‘Divergent’s’ Ansel Elgort Hopes Movie’s a Hit But Doesn’t Want Life to Change (Video)

Divergent is expected to be a big hit at the box office, with the film tracking earlier this month on par with the first Twilight film, which opened to $69.6 million.

But while co-star Ansel Elgort, who plays Shailene Woodley‘s character’s brother, wants the film to succeed, he doesn’t want his life to change as a result.

VIDEO: ‘Divergent’ ‘Fault in Our Stars’ Actor Ansel Elgort Is the Next Big Thing

“If it happens, I hope it does because the movie’s actually really, really good and it deserves to have a huge opening,” the actor said on Thursday’s Today of the film’s potential box-office success. “But hopefully, you know, I’m from New York and I live in Brooklyn, and I want my life not to change too much, you know.”

He admitted he can still play basketball in the city without being bothered by fans, but the same wasn’t true in L.A. recently.

“I played in this sketchy court in Hollywood and somehow this youth group showed up and like 20 girls all knew who I was,” he explained. “But I had like my own cheerleading squad, which was kind of cool. Every time I hit a bucket, they were all screaming.”

Elgort said he’s also excited to portray a character who changes over the course of the series.

PHOTOS: Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet Rule the Red Carpet at the ‘Divergent’ Premiere

“[Caleb is] definitely one of the more interesting characters in the series and, for me, I couldn’t see myself playing anybody else,” he said. “In terms of, I’m so excited to play him, over the arc of the whole trilogy. He really goes to an interesting place and sort of becomes the antagonist of the story, which is interesting because you don’t always want to play the same thing as an actor and to be sort of a villain sometimes is cool.”

Elgort was joined on the show by the author of the best-selling YA book series, Veronica Roth, who wrote Divergent while she was a senior in college. She later celebrated her book deal by jumping into a bathtub of mini-marshmallows, which she explained on Today, as Elgort watched the video of her celebration for the first time.

“I always had a marshmallow thing. It’s really just a joke that I promised on my blog, and then once, you know, the book deal happened, I had to follow through because I have to keep my Internet promises,” she explained, adding that the marshmallows were tough to clean up.

Watch Roth and Elgort’s full interview below.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy