Joey King stars as Tally, a young girl whose quest to save a runaway friend challenges everything she believed about beauty, identity, and freedom. Hear from the cast about their unique characters, the film's powerful themes, and the fun behind-the-scenes moments that brought this thrilling story to life. Don't miss this exclusive conversation!
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00:00Hi, it's wonderful to see you both today. Congratulations on the film. Thank you. I was a big fan of the books growing up
00:08So congratulations on the film. Thank you so much
00:11How are we feeling today going into this?
00:15grateful
00:16Excited. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, very excited
00:19Can I say you are so beautiful your skin and your hair and just everything the light is the way the light is hitting
00:25You look stunning. I was thinking the same thing about you. I love this outfit the hair. Thank you
00:30I had it took a village. I
00:32Appreciate it. Thank you
00:36Yes, okay, so I was really surprised to see you happily surprised to see you in this role
00:41But I really want to know what introduced you to this. Why were you surprised? I
00:45Think it's just how I imagined. Dr. Cable growing up. I read the books
00:50So seeing you as a strong LGBTQ advocate and then knowing you're playing a role that is so against, you know
00:57Freedom of choice was not something that I initially thought but after watching it
01:02I really enjoyed how your take on it and I just kind of want to hear your thoughts on the on the character
01:07I love hearing from someone who read the books because I yeah, I've
01:10Been doing like just watching videos of people who there's a lot of people who have done
01:16Reread the book and they read it as a kid and now they've reread it and they've done a YouTube video about it
01:20So just hearing from people who were huge fans of the book. It's been really great
01:25As I prepare to do this whole media tour around the book around the film I
01:34Love that
01:34I mean, I was just thinking about cable and like and some of the things that people were saying, but um, I just
01:41This is a dream. I've always wanted to play a character like this this
01:46manipulative
01:49Power hungry
01:51Kind of character who is ultimately a person who wants an equal society who wants a society
01:58where no one is discriminated against because of the way they look and she has taken the steps to make that society happen and
02:05Anyone who challenges that society has to be dealt with and she dispatches to deal with them
02:12very efficiently and sort of ruthlessly and it's just so much fun to play and
02:19I
02:20Feel like if I'm typecast in this kind of role for the next 10 years, I'll be fine with that
02:24I had so much fun playing. Dr. Cable so much fun
02:29I love what you said, you know hearing your thoughts on on how she really is striving for equality
02:34Cuz I feel like growing up that wasn't something that I really picked up. I was like, she's the villain
02:39She's trying to make us not be able to be who we are. Well in the books. She is very
02:44Dr. Cable and that when you read her because I read the script first and then I read the books. Dr
02:49Cable in the books is I would say a little one-dimensional
02:52I would say she just in the book
02:54She feels like pure evil to me and I haven't talked to Scott about his take on that
02:58But if she feels pure evil to me and in the film, she feels like she has a little more dimensionality
03:03She has a little more like we kind of understand a little bit more where she's coming from and in the books. She's just this
03:10She's she's she's yeah, she's she's evil and I think she reads as evil and I think it's more complicated in the
03:17Even the script and hopefully in the work that I do on screen
03:21in our film
03:23I want now like the back story of her like I really want to see like we did another film that really dives into you
03:29Know how she came to be there in the in the books
03:31We don't go into that much in the books, but for as an actor
03:35I always sort of make up my own stuff and I talked to McG a little bit about it
03:40I didn't talk to Scott. We just kind of made it up
03:42We always kind of do some kind of character bio where she's come from and how she got there
03:48And so we have I have my own story because I need to fill in all these blanks for myself as an actor
03:55And I think it's I mean, there's obviously the relationship that she has with David's mother that
04:01Let's not give away spoilers
04:04No spoilers. Um, but yeah, there's there's a lot there and
04:09I
04:11Think that the her relationship to power
04:14I was just thinking a lot about power right now and like wanting to be empowered and
04:22Control and wanting to wanting to control over my own life
04:25But then she also wants to control the world and that may not be the healthiest
04:32just in the most ethical
04:35Place to come from but but the need for control is something I can very much relate to
04:39Not in my highest self, but because I understand that the control doesn't exist
04:43But there is a deep part of myself that longs for control and I definitely tapped into that for this character
04:50And you said you were okay with being typecasted this way
04:53Does that just mean you're kind of in your villain era?
04:55You're ready to play some more villains. I'd love to be I mean, I mean at the end
05:00I'd love everyone be very different
05:02I I'm
05:03I've always felt like a character actor and I and early on before I was famous and I was doing all these different plays and
05:09short films and so I am
05:12Stepping into that now in the stage of my life
05:15Because that's what excites me most about being an actor and I want the public and the industry to understand that
05:22I have range and I have dimensionality as an actor and I just want to get to play a lot of different things
05:29And so they have to see it. So I have no problem proving myself. I just need the opportunities
05:34So, um, I always hope that there's more work coming and I just love that. This is really different than anything
05:41I've done before so I'm hoping that people will see it and say oh she can do this and she can do that and
05:48Understand that the
05:50the talent has I mean, I can't say I can play anything but like, you know, there's a lot of
05:56I could just there's a lot of range in here in this in this body
06:00Yes, absolutely. So I hope people want to
06:04feel inspired directors feel inspired to
06:08Invite me to come and play the different
06:11Tunes that this instrument is able to emit
06:15People who are familiar with the stories kind of know that, you know, when you're younger the ugliest of the children are given
06:21Nicknames to call each other. So I wanted to ask you if you had a nickname growing up that you went by
06:28Um, yeah, I think my initials but my grandma always called me Franklin the turtle
06:32Because I had like this. Yeah, I had this knot on my head. I was always bald
06:37And she would say I always look like Franklin the turtle so
06:49I just always went by my last name Stokes
07:06I
07:09Like
07:11So I have to ask I'm sure you've heard this a bunch of times
07:14But were you big readers of the books before you started this project?
