Joey King and Chase Stokes Talk ‘Turning Up the Yassification’ for ‘Uglies’

Author Scott Westerfeld never thought his 2005 novel “Uglies” would get the film treatment, for one simple reason: “There’s nobody in Hollywood who’s gonna want to make a movie abut ugly people.”

Still, he had a message for the young fans of his book who hoped to see Tally Youngblood’s coming-of-age story on the big screen one day. “One of you is going to grow up to be a movie producer,” Westerfeld recalls telling classrooms and bookstores full of pre-teen readers. “Lo and behold, 20 years later, somebody who read it when they were 12 years old is the person largely responsible for getting it done.”

That person is actor and executive producer Joey King, who takes on the lead role of Tally in Netflix’s adaptation of the novel, streaming starting Friday. In its dystopian world, everyone is considered an “Ugly” until they undergo mandatory cosmetic surgery at age 16, turning them into a “Pretty.” That beauty comes with an unexpected cost, though — the surgery fundamentally alters who they are.

King read the book in her formative years, but getting the project off the ground wasn’t easy. “Little did I know that I was going to pitch the movie to Netflix when I was 17 or 18, wasn’t going to shoot it till I was 22, and it wouldn’t come out till I was 25. Life is funny that way!”

Still, her passion for the source material carried King through the years-long process of bringing the film to audiences. “This book meant so much to me when I was that age, and helped really carry me through my teenage years. It helped my own perception of self-acceptance and image. I’m really excited to just give my 11-year-old self a nod and show her, ‘We did it!'”

While it’s been nearly two decades since the book was published, the themes of “Uglies” have never been more relevant, with the Pretties’ faces closely resembling TikTok beauty filters and influencers’ cookie-cutter fillers.

You’ll be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at a knockout like King being an Ugly, but she says that the characters’ perception of beauty is warped by their society’s expectations. “The truth is, there’s no difference between the Uglies and Pretties in our stories. The only difference is that they do something horrible to our brain. They basically turn up your yassification.”

Among the yassified is “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes, whose character Peris goes under the knife early in the film. “What a tricky thing to see the Pretties as sort of like an original TikTok house and immediately wanting to vomit,” he says with a laugh. “It’s scary. What is happening?”

Stokes says diving into this character was an exciting opportunity to show audiences that he’s capable of range beyond his famous “OBX” role. “When you’re in a situation like I’ve been, where you get to play the same character for a number of years, it’s always fun to kind of challenge yourself and do something out of your comfort zone. And this is definitely a character that carries no resemblance to John B, from the beginning to the end of the film,” he says. “There’s more to Chase than than just John B, and this is just the beginning of that.”

Stokes anticipates young viewers will see a similar theme in “Uglies.” “I really hope that the younger generation just gives themself grace and gives themself an opportunity to take a second away from social media, or just the idea of trying to physically be the perfect version of human existence and start to go more internally. I think we sort of lost touch with doing those deep dives,” he says.

King similarly hopes the film’s message of informed consent and bodily autonomy has an impact on young people discovering the story for the first time. “I think a lot of people, especially during an election year, can feel the weight of what that means: of not being able to choose what happens to your own body. So I hope that this film allows people to remember that even with all the societal pressures, or the things you see on TikTok or Instagram, that there is always a choice, and whatever you choose to do with yourself and your own body, just make sure it’s what makes you happy.”