When asked about her reaction to industry peers saying she should’ve won an Oscar at the 2025 Academy Awards, Demi Moore revealed at Wednesday’s TIME100 Summit that that’s not the way she thinks about what happened.
“I really do subscribe to this idea that everything in life is happening for me, not to me,” she told TIME Editorial Director Lucy Feldman while onstage in New York City with her micro Chihuahua dog Pilaf. “That doesn't mean there isn't disappointment or pain. But when I look at it through that lens, it allows me to step back and say, ‘What is this trying to give me?’”
Moore, 62, was nominated for her first Oscar earlier this year for her role as aging star Elisabeth Sparkle in director Coralie Fargeat's body-horror hit The Substance, but ultimately lost the Best Actress race to Anora lead Mikey Madison—whom Moore noted delivered “an incredible performance.”
Madison’s somewhat unexpected win came in the wake of Moore taking home the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in January and stating in her acceptance speech that it was the first real award she’d received in her more than 45 years in Hollywood. However, while she shared that winning the Oscar would’ve felt like a “completion” to what started when The Substance premiered to rave reviews at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, she believes there’s a reason she came away empty-handed.
00:00We are all very, very excited that you're here with us.
00:03So thank you so much.
00:04Well, for me, it's a tremendous honor to be amongst this group.
00:10I am going to do my best not to be distracted by this adorable one-and-a-half-pound chihuahua
00:18that is looking right at me.
00:21But she's so sweet.
00:23She is a scene-stealer.
00:25Yes.
00:26And, you know, you're a generous actor, so it works, right?
00:30Like, you share the stage.
00:31I do.
00:32Yes.
00:32Happily.
00:33So you are just under two months removed from this entire awards season experience
00:43and sort of the formal end of your journey with the substance.
00:46You've had, you know, a minute to reflect.
00:49Yes.
00:50In that time, have you sort of gleaned lessons that you think you'll be applying to your career going forward?
00:58I mean, I think every experience, I think, gives us something for the next step that we're taking.
01:08This was such an extraordinary, unexpected response that literally started in May of last year at Cannes.
01:19And, you know, it's an amazing thing when you don't have any expectations.
01:24Everything is a gift, and everything during this whole process, but most especially, I think, the response on the flight here.
01:36A young woman, maybe 22, 23, came up to me and thanked me for the film because she said it changed her life and how she was holding and valuing herself.
01:51And for me, that is almost more important than anything else that's occurred, is knowing that we've brought something forward that is thought-provoking and potentially life-changing.
02:04Hmm, that's so powerful.
02:06And I feel like that is an experience that you've had again and again through this whole journey.
02:13I know when we spoke for the profile that we ran in time last week, you shared a few similar moments where it just feels like people found something unique to connect with in the film.
02:25It wasn't always the same thing, but...
02:27Well, I mean, I think that there was an aspect in the film, I don't know if those of you here have seen it, but...
02:36I think it touched on our humanness.
02:42It touched on that place within each of us where we can be harsh and or almost cruel and violent in our self-judgment.
02:51And I think in that way, it just resonated so deeply.
02:57It's what certainly resonated with me when I read the script.
03:00I mean, there were the obvious aspects of it dealing with aging and societal perspectives that have limitations.
03:09But for me, that was the least new information that was being shared.
03:13For the piece, I spoke to a lot of people about you.
03:21And every single one...
03:22Bless you.
03:26Every single one said that you should have won the Oscar.
03:31Boots Riley, who directed you in a film that hasn't come out yet, but sounds super cool.
03:46Can't wait to see it.
03:48I asked him this question, and his answer was essentially,
03:53well, that's a very political question for me,
03:56because I know a lot of the people who made Enora.
04:00And obviously, I know people at Neon.
04:03And yes, definitely, Demi should have won.
04:08Do you see yourself on that stage in the future?
04:14I think that would be nice.
04:17I can't say I would be mad at it.
04:19But, you know, as I shared when we spoke,
04:25you know, the question is, should I have won,
04:28is really maybe not, certainly not the perspective of how I hold it,
04:33because I didn't.
04:35And, you know, I really do subscribe to this idea
04:41that everything in life is happening for me, not to me.
04:45And that doesn't mean there isn't disappointment, pain,
04:50or that things go the way I would like.
04:53But when I look at it through that lens,
04:55it allows me to step back and say,
04:56what is this trying to give me?
04:58And in that moment, while it was, you know,
05:01a lot was, you know, being projected that I would win,
05:09and so, of course, there's disappointment,
05:11I also immediately recognized that there is something
05:16that is greater that I am to be in service to,
05:21even if I don't know what that is,
05:23that there is a reason.
05:25And, you know, I really had the pleasure
05:28of getting to know Mikey Madison
05:31and thinks that she did an incredible performance.
05:34And really, it's an odd thing
05:37for there to be a competition anyway.
05:39But, you know, if I had won,
05:42it would have been, as I said to you,
05:43it would be like a completion to what had started.
05:50And clearly, the message here is that
05:53there's more work to be done,
05:55that this issue is not complete.
05:58And I'm sorry to everyone who had hopes for me
06:02that was also the hopes for themselves,
06:04because I did feel a lot of collective disappointment
06:08that felt like it was even bigger than me.
06:13I understand that.
06:14I don't think you need to say sorry,
06:16but we hear you.
06:20And when you think about what's next
06:23and what maybe that open door is
06:26that you still need to walk through,
06:27you have been such a big part
06:30of this cultural moment
06:32where women in their 50s, 60s, 70s
06:35are being celebrated and recognized
06:37and there's stories being told about them
06:39that haven't before.
06:40And that's very exciting.
06:42What are the stories
06:43that you really want to see told?
06:45Oh, I mean,
06:48that's a very big question.
06:52What are the stories?
06:52I think that I don't know
06:57if I have an exact answer
06:58of what the exact story.
07:00I think that it's more about opening the door
07:05to really sharing and showing the truth
07:09of who we are today, you know,
07:12and which is very different
07:14than what it may have been at another time,
07:17our viability.
07:18You know, I think that there was
07:22a sense of things ending
07:29at a certain point
07:30as opposed to the reality,
07:32which is just that we're evolving.
07:35It's not ending.
07:36And I also have thought recently
07:40about this idea that aging and being old
07:44are not the same thing.
07:46and somehow we've confused that
07:49and that aging actually is a tremendous gift.
