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UGLIES Trailer (2024) Joey King, Chase Stokes

UGLIES Trailer (2024) Joey King, Chase StokesDystopian Sci-Fi Movie
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Welcome to Uglyville. After years of development, the UGLIES film adaptation is finally coming to Netflix this fall — and Teen Vogue has your exclusive first look at the long-awaited dystopian tale.

UGLIES is based on the 2005 YA sci-fi novel of the same name written by Scott Westerfeld, who went on to complete the trilogy with Pretties and Specials in fall 2005 and spring 2006. The story follows protagonist Tally Youngblood, a teen who lives in a futuristic world that imposes a cosmetic surgery at age 16 to transform young people from “Ugly" to a socially-accepted “Pretty.”

Per the film adaptation's official logline, “Tally is eager for her turn to join the rest of society. But when a friend runs away, Tally embarks on a journey to save her that upends everything she thought she wanted.” Joey King stars as Tally and is joined by key costars Keith Powers (The Perfect Find), Chase Stokes (Outer Banks), Brianne Tju (Light as a Feather), Jan Luis (13 Reasons Why), Charmin Lee (The Chi), and none other than Laverne Cox.

Joey King as Tally in UGLIES
Joey King as Tally in UGLIES© 2024 Netflix, Inc.
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In 2022, Joey King called playing Tally “a dream realized.” “The Uglies books meant a lot to me as a kid,” she told Deadline at the time. “Being able to make that and be the lead of those movies and also have so much fun while doing it… I was 11-years-old when I feel in love with the books.”
Uglies is finally available to watch on Netflix, ending a long wait for fans of Scott Westerfeld's novel.

Based on the first book in the series, Uglies is set in a futuristic world where cosmetic surgery is imposed on everybody at 16 years old, turning them from an Ugly into a Pretty and giving them access to the city.

Tally Youngblood (Joey King) is about to undergo the surgery and join the rest of society, but when her friend runs away, Tally embarks on a journey that reveals a dark secret that changes everything.

If you fancy checking it out, Uglies is now available to watch on Netflix worldwide following its release today (September 13).

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Related: Joey King explains why she picked new Netflix movie Uglies

Uglies was directed by McG with Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor and Whit Anderson adapting Westerfeld's novel for the screen. It also stars Chase Stokes, Brianne Tju, Keith Powers, Laverne Cox, Charmin Lee and Jan Luis Castellanos.

As well as starring in the lead role, King also served as an executive producer on the movie.

"This book series has been one of my absolute favourite things in the world when I was younger to read, and to just be so lost in, and engrossed in," she told Digital Spy back in 2020 when the movie was resurrected by Netflix.

"So being able to tell that story with a company that I love so much is really, really, exciting."
All my life I wanted to be pretty. I thought it would change everything.”

However, becoming “pretty” can lead to sinister things, or so it’s teased in the just-released trailer for the Netflix film, Uglies.

The film, adapted from the 2005 sci-fi novel of the same name by Scott Westerfeld, is set in a futuristic world where citizens undergo cosmetic surgery once they turn 16 to turn “pretty” and join the rest of society. However, protagonist Tally (King) learns the exterior is hiding the dark secrets going on internally and embarks on a journey to save her friend who runs away and fights against the society.

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(L-R) Brianne Tju as Shay, Joseph Echavarria as Rydeand, Joey King as Tally, Keith Powers as David and Zamani Wilder as Astrix in Uglies.
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King and Outer Banks star Chase Stokes star alongside Keith Powers, Brianne Tju, Jan Luis Castellanos, Charmin Lee and Laverne Cox.

McG directs from a screenplay by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor and Whit Anderson. John Davis, Jordan Davis, Robyn Meisinger, McG and Mary Viola produce. Joey King, Jamie King, Westerfeld, John Fox and Jenny Hink exec produce.

In an interview with Tudum, McG said, “The film’s really about beauty as interior. It’s a commentary on what we’re experiencing today, where so many people can’t just take a photograph and post it on social media. You’ve got to put it through the filter, you’ve got to edit it, you’ve got to do the thing to present this idealized version of beauty. And this is a moment to say, ‘Take a deep breath, work on your inner game, love people for who they are, and accept yourself for who you are,’ and strangely, it’s a much more fruitful way to live.”

Uglies will be available to stream on Netflix globally on Sept. 13
Even in a world where unrealistic photo filters have messed with our heads, Joey King (“A Family Affair”) wouldn’t be considered anything less than pretty with her lagoon-blue eyes and youthful complexion. But in the realm of “Uglies,” director McG’s (“Charlie’s Angels”) halfhearted screen adaptation of Scott Westerfeld’s 2005 young-adult novel, her character Tally Youngblood’s objective attractiveness is irrelevant. That’s because being pretty means something entirely different in the reality that she lives, one that exists several hundred years after the demise of our own.

