The Big Picture

Keith Powers and Chase Stokes star in Uglies, set in a post-apocalyptic world where a compulsory operation makes everyone pretty.
The actors discuss the challenges of filming intense scenes and how nerve-wracking it can be to work with esteemed actors like Sean Penn.
Keith Powers clarifies that he did not voice Miles Morales in a Spider-Man game.

Keith Powers stomped onto the big screen as Dr. Dre’s half brother Tyree in the blockbuster hit Straight Outta Compton. Before long he (unluckily) found himself fighting in a future war and (quite luckily) falling in love with Gabrielle Union. After an appearance on Stranger Things, Chase Stokes was crowned leader of the Pogues in mystery fan-favorite Outer Banks. Now the two performers act against one another in the new Netflix sci-fi epic 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. Chase Stokes plays Peris, best friend of Tally. Keith Powers plays David, son of the founders of the Smoke.

Collider’s Steve Weintraub was lucky enough to chat with Keith Powers and Chase Stokes as they let him in on what it’s like to work with a swarm of stunt people, an eye-opening experience with Sean Penn, and how difficult it can be to recite dialogue and drive stick at the same time!

Image via Netflix

COLLIDER: After I finished the movie, the one thing that immediately occurred to me was that even if people knew that your brain would be dulled, most people would probably still go through this because of the way we are with society now and looking good. Agree or disagree?

CHASE STOKES: Unfortunately, agree.

KEITH POWERS: I think we all would have to agree, unfortunately.

STOKES: It’s some bullshit, but alas.

For Chase Stokes and Keith Powers Small Actions Can Be The Most Difficult
Image via Netflix

I completely agree. For both of you, I’m fascinated by the making of movies and the making of TV shows. In your careers, what shot or sequence ended up being a real pain in the ass to do, whether it be because of a camera move, dialogue, or whatever the reason?

POWERS: I can’t think of a specific scene, but I know the ones that always challenge me are those scenes where it’s just a lot of business happening, plus a lot of dialogue. I think sometimes I get too distracted by hitting my marks, and sometimes you have to do exactly what you did the first take for continuity, and then when you want to get into the dialogue and just into the feeling of the scene, you’re gonna forget some stuff. Like if you were walking by, you picked up a cup, drank it a couple of times, put it down, you might forget that, and you might not want to think about that. That could become very frustrating when you just wanna focus on the feeling of the scene, but you also have to hit the marks, and that also depends on who’s directing and stuff like that. So, that’s what always trips me up.

STOKES: I have this TV show that I do where I’m constantly the only one who can drive vehicles, and we like to not use automatic vehicles. We use manual gearboxes, and I’m also the only one who can use a manual gearbox. So I get stuck in situations in foreign countries often where we are against the elements, and I play a character who talks a lot. So I think doing all of those things with cameras on cars or boats with all sorts of stuff going on is difficult, but it’s a fun challenge for sure.

Prepping with Keith Powers and Chase Stokes For Intense Action
“First of all, this is so badass. Second of all, how are we gonna do this?”
Image via Netflix

So with Uglies , you see the shooting schedule in front of you. What day do you have circled in terms of, “I can’t wait to film this,” and is there a day circle where you’re like, “How the F are we filming this?”

STOKED: Honestly, it was the same day. It was the fight sequence in the Smoke. We had spoken to the stunt coordinator, and he had shown us previs of all of it, and I was like, “First of all, this is so badass. Second of all, how are we gonna do this? Third of all, when do we start?” So, that for me was the scene where I was like, “Oh, this is gonna be killer. This is gonna be so cool.” And it ended up pretty damn cool.

POWERS: I think for me, it was a really intense scene with me and Joey in the cave because I just know, emotionally, that’s a lot going on. So I circled that, like, excited but also just knowing I have to know when that comes up so I could prep for it. Of course, you prep before, but when you get closer, it’s like a second prep you gotta do. It was the same at Stone Mountain in the Smoke. It’s like all these extra stuntmen, stunt women running around and stuff. It’s always like, “Yo, how are we gonna do that?” And to see how the set was built out that day, where you put certain things in the trees and stuff, and it being like a routine — it’s crazy to see. You always wonder, “How are they gonna block that?” Then we got cool storyboards, too.

STOKES: We were so prepared. It was really cool to see it all come to life.

Chase Stokes Couldn’t Sleep The Night Before Filming With Sean Penn
Image via Netflix

For both of you, what is the most nervous you’ve been the night before the first day of filming something?

POWERS: One of my first TV shows I ever did, I think that was the most nervous. It was Faking It on MTV. I had a lot of dialogue the next morning, and I was really nervous about that. I just didn’t know what to expect, and to this day you still don’t know what to expect on set. You could never preplan what you’re gonna do when you get to set. Everything always changes and looks different.

STOKES: Early in my career, I did a TV show, and the scene was cut, but I worked across from Sean Penn. That was the most terrifying experience of my life in a good way. But I didn’t sleep. I remember that very vividly, of just show up and show up prepared, or else. It was a valuable, valuable experience. The scene got cut, which is totally fine, but it’s just something in my brain that I’ll never forget.

Moments like that are how you learn as an actor working from someone who has done it for so long.

STOKES: Oh, yeah. And I had such a great conversation with him afterward, and while I was doing that show, so it was a really, really eye-opening experience to see somebody who’s done it at such a high level for so long be that normal, to have a conversation with a kid who is just a guest star for an episode.

Keith Powers is NOT Spider-Man Just Yet
Image via Sony Pictures Animation

Keith, you got to voice Miles Morales in a Spider-Man game, [ Spider-Man: Miles Morales ], which is incredible.

POWERS: Wait, I gotta cut you off. So, that’s not true. [Laughs] I’ve ___ that, too! I don’t know how it started.

I apologize.

POWERS: No, it’s okay. I’ve seen it on my IMDb, and I was so confused. I was like, “How did this happen?” Multiple people have asked me about this, and I’m like, “I never did that.” But it’s so funny. What is the second half of your question? Is it about playing the game because I definitely play it? [Laughs]

No, just the fact that you got to do that. But I did see it on IMDb, and I thought, “Well, if it’s there, it must be true.”

POWERS: Man, I don’t know how I got there, but that would be a dream come true. I’ve met the guy who actually does play the voice of Miles Morales. It is funny because we auditioned against each other when I first got out here a lot, and then we ended up living in the same apartment building for, like, one year, and then that happened. That’s so weird, but no, it wasn’t me. That would be dope.

Uglies is now streaming on Netflix.

Watch on Netflix