“The Substance”: Demi Moore delves into bizarre body horror
In “The Substance,” Demi Moore plays a middle-aged fitness star who takes a black market drug that creates her younger self (Margaret Qualley).
Filming the absolutely insane body horror movie The Substance was an emotionally exhausting and physically draining experience for Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. But some days were definitely better than others.
Crouching on the floor and seeing your co-star naked might seem like one of those awkward situations, but Qualley was OK with it. “I don’t mind Demi Moore sitting on me naked. It’s just not a problem. There are so many worse things in the movie,” she says, making her fellow actress laugh during a Zoom call.
“In those moments, you probably felt safer than in some others,” says Moore.
“I was fine with that,” Qualley adds. “Yeah, you want me to pounce on Demi Moore naked? Sure. OK.”
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Writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (in theaters Friday) has become the most talked-about horror film of the year, after receiving a 13-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and recently winning the People’s Choice Award for Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival. Moore’s uncompromising performance has also put her in the Oscar conversation for best actress.
In the film, she plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a middle-aged fitness celebrity who is kicked out by her male boss (Dennis Quaid) to find someone younger. Elisabeth takes a black market drug that promises to make her look “younger, more beautiful, and more perfect.” A shockingly brutal process gives birth to Elisabeth’s younger self (Qualley), but they must follow certain rules, most notably switching bodies every seven days.
The younger version calls herself Sue, is cast as Elizabeth’s successor and becomes an instant star. When she starts breaking the rules, a fight breaks out between the two, which reaches a wild and bloody climax.
Qualley, 29, says it was “cool to be in the same room” with people who were excited by Moore’s “unexpected” performance. “That’s how I feel about Demi’s career,” she says. “She goes from ‘GI Jane’ to ‘Striptease.’ It’s all mixed up and in each one she’s treading uncharted territory, being completely vulnerable, completely badass (and) completely unique.”
For 61-year-old Moore, it is “a joy and a pleasure” to receive a script with “such complex characters” but also with “something that really pushed us out of our respective comfort zones.”
Qualley adds: “I mean, the understatement of my life.”
During the grueling 5 ½ month shoot, both actresses had to undergo a lot of prosthetic surgery – Elisabeth’s body gradually turned into a horror show due to Sue’s actions and Moore had to undergo more than six hours of procedures. But she also appreciated having her emotional vulnerability tested in nude scenes in which Elisabeth studied her body.
“What attracted me to it was that I knew it wasn’t about highlighting my (body) and showing off my most attractive side, but that it was really about emphasizing the things that you feel are flaws or that you don’t want to see,” she says.
Qualley’s personal horror show was a sexy dance class led by Sue while she twerked and twirled in a skin-baring pink leotard.
“Being a woman and having a very special relationship with your body is a matter of the cards you’re dealt,” Qualley says. “I’ve been very lucky in my career that I haven’t had to use my body in that way, because it’s not very natural for me. However, this dance was the most emotionally vulnerable and scary for me because it’s outside of my comfort zone. It’s not that I feel hot, but I had to ‘feel hot’ doing it.”
And even though their characters don’t spend that much time together, Moore and Qualley usually worked on the same days and supported each other. “Demi tuned in, I tuned out,” Qualley says. “We just walked past each other and looked at each other as if to say, ‘Mm-hmm. You can do this.'”
“The Substance” deals with issues like age and sexism, but not just celebrity issues: Moore sees a universal appeal in the way we all view our bodies, men and women alike. The film’s Hollywood setting is the “perfect” way to convey that, “where the criticism from outside is already amplified, that you’re already on display,” she says. “We’ve all gone through that door of self-judgment, self-criticism and that kind of struggle, and in many cases that can almost lead to violence against ourselves.”
Qualley couldn’t really see herself in Sue – “I’m not a soulless sex robot or anything like that” – but agrees that everyone can identify with Demi’s portrayal of Elisabeth. “The way this is portrayed is satirical, it’s exaggerated, but it’s still effective because it’s based in some degree of reality,” she says.
There is “almost an unspoken collective agreement that women’s value decreases as they get older, their place,” Moore concludes. “But I don’t want to see anyone as a victim. Certainly not myself.”
“The hope is that maybe we can help lay some new bricks on that path to cultural change simply by creating awareness,” she adds. “But that awareness starts within each of us as individuals. We can’t wait for the outside world to catch up with us. If we change our beliefs about our values, the outside world will reflect that.”