In that unnamed future, everyone at the age of 16 mandatorily goes through a surgical procedure to become their best-looking selves—a coming-of-age day as spiritual as getting one’s period or being celebrated at a teenage-centric religious custom. Until then, you’re stuck in an educational institution with the rest of “the uglies.”

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Thanks to similar examples of the dystopian formula — think Michael Bay’s “The Island” or the “Divergent” series — audiences can read the writing on the wall well before “Uglies” reveals its twist. Of course, that beauty transformation is driven by something Orwellian, rather than the betterment of society. But teens like Tally have been fed lies for generations. They believe that every deeply-rooted system of discrimination had been caused by grudges between those who were born with good looks and those cursed with less-than-ideal facades. That injustice, coupled with an over-reliance on fossil fuels, caused the planet’s decline. But in the dystopian future of “Uglies,” that’s all a thing of the past. Everyone is equally pretty now, and science has prevailed to invent a plant-based resource to meet all our survival needs.

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At the start, King sums up all these specifics in a factual voiceover with little feeling, like she’s reading bullet points from a textbook. That dutiful, emotionless disposition sadly drives much of “Uglies,” which unfolds through a paint-by-numbers monotony despite the high-stakes nature of the story. Still, writers Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor and Whit Anderson manage to establish Tally’s world and personality with some intrigue, giving us a glimpse into her sweet friendship with Peris (Chase Stokes). He calls Tally by the nickname Squint, an amicable wink to her unique looks. She calls him Nose, because, well, he’s blessed with a rather distinct one.

But their bonds are soon to be put to test, with Nose’s surgery scheduled to take place two months before Squint’s. Because they can’t bear the thought of being apart that long, the two make a pledge to meet by the bridge that connects the uglies to the colorful city where the pretties live. When the now-pretty Peris doesn’t show up, Tally decides to flee the premises one night to figure out what happened. Tally is resourceful in a way you’d expect the well-worn chosen-one trope to be. She escapes undetected, blending in with the pretties in search of Peris.

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The much fabled city we don’t see until then is visually realized, like the rest of the production, with an all-too-familiar video game-like appearance. All these generic-looking, CGI-heavy psychedelic environs have been seen before in other (better) sci-fi movies and picture books. As for the pretties themselves, freakish beings with smooth skins, high cheekbones and golden eyes, the VFX doesn’t really give us anything more inventive than people who collectively look like an airbrushed Instagram feed.

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The twist itself isn’t all that twisty, either. Once Tally finally finds Peris, something is expectedly off, as if someone modified his brain and personality. Our suspicions get confirmed with the introduction of another key character, Brianne Tju’s spirited Shay, who has no intentions to undergo the surgery. Instead, Shay reveals that she’d join the mysterious David (Keith Powers) and his colony at “The Smoke,” a faraway location reminiscent of what communal living used to be back in the days of “the rusties” (that would be us present-day viewers). In charge of the uglies’ transformation, Dr. Cable (a severe and unconvincing Laverne Cox) talks Tally into joining Shay and playing double-agent to ultimately destroy The Smoke.

The whole shtick about the importance of “inner beauty” is already so predictable that it becomes downright laughable when Tally learns her lesson and superfluously spells out, “I didn’t know the cost of being pretty was your mind” to the clan she regretfully betrays. And their eventual joining of forces against Dr. Cable yields nothing more than a tedious final act where a battle between the good and the evil emerges with little excitement. (It also doesn’t help that the movie never really explains Dr. Cable’s endgame, outside of her generic need for control.) The ending winks at a sequel (there are additional books in the Westerfeld series), but it’s hard to leave “Uglies” with a desire for a franchise when the movie doesn’t say anything all that meaningful.

While the YA genre can be very capable of unearthing outsized desires and rebellions in all of us, the problem here is the source material itself. Or rather, the timing of its screen adaptation. Perhaps in 2005, when popular social media sites were at their infancy, using fake beauty projections of young people as the basis of a dystopian tale was a more novel idea. These days though, it feels immediately obsolete, as soon as Tally looks in the mirror early on and imagines what her own enhanced beauty would feel like. “Uglies” never recovers from there.

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Almost two decades after it was first announced, the film adaptation of Scott Westerfeld’s UGLIES is finally on the horizon, courtesy of Netflix.

Based on the best-selling 2005 YA sci-fi novel of the same name, UGLIES is poised to be one of the streamer's next big IPs. The original book spawned three sequels (Pretties, Specials, and Extras) as well as four spinoff novels in the same universe (Impostors, Shatter City, Mirror's Edge, and Youngbloods).

