‘Uglies’ Trailer: Joey King And Chase Stokes Want To Be Pretty In Netflix Adaptation Of Sci-Fi Book
Netflix has released the trailer for the long-awaited Uglies movie adaptation.
Based on the book by Scott Westerfeld, Uglies stars Joey King as Tally Youngblood, Chase Stokes as Peris, Keith Powers as David, Brianne Tju as Shay and Laverne Cox as Dr. Cable.
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Set in Westerfeld’s futuristic world, Uglies follows King’s Tally as she counts down the days until she can undergo a cosmetic procedure that all city-dwellers experience at the age of 16, transforming their faces and bodies into flawless model-like physiques. This is all Tally’s known her whole life, until a new friend of hers runs away and exposes Tally to a different way of living. Torn between Shay and her now beautified best friend Peris, who waits for her in the city after his surgery, Tally must choose between all she has ever known and a form of society that will challenge everything she believes.
“All my life, I wanted to be pretty,” King says at the beginning of the clip as a Siri-like voice wakes her up in her dystopian dorm room. “I thought it would change everything. I hope that’s still true.”
Teens gather for a ceremonial greeting not unlike those of Divergent (the choosing ceremony) or The Giver (the Ceremony of 12) in which a hologram of Laverne Cox’s Dr. Cable promises, “All the flaws you have today will be gone tomorrow with one elegant procedure.”
Flashing fireworks illuminate Tally, in a pig mask like in Westerfield’s book, sneaking through the city when she is not yet pretty. A filter shows what her perfected face will look like once she turns 16.
“Everyone is accepted,” Cable’s voice continues about the surgery. “No one is left behind.”
Brianne Tju’s Shay sees things differently, though.
“You get the surgery, they tell you what to do, and that’s it,” her voice plays over Chase Stokes’ character stepping into glass tanks to get the modification.
“What if I told you there’s an alternative?” Shay says.
Enter Powers as David, leader of the rebellious community known as The Smoke, who forego the surgery and choose to live outside the city by simpler means.
Directed by McG from a script by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor and Whit Anderson, the film is also executive produced by Joey King and Westerfield. In addition to her collaboration with Netflix, King has a first-look deal with Hulu, which features works of hers like The Act as well as the newer series We Were the Lucky Ones in which she stars.
Uglies arrives on Netflix Sept. 13.
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