In The Substance, Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a former Oscar-winning actress who now hosts a daytime fitness show. But when Elisabeth is fired by a buffoonish executive (Dennis Quaid, father of Hollywood’s best nepo baby boy), she injects herself with something called “The Substance” to become the “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” version of herself, Sue, played by Margaret Qualley (another good nepo kid). Gore and nudity ensues.
Lots of nudity.
In a spoiler-heavy profile, Qualley told the Los Angeles Times that she trained for months for The Substance. But all that weight lifting shaped her physicality in a way that she didn’t expect. “We’re representing perfect, right?” the Kinds of Kindness actress said. “And the movie has a pretty inspired message. So I also thought it was important for that perfect to be healthy, even if it’s unrealistic. I’m fortunate that the naked stuff was at the top because throughout the five months my ass was just slowly deflating.”
Moore joked, “I did admire how round Margaret’s ass was.”
Qualley, a trained ballerina, also discussed her elaborate dance sequence in the body horror movie. “It’s more of a challenge than I realized, pretending to feel hot when you don’t feel hot,” she said. “I practiced that dance incessantly, every day, until we shot it because it’s so far outside of the way my body moves. But I really enjoyed pushing myself to figure it out.”
Directed by Coralie Fargeat, The Substance opens on September 20.
(Via the Los Angeles Times)