While fans of the original saga are certainly expecting the story to continue on screen beyond UGLIES, for now, all eyes are on the first installment of the long-anticipated adaption, which Joey King stars in and executive produces alongside the saga's original author Scott Westerfeld.

As the premiere inches closer, we've compiled everything you need to know about Netflix's UGLIES, including updates on its trailer, casting, and release date. Keep reading for it all, or jump to your preferred section using the arrows below.

→ Plot
→ Cast
→ Trailer
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What is Netflix's UGLIES about?
Based on the novel of the same name by Scott Westerfeld, UGLIES takes place 300 years into the future in a post-apocalyptic dystopian society where teenagers undergo government-mandated cosmetic surgery to turn them into “Pretties” when they reach their sixteenth birthday, which allows them to move to New Pretty Town.

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UGLIES centers on protagonist Tally Youngblood, a 16-year-old residing in Uglyville who's always dreamed of becoming a Pretty until she links up with a new friend, Shay, who plans to run away to a rebel settlement known as the Smoke.

“In a futuristic world that imposes a cosmetic surgery at 16, Tally is eager for her turn to join the rest of society. But when a friend runs away, Tally embarks on a journey to save her that upends everything she thought she wanted," Netflix's logline for UGLIES reads.

McG — known for his work on Charlie's Angels, The O.C., The Babysitter, and more — serves as director, producer, and co-writer for UGLIES, with Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson also credited for the script.

“I'm absolutely thrilled to share UGLIES with the world,” McG told Teen Vogue exclusively. “I feel like the message of the film is timelier than ever. With our contemporary society so obsessed with image, what a great message this movie shares that beauty is interior, and it's who we are on the inside that counts. All in a film packed with action, romance, and adventure.”

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Who is in the cast of Netflix's UGLIES?
While Joey King's involvement in the film was announced in 2020, the rest of the UGLIES cast was unveiled back in 2021, when most of the shooting took place. Learn more about the actors and their characters below:

Joey King as Tally Youngblood
Joey King attends Vogue World Paris 2024 at the Place Vendome on June 23 2024 in Paris.
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Getty Images

Joey King stars as Tally Youngblood in Netflix's UGLIES. In 2022, King said playing Tally was “a dream realized” as a long-time fan of the book series. In the books, Tally is described as having brown hair and hazel eyes. In the beginning, she is obsessed with becoming a Pretty.

Chase Stokes as Peris
Chase Stokes at the Giorgio Armani Mare 2024 Collection Pop Up at Little Beach House Malibu on July 16 2024 in Malibu...
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Chase Stokes plays Peris, Tally's childhood best friend who, despite mocking them with Tally, always dreamed of becoming a Pretty. Unlike Tally, Peris gets his surgery on his sixteenth birthday.

Brianne Tju as Shay
Brianne Tju at the High School 90s House Party held at No Vacancy on October 13 2022 in Los Angeles California.
Mark Von Holden/Getty Images
Brianne Tju plays Shay, who's considered to be the deuteragonist in the series. Described as having black with bangs and light eyes, she's the one that makes Tally question her desire to become a Pretty in the first place, setting the whole series in motion. She is a member of the Smoke and dreamt of joining the clique before she even met Tally.

Keith Powers as David
Keith Powers attends Revolve Festival 2024 at HOTEL Revolve on April 13 2024 in Palm Springs California.
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Teen Vogue New Hollywood alumn Keith Powers plays David in UGLIES. David is one of the founders of the Smoke and a love interest of Tally.

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Speaking to Teen Vogue earlier this year, Powers revealed he was so good as David that the film's creative team asked him to come back for “one more round of reshoots” to add more of his scenes to the final cut. “It was super dope to hear that, and flattering, because shooting it was tough," he said at the time. Powers also revealed he's excited for UGLIES to become the new big YA IP. “Our YA [growing up] was Twilight and Hunger Games. We were spoiled, we got heat. That's what we want UGLIES to be. We want UGLIES to be that next thing,” he said.

Laverne Cox as Dr. Cable
Laverne Cox attends the I Am Celine Dion New York special screening at Alice Tully Hall on June 17 2024 in New York City.
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Judging by the trailer, Laverne Cox appears to play a version of Dr. Cable, the main antagonist in the series, who keeps control of the Pretty Operation.

Apart from these characters, UGLIES will also feature Charmin Lee, Jan Luis Castellanos, Joseph Echavarria, and Zamani Wilder as Smokies Maddy, Croy, Ryde, and Astrix, respectively, as well as Robert Palmer Watkins and Jillian Murray as Sol and Ellie Youngblood, Tally's parents.

