Joey King teams up with Netflix on an adaption of Scott Westerfeld’s dystopian-fantasy novel Uglies.
Following their successful partnership on the romantic comedy The Kissing Booth, King has been signed on by the streaming service to star and exec produce with McG (Charlie’s Angels) set to direct. The international best-seller is set in a world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty.
Joey King, who is known for her role in The Kissing Booth and its recent sequel, has had a very productive year coming off her Emmy-nominated role of Gypsy in Hulu’s limited series The Act, as well as announcing her starring role in a third film which has reportedly been shot. Deadline has reported that the actress, who is a long-time fan of the novel, pursued the lead role in Uglies as soon as Netflix acquired the rights to the novel.
In addition to Uglies, Joey King has many other forthcoming projects, having been signed to co-star with Brad Pitt in Sony’s Bullet Train, attached to Sony Pictures TV’s limited series, A Spark Of Light, based on the bestselling book by Jodi Piccoult as well as produce and star in The In Between, written by Marc Klein. Further, she has become the youngest person to strike a deal with a streaming network, set to produce a series for Hulu.
Krista Vernoff, showrunner and executive producer of ABC’s long-running hit series Grey’s Anatomy and its spinoff Station 19, will be adapting the script, with John Davis and Jordan Davis producing. Jamie King and Westerfield are set to join Joey King as executive producers. This is McG’s fourth directorial venture for the studio after recent films The Babysitter, Rim Of The World, and The Babysitter: Killer Queen.
Have you read Scott Westerfeld’s novel? What are your expectations from his Netflix adaptation? Comment below!
