Demi Moore reflected on her experience filming The Substance — which nabbed the Best Screenplay distinction at its Cannes premiere earlier this year — calling the body horror pic an exploration of the “violence” people, particularly women, subject themselves to when attempting to fit into unrealistic beauty standards.
“What really struck me was the harsh violence against oneself,” she said in a recent interview by The Guardian. “It’s not what’s being done to you, it’s what we do to ourselves.”
From French writer-director Coralie Fargeat, The Substance — due in theaters Sept. 20 — follows an exercise guru who is fading out of the spotlight. After being unceremoniously fired by television executive Harvey (Dennis Quaid), she turns to a black market drug that temporarily transforms her into a younger version of herself (portrayed by Margaret Qualley).
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Speaking to the film’s subject matter, Moore — who has faced her fair share of sexism and ageism masquerading as tabloid scrutiny — also said she felt a connection to the film because of her personal experience of doing harm to her body, through disordered eating and over-exercising. “What I did to myself … What I made it mean about me. Really looking at that violence, how violent we can be towards ourselves, how just brutal.”
Though the satirical drama unpacks its messaging through its central women characters, Moore said its themes are relatable to men: “Self-judgment, chasing perfection, trying to rid ourselves of ‘flaws,’ also feeling rejected and despair — none of this is exclusive to women.”
She continued, “We’ve all had moments where you go back and you’re trying to fix something, and you’re just making it worse to the point where you’re incapacitated. We’re seeing these small things nobody else is looking at, but we’re so hyper-focused on all that we’re not. All of us, if we start to think our value is only with how we look then ultimately we’re going to be crushed.”
The Ghost star called the project “liberating.” As Deadline previously reported from the Cannes premiere back in May, Moore felt the movie helped her come away “with greater acceptance” of herself.
“It was a very hard film, very raw; very vulnerable to make,” she told The Guardian. “But at the same time liberating. I had less pressure than Margaret, because she had the added pressure to look amazing. I degrade throughout and I knew going in that I wasn’t going to be shot in the most glamorous way, or with the edges softened. In fact, the opposite. But there was something freeing about that.”
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