Shailene Woodley
Shailene Woodley Reuters

American actress Shailene Woodley revealed that Oscar winning-actress Jennifer Lawrence gave her some piece of advice before she signed up for the highly anticipated film adaptation of Veronica Roth's novel Divergent.

The 21-year-old, who is best known for portraying Amy Juergens in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, is at Comic-Con to promote her film, which has been called the next Hunger Games.

"I have still yet to meet Jennifer in the flesh, but I had a slight interaction with her where I asked her about Hunger Games and what it was like, and her life and how much it has changed. It was nice asking someone who has been through the process and is kind of seasoned in the young-adult franchise," she told Vanity Fair's Julie Miller, "She gave me really beautiful advice and said that I should definitely take it.

"It will be the best thing that ever happened. But don't be an idiot, do a sex tape, [or] do drugs. And go to Whole Foods when your movie opens," she added.

Woodley, who made her film debut in The Descendants, revealed that she was in two minds about signing on for a film franchise.

"I was nervous because I had just gotten out of a five-year series, which was a six-year contract," Woodley said. "I sort of learned my lesson about signing into things for a long period of time. The thought of signing a four-year contract was very daunting, and doing a huge franchise movie that has the potential to be very successful was frightening to me. I never wanted that amount of attention, and the thought of losing my anonymity was not something that I was looking forward to."

Divergent will hit cinemas on 22 March 2014.