Naman Shrestha
Inspired by the eponymous 2005 novel written by Scott Westerfeld, Netflix’s ‘Uglies’ transports us to a future dystopian world where the inhabitants are considered ugly. In order to tackle this issue, extreme cosmetic surgery is mandatorily performed after one turns 16 years old. The primary purpose of the surgery is to get rid of all the physical imperfections one might have and become pretty like everyone else. In this world full of technological advancements, a teenager named Tally Youngblood is among the many inhabitants eagerly waiting for her turn to become a part of the “pretty” society.
However, one of Tally’s friends is not pro-surgery so when she finds the opportunity, she runs away to a place called “The Smoke” to avoid getting her physical appearance altered. Realizing that perfection is not everything, Tally embarks on a mission to save her friend and goes against almost everything she used to believe in earlier. Helmed by McG, the sci-fi action drama movie is led by the impactful performance of Joey King, along with the support of other talented actors like Keith Powers, Laverne Cox, Chase Stokes, Brianne Tju, Jan Luis Castellanos, and Charmin Lee. With the contrasting settings of the two different parts of the same dystopian world, queries about the actual shooting sites are bound to arise in the minds of the viewers.
Uglies Filming Locations
Shooting for ‘Uglies’ took place in Georgia, particularly in and around Atlanta. According to reports, principal photography for the science fiction movie got underway in October 2021 and lasted for a couple of months before getting wrapped up by December of the same year. However, the cast and crew returned to work in early 2024 to shoot some additional portions for the film. All of them supposedly had lots of fun on and off the set during the shooting process, taking backs loads of happy memories with them.
Atlanta, Georgia
A majority of ‘Uglies’ was lensed in the capital of Georgia — Atlanta, which is also the county seat of Fulton County. Located among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the city’s vast and versatile landscape worked in favor of the production team as they turned various streets and neighborhoods into film sets. They decorated and modified different spots in the city to align with the futuristic and dystopian setting. From what we can tell, the filming unit also set up camp in one of the film studios located in and around Atlanta. The amenities of the studio allowed them to enhance the futuristic scenes with the help of visual effects and graphics, making them appear realistic.
In the establishing shots, you might spot several real-life attractions and tall buildings of Atlanta, including the Bank of America Plaza, Truist Plaza, Georgia-Pacific Tower, and Tower Square, visually modified to fit them into the future setting of the action-adventure movie. When asked about the hoverboard scenes during a conversation with Screen Rant, Joey King, who portrays Tally Youngblood, explained, “It was so fun. Harnesses. Our first day filming together was one. We were sitting on the hoverboards so high in the air. And it was like, genuinely, we were so high in the air, and it was very scary, but it was fun to be able to do.”
Remembering the first time she and her co-stars shot those scenes, she elaborated, “It’s funny when, thinking about that scene, our very first take filming it, our acting was like… because we were so nervous, and saying the lines. By take, like, seven, we were like, okay, we are so high in the air, but we’re acting. We are actors, and we’re fine. So funny.” As for taping the scenes set in the Smoke, the production team seemingly headed to one of the hilly areas near the city of Atlanta. The capital of Georgia is also known as the Hollywood of the South for a reason, as many major movies and TV shows have been shot there besides ‘Uglies.’ For instance, other dystopian and sci-fi projects like ‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘The Stranger Things,’ ‘Passengers,’ ‘The Darkest Minds,’ ‘WandaVision,’ and ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,’ are filmed in Atlanta.
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