other quite often saying, "Can't wait for season three." It feels a little bit like a fun fantasy dream that hopefully happens, but I can't say concretely whether it is or isn't happening.

Reese and Nicole have been saying that it is actually happening. They said that the book is being written.

That's the information that I have as well.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

"Three Women" airs weekly on Starz on Fridays at 10 p.m.