07:18No, I I didn't read the book before we started but I dove back into it. I'd said this earlier
07:24I'd seen I remember seeing the posters at the Scholastic bookstore, right?
07:28And it was like one of those that's a raven moments where you're like
07:32Oh shit, this is what that is. Like, okay. Yeah. Yeah chase you again. Yeah same same actually I
07:40Before no, I hadn't read it
07:42But I knew about it because of how much it was talked about during that time with my peers and stuff like
07:47So it was cool to you know
07:49See it make its way back to me in this way because I would never thought in a million years
07:53After seeing it at that time that I was going to be auditioning for it and then I got to be in it
07:58So yeah, absolutely crazy even as a watcher when I read the books years and years ago
08:04I never thought we'd have a movie for it. So that seems to be the general consensus
08:14I wanted to ask you Keith
08:15I mean, I feel like there's so many strong themes of identity and you know society pressure and beauty standards that go into this
08:22So, how do you feel bringing this story to life in?
08:262024
08:27It feels amazing to be a part of something like this in 2024 having like, you know, younger siblings
08:32I have a sibling that's 12 and and a lot of younger cousins and stuff that are you know coming up in this
08:38Time of social media. It's so cool that we get to tell a story
08:42Just let's them know that they're enough, you know
08:44And you don't have to be outside of what you are and and and to appreciate who you are
08:48You know, so it feels good to be a part of something like that in a YA
08:52In a YA film in a dystopian YA film like it's good as you could be is that you know
08:57You get the best of all worlds
09:11I think you know
09:14just really wanting to honor the book and sort of honor the
09:17The procedure and show a kid who sort of starts out as this very innocent loving
09:24Tender human into somebody who is a little bit pretentious and a bit of an asshole
09:29So it's always fun to have those two juxtapositions and it's such a far departure from
09:35What I've been doing for the past couple years
09:38And so I just I really enjoyed the challenge and people enjoy their Paris
09:43I'm so excited for everyone to see the movie. I loved it. I can't wait. My sister got me on him
09:49So she's been begging me for details
09:51Your sister got you on the books. Yeah, so did mine. Yeah, that's how I got introduced to them
09:55Yeah, my older sister was like you have to read my older sister
09:58She was like read this. I was like, okay
10:03Yeah, I loved them and I did want to talk to you Joe
10:06I know you were a strong component in getting these films made. So what was really your drive to do that?
10:13And then also to reintroduce these themes of you know, like beauty standards and identity here in 2024
10:20Yeah, uh, well good question. Um, so I read the books for the first time when I was 11
10:26And they really hit so close to home and they just hit so hard for me and it was really helpful bringing that mentality
10:32Into my like teen years and just you know preparing me for that the insecurities
10:38Um, but then as I got older, you know
10:41I had always held on to the dream that maybe one day I would be able to play Talia youngblood
10:45And so when I was like 17 18 years old, I I pitched it to Netflix. I was like an idea
10:50And then we didn't make the movies till I was like 22 and now it's coming out
10:54I'm like 25 and it's just so crazy how long this movie this book these books have been part of my life
11:01And I'm so excited for like my younger self to be able to like actually see
11:07Me as Tali and
11:09I'm excited for people to be able to hopefully
11:12Really take what they need from this film and the message and and I I don't know
11:18I'm really excited for people to feel that you know what I felt when I was a
11:22Kid whether they're like fans of the book already or their new fans, whatever. Yeah
11:27I also
11:28Envisioned myself as Tali, but it's okay. Didn't all of us the best woman one. I mean no no way Jose
11:35I'm sure there's plenty of people that are pissed off
11:42But I think also like that was the best part about those books is everyone could really see
11:47Absolutely, and I mean I also had a big soft spot for Shay so I have to ask I mean
11:53How was that bringing her to life? And I mean she has such a rebellious nature. So how was it discovering that?
11:58I felt like I had big shoes to fill
12:01just because Shay is
12:04Such a brave character
12:07and and for someone of such a young age to be as
12:14You know
12:15wise as her I think is amazing and I just I think that Shay is
12:23Someone who is very curious and she questions things and I think that we could all use a little bit more of that instead of
12:30Just going with the flow and doing what we're told
12:33I think it's important to question how things make us feel how it makes people around us feel and
12:41The fact that Shay is able to do that at 15 and a half
12:43I'm like wow this person is light years ahead of where I was at 15 and even now so she was
12:50She was inspiring for me. And so to get to play her and also I loved her in the books
12:54I thought she was so dude. She's really cool. You're nothing like
13:01Oh my god, shut me up. Okay. I love it. You're very cool. Don't worry. I
13:08Did want to ask I know in the uglies
13:11The children are told, you know to choose a nickname. So did you have a nickname growing up? Yes
13:17smallish
13:19Yeah, my older sister might well my sister
13:22My older sister and I our favorite movie growing up was brother bear. And so she yeah, it's a coda from the movie
13:29He was called smallish bear. And so my sister calls me smallish bear and I called her big bear
13:34So I was smallish bear smallish bear was that me? Yeah, she would call me smallish for short, but the full name is smallish bear
13:40So cute. I mean she still calls me that
13:43My last name is Chu spelled TJ you but pronounced Chu and so growing up people always just called me like
13:50Chewy. Oh, that's cute. Yeah
13:52Chewbacca
13:55Chewy those were
13:57Those were my nicknames and my nickname for you was this girl is the nastiest slut
14:14That's actually that whole thing she just said she that's my nickname and she would call me that on set every day
14:19So yeah nickname really long. Yeah, it'd take a while for you to call her into the room, but you know worth it