Preparing for 'The Substance' helped to push her boundaries as actor, says Demi Moore
Sep 06, 2024
Washington [US], September 6 : Demi Moore's 'The Substance' received a 13-minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival in May and also has a premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Actor Demi Moore has now shared the challenging process of preparing for her role in the film, reported Deadline.
The actor has been part of a number of projects and she got candid about getting an opportunity to be part of it and working in movies like 'Ghost' which was released in 1990 helped her grow in the industry.
She shared how movies like 'Striptease' made her highest paid actress of the time. It was released in 1996.
"It's rare in the sense that if there were more of these, we would see more of them and I think it was clearly a very complex and nuanced and rich role for both myself and Margaret Qualley, but I think what's rare is just also that it's unique," she shared.
On talking about pushing boundaries and doing projects like 'Striptease' and 'Indecent Proposal', Moore said, "I don't think in the moment I've ever felt it was too far. I think in almost all the different moments or choices it's always been something that has either been a question that I've explored or been wanting to explore for myself, or it's been an awareness of an external limitation that exists in certain perceptions that didn't make sense to me. So, kind of pushing that in a way in the hope of expanding and creating a greater depth of understanding compassion. Like the same with Striptease."
She continued, "There was so much more to me to that then it being about just a stripper. It's about trying to survive and take care of their child and this being a means to an end. And even with G.I. Jane that pushed forward a provocative question of -- why shouldn't women be in combat at that time? Which is really what the question is, or in special forces, and why aren't they if somebody's good enough? So, I feel like these choices just generally come out of questions I've tried to get answers to as well."
The actor further shared about preparing for the 2024 film 'The Substance', co-produced, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat. It features Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid.
"It was about being less in shape in a certain sense as opposed to like the prep that went into it first and foremost was really emotional and internal. Like really connecting on the deeper level to the desperation and the pain and rejection that Elisabeth is facing at the beginning of this and that kind of depth of fear and self-loathing," the actor shared.
It was not an easy project and there were certain challenges she faced while doing it. One of them was staying away from the family. She said the film was "physically and emotionally challenging."
"I was away from home, and you know, I was in Paris away from everybody in my family and there was a lot of preproduction of preparing with getting molds and doing all of that because all the prosthetics and a lot of the effects for Coralie were really important that they be practical not as much as of the CGI or the gore. And so, there was a lot that just kind of went into that part of it and time just connecting for Margaret and I since we obviously were playing the same person. So, this was definitely physically and emotionally challenging," said the actor, as reported by Deadline.