Composer Edward Shearmur (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Johnny English, Escape from Dannemora, Cruel Intentions, The Count of Monte Cristo, Reign of Fire) is reuniting with director McG (Terminator Salvation, The Babysitter) on the upcoming Netflix original film Uglies. The movie is based on the novel of the same title by Scott Westerfeld and stars Joey King, Keith Powers, Brianne Tju, Chase Stokes, Jan Luis, Charmin Lee and Laverne Cox . The sci-fi thriller is set in a futuristic dystopia with enforced beauty standards and follows a teenager awaiting mandatory cosmetic surgery who embarks on a journey to find her missing friend. Jacob Forman (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, The Last Survivors), Vanessa Taylor (The Shape of Water, Divergent) and Whit Anderson (Players) wrote the screenplay. McG is also producing the project with John Davis (Predator, Waterworld), Jordan Davis, Robyn Meisinger (Slender Man, First Snow) and Mary Viola (The DUFF, I Feel Pretty). Shearmur has previously collaborated with the director on the Charlie Angels movies. Uglies will premiere on September 13, 2024 exclusively on Netflix.
Shearmur has also recently scored the World War II drama Across the River and Into the Trees directed by Paula Ortiz and starring Liev Schreiber, Matilda De Angelis, Josh Hutcherson and Danny Huston. The movie based on Ernest Hemingway’s 1950 novel is set in post-WWII Italy and follows an American Army Colonel haunted by the war who is determined to spend a week in quiet solitude and commandeers a military driver to facilitate a visit to his old haunts in Venice, when he meets a remarkable young woman who begins to rekindle in him the hope of renewal. The film will be released in select U.S. theaters on August 30 by Level 33 Entertainment.
