Latest news with #Uglies
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nick Jonas to play Kiss frontman Paul Stanley in upcoming biopic
Nick Jonas was made for rock 'n' roll, at least onscreen, as he's been tapped to play Kiss frontman Paul Stanley in an upcoming biopic about the glam rock band. The 32-year-old pop star will reportedly lead the cast of 'Shout It Out Loud,' a film that's said to follow the rockers' early days in the 1970s, according to Deadline. Sources told the outlet that Jonas will be doing his own singing, but that he'll need time to train in order to replicate Stanley's voice. The film is slated to begin production late this year or early next. 'Shout It Out Loud' is being helmed by McG, the director known for films like 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle,' 'The Babysitter' and most recently, 2024's 'Uglies.' No other casting decisions have been revealed, though McG reportedly has someone unidentified in mind to take on the role of bassist and co-vocalist Gene Simmons. None of the people involved in the project nor any members of the band had publicly remarked on the news as of Thursday afternoon. Though Jonas is most well-known for his part in the music trio the Jonas Brothers — alongside older bros Joe and Kevin — he's certainly made the rounds on stage and screen. He most recently appeared in this year's 'You're Cordially Invited' for Amazon Prime Video, alongside Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell. Jonas is currently starring with Adrienne Warren in 'The Last Five Years,' which opened at the Hudson Theatre in April. He previously appeared onstage in the musicals 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' and 'Annie Get Your Gun.'
Los Angeles Times
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Opinion: The Makeover Movie: Will it ever be fixed?
'Uglies ,' a film released in September 2024, is Netflix's attempt at a dystopian YA movie reminiscent of 'the Hunger Games' and ' Divergent.' Originally a novel by Scott Westerfield, the adapted film centers around a society where members are deemed 'ugly' until their 16th birthday, where they then undergo serious surgery to become 'beautiful' and are sent across the city from Uglyville to live in New Pretty Town. This movie, along with many other recent releases, have become the 21st century's response to the 'extreme makeover trope.' First seen in ' My Fair Lady' (1964), where Eliza Doolittle (played by Audrey Hepburn) is given an extreme upper class makeover by Henry Higgins, transforming her from an impoverished woman to a passable princess. The 'makeover trope' has made its way into countless movies; from ' The Princess Diaries' (2001) to ' Mean Girls' (2004), to even, most recently, ' Barbie' (2023). ' My Fair Lady' is the blueprint: a clumsy and very nerdy (and thus unsightly) girl who needs in some way or another to achieve social and/or class mobility and get a boyfriend – the ultimate indicators of 'success.' That being said, there seems to be a certain kind of woman that Hollywood and the silver screen expect. The one that is deemed socially acceptable, the epitome of what it means to carry the double x chromosome. The on-screen woman is feminine, but not too feminine to the point of being a bimbo; she is intelligent, but not so much as to be considered a nerdy, social outcast. Thus creates a spectrum that these women can fall into. On the left side: women too brutish, butch, nerdy or awkward; and on the right side: women too air-headed, materialistic, vain, and seeming as if they've never read a book in their life. The goal of the movie industry is to have a woman as center as possible on this spectrum. But a movie would be quite boring without some good 'character growth' , a real good transformation where the women ultimately see the errors of their ways – all the ways they've been doing womanhood wrong; and thus, the makeover movie trope was born. Let's go more in depth about these spectrums, and how exactly they fall under the patriarchal views of society. Mia in 'the Princess Diaries' starts off as a feminist nerd, for lack of better terms, but slowly under the pressure of her grandmother and society, begins to shape up to take the throne of Genovia – which obviously cannot have a bushy haired, glasses wearing, intelligent woman taking up the title of princess. Activism, it seems, is much weaker than the power of plucked eyebrows and hair straighteners. On the other end of the spectrum, our air-headed bimbo heroine will strip back layers of makeup and shed her promiscuous attitude, and cover up with a few more layers of modest, but smart clothing. She learns that life isn't all about outer appearances and men (while simultaneously going to great lengths to achieve that 'naturally effortless' makeover and finding just the right guy to spend the rest of her life with, because makeover movies are often a romantic comedy drama). Sometimes, our heroines will find they've gone too far in their journeys of self improvement, showing that the grass isn't greener on the other side of the spectrum; but by the movie's end, things will have righted themselves again, and the protagonists are more or less center. But there have been some challenges to this stereotypical makeover movie. Disney has finally learned that wearing glasses doesn't make you ugly, Netflix throws in silly little self aware statements about the makeover, and producers are beginning to realize that men can have makeovers too. In ' Can't Buy Me Love' (1987), Ronald goes from astronomy geek to high school womanizer and back. Yet, the makeover was done on his terms, while the makeovers received by women protagonists are forced upon them. The Barbie movie, epitome of 21st century feminism for most, has the subtle makeover too as well. The spectrum here is gloomy, all-black wearing Sasha with her feminist ideals on the left, working mother Gloria pitching 'ordinary Barbie' in the middle, and bimbo, pink and sparkly Barbie on the right. At the end of the movie, Sasha has incorporated pink into her wardrobe, and Barbie is a little more muted now, a beige blazer thrown over her smart, pink-less, modest outfit — both now a little more towards the middle of the spectrum, a little more socially acceptable. All this is to say, the makeover movie constantly shows women what they should strive for, how they should present themselves to be the most socially acceptable. And it leaves us with the question: will that ever change? Or will the media always create a notion of what a woman should be, no matter how progressive these movies seem on the surface. Related
