Warning: This article contains spoilers for “Uglies”
When adapting a book to screen, there are almost inevitably going to be changes; sometimes they’re major, and sometimes they’re minor. “Uglies” had a bit of both, but according to director McG, he “felt very safe” in all his decisions because author Scott Westerfeld understood why they were being made.
“You always want to be very respectful of something that precedes the filmic expression,” McG told TheWrap. “I mean, when there’s a book and there are a great many fans, you want to do right by the fans because you have to make sure they’re satisfied first and foremost — and then obviously you want to take it far beyond the book fan base — but the first thing you got to do is secure everybody that put this thing on the map and made it the success that it is today.”
Now streaming on Netflix, “Uglies” is based on Westerfeld’s 2005 book of the same name. It tells the story of a dystopian society where people are divided into two castes: The Uglies and The Pretties. At 16 years old, every resident undergoes plastic surgery to become a Pretty. Until then, they live in a compound across the bridge and are largely ignored, as Uglies.
At the center of the story is Tally Youngblood (Joey King), an almost-16-year-old who desperately wants to receive her surgery. But, when her time comes, she’s forced to help Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox) and Special Circumstances track down and infiltrate a group known as The Smoke; they live off the grid and choose to age naturally.
Cable gives Tally everything she needs to make the journey — Tally knows how to get there, thanks to clues left behind by her friend Shay (Brianne Tju) — which of course makes those in The Smoke suspicious, because it’s indeed a dangerous journey to make by yourself. That journey is pretty condensed in the film as compared to the book, and that was one of the biggest adjustments, according to McG.
“I mean, she goes on a Reese Witherspoon-esque, ‘Wild’ sort of self discovery journey. The film just couldn’t tolerate that much time spent on that journey,” he explained to TheWrap. “You have to service the other characters. You have to keep the story moving forward. And making that economical, but making it punchy, as this character is picking herself up from her bootstraps, discovering the natural world and seeing that there’s so much more out there in the screens was tricky!”
Of course, many of the big changes came with Chase Stokes’ character, Peris. Peris is Tally’s best friend throughout childhood, but he turned 16 just a few months before her. That means he got his surgery first and left for the city.
He promises that they’ll stay friends in the meantime, and even sets a date to meet up with Tally at their spot by the bridge so he can tell her all about what life is like as a Pretty. In the end, though, he doesn’t show. When Tally tracks him down to find out why, he’s clearly different and almost perturbed to see her.
But when Tally needs a bit of persuading to infiltrate The Smoke, Peris is used as a tool to convince her. Being with her back in the Uglies’ compound again brings up some old feelings though, so Cable offers him a second operation, turning him into what’s known as a Special.
In the end, he ends up falling off the side of a building, seemingly to his death (we’re not convinced, as we didn’t see a body and there’s definitely room for sequels).
None of this happens in the book; he’s never made a Special and in fact, Tally and Peris even end up working together again, though their relationship is forever changed. Still, McG felt secure.
“We felt very safe in doing so, because we had the protective umbrella of the tutelage of Scott Westerfeld,” he said of the changes to Peris.
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Westerfeld served as an executive producer on the film and even had a small came. According to McG, he “could not have been a better partner.”
“He was so supportive. He understands there’s a fundamental difference in the medium of, I don’t know, a 350-page book as compared to a 100- or 110-minute film,” the director explained. “So he was very tolerant, very flexible and very supportive that we captured the essence of what he put forward in the first book of the series.”
There’s one major piece of the first book that remains the same in the film — specifically, a piece of dialogue.
In the end, Tally realizes that she has to be the first test subject for a cure to the Pretty operation. That means she has to get the operation first. So she bravely calls out the Special Circumstances agents hunting her: “My name is Tally Youngblood. Make me Pretty.”
Fans of the novel will of course recognize that that’s the final line of dialogue in the book, and one the filmmaker absolutely wanted to preserve.
“To me, it was everything,” McG said. “I mean, that’s the line that propels you into what we’re certainly [hoping] are the second and third films.”
“Uglies” is now streaming on Netflix.
