Demi Moore on ‘The Substance’ Mania, “Scary” Oscar Buzz, and Keeping That Yellow Coat

This past Halloween, Demi Moore had a lot to celebrate. Her body-horror film, The Substance, emerged as a costume sensation among a certain cinephilic demographic, having grossed more than $47 million globally and been widely critically acclaimed over the fall. She shared a handful of her favorite Halloween copycats on Instagram, the selection of which subtly illustrated the gonzo range of her performance: Some paid homage to the heavy, hideous prosthetics of the final act; others highlighted the iconic yellow coat that’s inspired several stand-alone articles. Moore got in on the game too, of course, sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of her extreme physical transformation in the film. “Today feels like an appropriate day to share them,” she wrote in the post’s caption. “Happy Halloween from Elisabeth Sparkle.”

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Since its raucous debut at the Cannes Film Festival, The Substance has become one of the great art house success stories of the year. Coralie Fargeat’s examination of internalized misogyny and ageism, set in a warped version of sunny Los Angeles, allowed Moore to go for broke as Elisabeth, a fading Hollywood star who goes to extreme measures—literally creating a younger version of herself, who goes by Sue (Margaret Qualley)—to reclaim a sense of vitality in an industry obsessed with youth. Seeing an ’80s and ’90s movie icon in Moore, so underserved by the industry of late, taking on the role provides an immediate metatextual resonance. Watching the way she tears into it, embracing all of the role’s dark complexity and delivering a career-best performance in the process, feels cathartic.

For all of her varied experiences in Hollywood—critical hits and duds, box office smashes and bombs—Moore now finds herself in uncharted territory: the Oscar campaign trail. On that road, Moore has already encountered career reevaluations and reflections, a general appreciation for her work that she hasn’t noticed in quite some time. In conversation with Little Gold Men (listen or read below), she opens up about how she’s reexamining that A-list past, leaning into the excitement and promise of the present, and considering what might be next.

Vanity Fair: How have you experienced the life of this movie since Cannes?

Demi Moore: Wow—I mean, I am so blown away at the momentum and the impact that this film has had. I feel like it’s had a deep resonance and really moved people. It’s been thought-provoking, which is always something that is very appealing and attracts me to material, but to see that translate? The part that’s been pure joy and fun—that people have riffed on from the memes, the Halloween costumes—and then on the other side of that to be having such a reflection and acknowledgement for my work, I truly couldn’t have imagined this kind of combination. It just doesn’t always happen this way.

This admiration of your work has really been coming through. Can you just say a little bit more about that, how you’re taking it in?

First of all, I’ve been extremely humbled by that. You get in there to do the work and you never know. You can only hope. I was so grateful to have material that had these levels of unique complexities, because I don’t feel like I’ve had material come along in quite a while that gave me an opportunity to do this kind of work. If I look back to the end of 2021, there was a point where I really was at a crossroads of wondering if this part of my life was complete.

Acting, you mean?

Yeah. Not necessarily an end, but maybe it was complete for me because I wasn’t feeling this sense of challenge with what I was seeing. Nothing felt like it was pushing me to be challenged in a way that elevates you personally, but also elevates you in your work. I wasn’t sure that it felt complete—and if I wasn’t sure, then I knew it meant I had to really put all of my energy and focus into answering that question for myself. What’s interesting is, not too long after that—maybe even within a couple of weeks—this script came across my desk.

Given what you’re saying, I would imagine you’d be surprised then when a script like this comes across your desk.

You’re just kind of going, “All right, let me just see what the universe has. I’m open and ready. Is this where I’m supposed to be?” So to go back to your question about the acknowledgement, I think an added element with the response to this film has been a feeling that my previous work is being reevaluated in a different way. Work that maybe wasn’t given as much interest or thought is being brought back up to the surface, which is really affirming and encouraging. To answer my question, I don’t think that this was complete for me yet.

Some people have a bit more gentle up and down, and some of us have more extremes. This film is just hitting these high levels on a commercial level, on a critical level, and even tapping into something in popular culture in a way that’s— there’s no formula for that. I also was thinking about: In some ways it’s an equal measure to some of my lows.

Are you open to sharing what some of those lows were?

Even in particular when I was much younger, ironically, it seemed like they just didn’t know where to place me. I didn’t seem to fit.

Obviously with this film dealing with aging, it’s also a reflection that times have changed for women, that there is so much more out there, there is so much more diversity. But I’ll say when I was 40, I didn’t seem like what the collective consciousness was around what 40 should be—I wasn’t 20, but I also didn’t quite fit what was imagined to be a mom, or whatever that idea of where they like to place women who are of a certain age. I looked too good to play older, and was not young enough to play the others. There was a feeling of, wow, where do I belong?

So when you get this, do you have any conception of what that’s going to actually look like in the filming of it? Coralie likes to say “tons and tons of blood” in the way it’s written, but did you have an imagination of how that would play out on set?

In doing my own homework and familiarizing myself with Coralie—in seeing her first film, Revenge—I had a pretty good idea of the extreme nature of and style of her storytelling that pushed beyond reality, but was grounded in a sense of reality. The subject matter in both of these films is relatable and real. Where she goes with it is, as I’ve heard Margaret say, it’s like she likes to have everything dialed to a hundred. I could read her script and get a sense, because her script was fairly detailed in the descriptive nature; there was so little dialogue. That said, you truly cannot fully prepare until you’re really in it.

Right. As I understand it, she’s somebody who likes a lot of takes, for instance.

