Summary
- Laverne Cox stars in Netflix's Uglies as Dr. Cable, exploring a society where everyone is made "pretty" through mandatory surgery.
- Cox discusses the real-world implications of cosmetic surgery and the societal pressures of conformity in the film.
- Cox's upcoming project, Outcome, with Jonah Hill and Keanu Reeves, promises a challenging and exciting role.
To call Laverne Cox’s list of superlatives “incredible” is a massive understatement. She’s the first African-American transgender person to produce and star in her own TV show (subsequently winning a GLAAD Media Award). She blazed onto the screen as Sophia in Orange Is the New Black, stealing our hearts and becoming the first transgender person nominated for an acting award at the Emmys. Beyond her amazing acting work, Cox has received an Honorary Doctorate from The New School, the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal from the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, and has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Laverne Cox is an absolute powerhouse. Now she’s starring in Netflix’s new young adult science-fiction adaptation, Uglies.
Directed by McG and based on the novel Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, Uglies centers around a future post-apocalyptic dystopian society in which a compulsory operation wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty. Joey King’s Tally Youngblood escapes to a renegade settlement called the Smoke, where city runaways go to escape the operation. Cox plays Dr. Cable, the head of Special Circumstances, often using her position of power over Tally.
Collider’s Steve Weintraub was lucky to sit with Laverne Cox to chat about all things Uglies. They were also able to discuss what it’s like working with Keanu Reeves and Jonah Hill, and her ultra-personal upcoming dramedy co-starring comedy legend George Wallace.
Sometimes It Hurts for Laverne Cox To Look This Good
COLLIDER: How are you doing?
LAVERNE COX: I'm lovely. My head hurts a little bit because my ponytail is pulled really tight and there's about 1,000 hairpins in my head, but I really like the look. Is it working? Is it worth the pain?
100%. I am also rocking the hairpins, and it really, really hurts.
COX: [Laughs] How is that for being honest? Like, I'm being like really real and honest right now. I love Collider, by the way.
By the way, I don't think enough people talk about the fact that to look pretty, it sometimes hurts.
COX: It's hurting today, but I'm gonna make it through. I'm super excited about this movie, and you're my first interview for Uglies, so let's do it!
After Two Decades as a Novel, ‘Uglies’ Is Relevant as Ever
“Surgery is so accessible.”
After I watched the movie, the first thing that I thought about was if this technology was real, a scary number of people would actually sign up for it knowing everything about it, like you'd be dulled to everything else. That's my opinion. Do you agree or disagree?
COX: I think you're probably right. What's interesting about this film is Scott Westerfield wrote these books in 2005. This is written in 2005, so 19 years ago, and right now with filters, a lot of plastic surgeons are saying people are coming in with their filtered faces on and showing that. They used to show celebrities, and now they show themselves in the filter to plastic surgeons. Surgery is so accessible. I think you're right because beauty is capital. Beauty is power. There are studies that have been done to show that people who are considered more beautiful make more money, have more access — pretty privilege is real. So I think you're right that a lot of people would probably choose to have the surgery knowing all of the things.
7 Things You Need To Know About Joey King and Netflix's Dystopian Thriller 'Uglies'
This millennial novel is finally getting the screen treatment with an 'Outer Banks' alum in the cast.
I fully believe it, and that just tells you where we're at in society.
COX: Yeah. It's deep. It's really deep. There's a thing of conformity, too, because Dr. Cable wants a society that is free from discrimination and prejudice, so if everyone is beautiful, then no one is going to be discriminated against. But there's a cost to that, right? And making this sort of homogeneous society, I guess the theory is that our differences are what make us sort of at each other's throats, and actually having independent thought. There's a mind control portion of it, too. There's something a little authoritarian, a little nihilistic about it.
What it makes me think about, and I hope this makes the audience think about, is the media and what are the metaphorical lesions and ways to control people's minds? The media is certainly one of those things. I hope it encourages people to think critically about all the ways in which we've internalized ideas about beauty, pretty privilege, and then also mind control, and what it means to be an individual and to think for oneself.
Laverne Cox‘s Responsibility as Number One on the Call Sheet
"It's the first scripted project I've co-created, co-written, starred in, and executive produced."
You've done a number of roles and worked on a number of things. What shot or sequence so far in your career has been the toughest, whether because of the dialogue or a camera move or whatever it may be?
COX: I just did a dramedy for Amazon Freevee, and the whole experience. It's called Clean Slate. It's coming out sometime next year, and George Wallace plays my dad. It's the first scripted project I've co-created, co-written, starred in, and executive produced. I think because it was so personal, the writing process and the creating process were really fun, but living it was so triggering. Balancing the comedy with the drama and working opposite a comedy legend like George Wallace, that whole experience was the hardest thing I've done because of the responsibility of being number one on a call sheet, how personal it was, and finding the comedy. And I realize what it really means to be conversational like that. After all these years, like, I don't know how to be conversational. Every character is different. So, that was the hardest thing for sure. I think because it was so close to me. The closer it is to me, the harder it is to do, and then the comedy is really hard.
Working With Keanu Reeves Is a Dream
Oh, 100%. I don't think people realize. Before I run out of time with you, something that I'm really, really excited about is Jonah Hill's new movie which you're a part of, Outcome, and he got this crazy cast, including Keanu [Reeves]. What can you tease about your role in the film, and did you get to share any scenes with Keanu?
COX: I do. Everything I shoot is with Keanu. I don't know what Jonah wants us to talk about with this movie yet, but I have this incredible monologue. It's so well written, it's so funny. It's a satire. Keanu is fantastic, and working with Keanu is like a dream. I've been a fan of his. I used to have a huge crush on him. [Laughs] That was a whole thing! But I was very professional, and now I don't have a crush on him anymore, but the respect is deep. Jonah is amazing. He directs and stars in it. It's just so well written, and the words are so incredible, and the story is so smart. It's so good. The scene that we have, it's one big scene. It's like a one-act play within the film and it's so brilliant, and to pull it off cinematically is going to be really difficult for him. But I just had such a good time doing it, and it's completely different than anything I've ever done before, and really challenging because of this really smart monologue my character, Virginia, gets to say. That was really fun. It was a lot of fun.
A world in which a compulsory operation wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty.
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
Uglies is now streaming on Netflix.
Your comment has not been saved