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Is there a trailer for Netflix's UGLIES?
Yes! Netflix put out the official trailer for UGLIES on August 8, 2024. In the trailer, we see Joey King's Tally grappling with the realities of the Pretty surgery. “All my life, I wanted to be pretty,” Tally narrates in the trailer as flashes of Uglyville and New Pretty Town alternate on the screen. “I thought it would change everything. I hope that's still true.”

In the next few clips, we get a peek at Tally and Peris's relationship as he prepares for his sixteenth birthday and surgery. “Will you promise me something? No matter how pretty they make you, just don't let them erase you,” Tally tells Peris as they say their goodbyes. We then see Shay telling Tally the surgery is more invasive than it appears before cutting to Pretty Peris bumping into Tally at a party. “Things are just different here,” he tells Tally, referring to New Pretty Town. “You'll get it… when you're Pretty.”

In the next clips, we get introduced to the Smoke and David. We even get a little peek at hoverboards in action, which fans of the original book series will surely recognize, and Tally and David's fiery kiss. But, of course, life's not as easy as it seems. You can watch the trailer below:

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When does Netflix's UGLIES come out?
After literal years of waiting, UGLIES will premiere on Netflix on September 13, 2024.

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Are there any first-look photos for Netflix's UGLIES?
There are indeed. Teen Vogue got the exclusive first-look photos from UGLIES on August 7, 2024. In the first three ever pictures released from the film, which you can also see below, we see Tally and Peris pre-surgery and Tally joining the Smoke.

Beauty is pain, but then again, so is heartache. The current film trend of 2024 are stories of women seeking perfection by any means necessary: Demi Moore risks turning into a crone for the sake of revitalizing her career in Cannes breakout film “The Substance,” Kate Hudson plays a shady cosmetics guru who may or may not be experimenting on clients in the name of eternal youth for “Shell,” and Elizabeth Banks loses her business — and her mind — in “Skincare” as a struggling facialist who is attempting to carve out her own space in the ever-changing beauty industry.

Now, Joey King is adding to the film landscape with “Uglies.” Despite not being the product of an original script like those other, aforementioned features, “Uglies” feels distinctly prescient in this era of influencers, filters, and — of course — discussions of what it means to get older as a woman.

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In this YA novel adaptation, though, King’s character Tally is only 16. Still, in her particular post-apocalyptic future, each teenager undergoes a cosmetic surgery that makes them their ideal selves. Sound familiar?

Tally and her bestie Peris (Chase Stokes) can’t wait to embark on their own “transformations,” but since Peris is three months older than Tally, he’ll be a “Pretty” first (and yes, the monikers are truly as simple as that). And Tally learns that it’s not just outer appearances that get changed upon going under the knife: Peris turns out to be a jerk post-procedure. Nothing is perfect about him anymore as he becomes a manipulative Ken doll with lizard eyes.

Does Tally still want to grow up and become as heartless as he is? Suddenly it all becomes way more complicated, and Tally is put into a tailspin. Add in one of her pals (Brianne Tju) running away from their glittering perfect city for parts unknown, and Tally’s own transformation is put off even longer. She strikes up a deal with the city’s counsel, led by Laverne Cox as Dr. Cable: Tally will track down her friend and only then can she get the surgery herself.

Of course, that voyage is more daunting than it sounds. Tally has to traverse the elusive wilderness for the first time (in the future, everyone is kept in “Hunger Games”-esque towns, sans nature) and soon discovers a group of rebels who live outside of society. Tally finds love with one of the “Uglies,” played by Keith Powers, and realizes that true love is being seen for who she really is, not what she can become.

While Scott Westerfeld’s “Uglies” novel series was a beloved YA franchise, the script written by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson doesn’t really land with quite the same punch. Author Westerfeld also executive produces the film adaptation, though, but it all feels too late in the zeitgeist. We’ve moved on from “Divergent” type YA novel adaptations.

McG, who also directed “The Substance” star Moore in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” helms the film. Lead star King also executive produces, expanding her Netflix collaborations after film “A Family Affair.” This one is more forgettable than either earlier picture.

Sure, “Uglies” warns of mythologizing our most perfect self, and even delivers a twist ending that — of course! — sets up a sequel. But King can’t really play a teen anymore, and the message of non-conformity feels stale, in the YA adaptation space and beyond. This trend, much like shifting beauty standards, is already on the way out.

Rating: C+
“Uglies” starts streaming on Netflix on Friday, September 13.

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Uglies

Rating: C+
“Uglies” starts streaming on Netflix on Friday, September 13.

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Joey King
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Uglies
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.”

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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.”

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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.

UGLIES. Brianne Tju as Shay in UGLIES. Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2024
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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