She does. In this case, it was sometimes very challenging—as when I’m rubbing my face raw—but it’s definitely part of this unique experience. This one was extremely unique. She also was somebody who really didn’t have a lot of stock in doing wide shots, and started in close up. Like close up like this close, next to your eyes. But she’s a very visual and symbolic storyteller, and that I definitely had a sense of in the script. You cannot prepare, though, for blood, and your head being smashed into a mirror.

Among other things.

I’ll tell you, one of the hardest moments where I had to separate myself was having this larger-than-life-sized photo of myself in the apartment. I had to keep saying, “This is not you. You would not have a giant photo of yourself in your house.” As I do not. I wrestled with that so much. I understand it’s a big part of the storytelling, but just the idea that she had that of herself, I had to really keep separating—“you are not Elizabeth, so you would not do this.” Then having to do scenes in that room and see it every day? I hated the photo.

Was it probing something in you? Why was that particular detail harder for you to shake?

It was just a moment of my own self-judgment of that seeming egotistical. Speaking of Halloween, I can’t tell you how many images I’ve been sent of people [in costume] with that cutout face and the lips. I appreciated it from stepping back a little bit more objectively, but my first feeling was like, Oh, that just seems way too much. It was just my own ego insecurity.

You posted a fabulous set of behind-the-scenes images for Halloween of you as your most aggressively aged version of Elizabeth Sparkle. Those are significant handmade prosthetics that you’re wearing. How is it actually acting in them?

For just the head and shoulders—because obviously when I’m dressed, we didn’t have to do the whole body—it was 14 individual pieces that had to be glued onto the face. I’m grateful that I have an ability to be very still and very calm. You can get restless sitting there, but that ability to kind of be in a meditative state, it allows for a shift. That time gives you a moment to shift within the character to really transform, in a sense. The hardest part is how little time you have to do the work to stay within the emotion that you’re needing to convey, when you have people touching you all day. From the moment you’re finished, they’re constantly repairing, and you have hands touching you. It’s definitely not easy to stay connected to the emotion when you have so much coming at you, pulling your attention away. You can’t really eat or drink all day. But it’s part of an adventurous process. Would I want to do it every time? Definitely not.

Did you get to take anything from this set?

So I do have the yellow coat. A few pieces of the wardrobe. And I have it stashed away, but before I left, I was given one of the original vials of the activator. I always like to take something, and my hope is now that we have this incredible Academy Museum—because I have particularly saved costumes over the years—to be able to donate it all to the Academy Museum. We didn’t have that really before, a place really that could archive it properly. But I have the coat, I have some of my suits, I have that hideous blue leotard.

I would not part with that coat if I were you, but I understand the idea.

I know. But at one point.

What other classic Demi Moore costumes do you have?

A little something from Ghost—there’s a funny jumpsuit that I wore. I have some things from Indecent Proposal. In fact, I’d given that famous dress to Planet Hollywood to use. So I have to maybe reclaim that one. I have some things from Striptease. I have stuff from A Few Good Men. I have stuff from G.I. Jane.

When they sent me this stuff for Striptease, all of a sudden I opened a box and it was all of these white boxer shorts that were Burt Reynolds’s, that he wore in a scene. I’m like, I don’t think this was meant to be in my stuff, but…

Right. Is this film history?

I’m not quite sure, but somebody might appreciate having a pair.

Seeing you posting other people’s Substance Halloween costumes on Instagram, there’s something very loving and warm about this ambitious, crazy movie getting this kind of embrace—and you getting to experience that with people—right?

It’s wonderful. There’s something so joyous about what’s becoming an even larger shared experience. A very difficult, really challenging experience that Margaret and I shared, and we had each other. But now to be able to have it evolve into this thing that’s bringing joy, and the joy being reflected back to us—it’s truly a gift.

Could you reflect a bit on your relationship with Margaret Qualley? You only share a handful of scenes but are mirroring each other throughout the movie, and have more recently been on this press tour together.

I truly adore her. I really admire her work ethic, her talent, her choices, and I feel like we were deeply aligned when we were shooting and looked out for each other, even though we weren’t always there at the same time…. I feel like we have such a mutual love and appreciation and respect, and I really do feel like we are kind of living the better version of what those two entities—Elizabeth and Sue—experienced. As Margaret and to me, we are showing a different pathway between young and old.

Are there specific films of yours from the past that you hope get a particular reevaluation, amid all of this attention and excitement?

I don’t go and look at my things very often. I’ve seen a few compilations put together, and there’s things I haven’t seen in a long time, like Mortal Thoughts. I saw a little clip from that. All of us held much harsher judgments in real time, and when we have a little bit of time and distance, I think we can gain a little bit more appreciation. Sometimes I’m like, oh, thank God I kept getting another chance to do this again so that I could actually get better. Then there are moments I’d look at and go, You know what? Actually, that was really sweet.

One, that has greater depth that in some ways got lost in the provocative aspect is Indecent Proposal. The question was so disruptive for people, and I saw a couple of little scenes here and there, and I think it’s a really good film.

You are receiving Oscar buzz for The Substance. Given everything we’ve talked about, how does it feel?

It’s new territory, and a little scary, if I’m being honest. I find it best to let go of expectations of any kind. I’ve been really just trying to stay present, and enjoy what’s been occurring and unfolding. I literally didn’t have any expectations with this film, let alone for it to be where it is now. In the process, there have been wonderful things that I’ve been able to participate in. I got to do a round table with some of my peers and women I respect and admire. So it’s a little bit scary—but the good kind.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.