Demi More on Tackling Beauty Standards in 'The Substance' | Variety Studio at TIFF 2024 - video Dailymotion

Variety

Demi Moore sits down to talk about her film 'The Substance' at the Variety Studio at TIFF.

Transcript

00:00I looked at this one as like this really was so out-of-the-box, so unique way of

00:08delving into the subject matter that if it worked it would be absolutely

00:16incredible and amazing. And yes, it could also be an absolute disaster.

00:30So The Substance has really taken hold of people when it premiered at Cannes and

00:48now at TIFF. I wonder when you when you read a script for something like this is

00:52it is it hard to kind of anticipate the reaction to that the film is going to

00:56receive? I mean I don't think you you ever know you can only kind of explore

01:04it with the hopes that it'll resonate and in this case the script the read was

01:10as wild as the experience is of seeing the film but obviously probably much

01:17more because it's now visual and in-your-face. I think you know I looked

01:24at this one as like this really was so out-of-the-box, so unique way of delving

01:33into the subject matter that if it worked it would be absolutely

01:40incredible and amazing. And yes, it could also be an absolute disaster. When when

01:51you were approached to do the film what was your familiarity with the body

01:54horror genre? In complete transparency I was not really familiar at all. I feel

02:01like I don't even know if I could have said to you oh yes this absolutely fits

02:05that genre. I didn't I didn't know. So this this was new and it was presented

02:12saying this is a phantasmagoric. I'd never even heard that expression. So when

02:20you actually started to kind of get into to prepare for the role what was

02:26that like? What what what did you do to sort of get ready to play this character

02:29to play Elizabeth? You know what was interesting is obviously if you've seen

02:34the film it's it's there isn't a lot of dialogue and so for me a lot of the prep

02:41had to do with really giving Elizabeth as full of a life as possible so that in

02:49every moment I I could feel present and alive to who she was what she was going

02:56through. And not that you don't do that on every role but in this case because

03:02so much had to come through just through you know the subtleties of of the eyes

03:10and the you know simple expressions. It also seems like it was a very physically

03:17demanding role and I wonder like what was it like to kind of do these

03:22transformation sequences and how did you prepare for those? Somehow did you

03:26notice how I just kind of like didn't even grapple with that as part of it?

03:30Yes you know even before we started we had to do the molding the the molds to

03:39do it. You know the nice thing about which because it is extremely

03:46challenging of sitting through the process of the application which was

03:51anywhere for me from six to nine and a half hours is that it does lend itself

03:57to helping you move into a whole different body a whole different kind of

04:04relationship with self and some of it was kind of finding the body as we went

04:10along. And also because it's very different than say I'm just playing

04:15someone in just old age makeup. It had a whole other layer of kind of trauma

04:25shock because it was happening in this way that was so beyond her control. Did

04:32you work with movement coaches at all? I did a little bit but it was

04:37something that didn't really come into play until we were actually already

04:40shooting. So I really only had someone to work with over Zoom and some of that

04:49was really almost more about being careful not to hurt myself because I

04:58spent a lot of time in a hunched over position. There was a lot of the

05:03physicality and you know we had the heightened reality which gave us

05:08permission to do things that somebody who in fact was just had aged to that

05:13degree wouldn't be able to do. Like I have some pretty high speed runs. And

05:20what about working with Margaret Qualley? Had you known her before you did this

05:24film and how did you kind of figure out that relationship too? You know we hadn't

05:28ever met before but interestingly I felt I think we both felt like we did know

05:35each other from the moment that we met. I mean we had these indirect connections.

05:40Obviously years and years ago I had worked and knew her mother. She knew my

05:46daughters and I think that we have some shared qualities. I think that we both

05:53are willing to do roles where you kind of get a little dirty and I think with

06:00very little conversation or dialogue that we just connected. And I think

06:09it was a really crucial and important part of the whole process because it was

06:13really you know physically demanding for both of us and you know we were there

06:20all in five and a half months working on this. But from the moment that I

06:27heard that that's who Qualley was interested in casting I was already

06:31excited because I I knew that she was moving towards a real depth because

06:38Margaret is a wonderful actor who always brings kind of deep kind of

06:46emotional value, interest, intrigue. So yeah we got on I would say like a house

06:52on fire. In making this movie did it did you ever did it sort of lead you to to

07:00reconsider or think about your own experiences in the entertainment

07:02industry or to kind of think about how that how would it have been to kind of

07:06navigate this business? I think I didn't really think of it in relation to

07:12myself. I feel like I could relate to it in some respects more from actually my

07:17younger years and but I knew how important this subject and how relevant

07:29this subject matter was. Not just for women but you know particularly for

07:36women but I think for all of us as human beings because this delved into not just

07:42what the circumstances or the societal conditioning is that in a way that

07:46collective consciousness that should been shared about it women and their

07:52value diminishing as they age because it for me what was so powerful in this is

07:59what it is that we do to ourselves. It's that idea of you know what someone does

08:07or doesn't do is irrelevant but how you hold it is everything and I felt like

08:12in the whole arc for Elizabeth is that it was all this incredible value that

08:17she was giving to everything external and and how she then internalized it and

08:24in the way that Coralie created a physical manifestation of that violence

08:30that we can have against ourselves. I thought would be my hope was that it

08:34it would be impactful and really resonate. Have you found since this movie

08:39has been on the festival circuit and it's about to go into the wider world

08:42have people approached you and talked to you about the impact that the movie has

08:46had on them? I mean I've definitely I you know I've been so humbled and really

08:53and in and and equally uplifted by how deeply this has resonated with people

09:03and you know as it was we started the conversation you you never know and

09:09because this film goes to such a crazy place there was a part where I wasn't

09:16sure is that gonna take away is it gonna and and the fact that it that aspect of

09:22the movie brought relief and that it's impacted people you know my hope is that

09:26it would bring a cultural shift that it would be part of the conversation that

09:30starts to move the needle in allowing us to see the importance of being more

09:36gentle more kind to ourselves and just to look at how much value are we placing

09:43on how how we look how we're perceived especially over how we feel about

09:51ourselves. There have been reports of a sequel to St. Elmo's Fire and I wonder

09:56what's the latest with that? Yeah so the update is definitely conversations are

10:03happening studio has been really behind driving this as far as I know everyone

10:10seems to be up for it which I think would be amazing and no script yet but

10:18looking for the right right partner I think to write that and then I think we

10:24would all probably start to jump in and figure out who are these people this

10:28many years later and it was such a pivotal film for all of us involved and

10:36I having participated with Andrew McCarthy on his on his doc sat on a

10:43panel where I got to see Ali Chidi who I hadn't seen in 30 years I it would be a

10:49real joy. Well Timmy thank you so much congratulations.

Demi More on Tackling Beauty Standards in 'The Substance' | Variety Studio at TIFF 2024

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