Demi Moore has shared insights about how she prepared for the ‘vulnerable’ nude scenes in the film that earned her a Golden Globe.
Three decades ago, a producer labeled her as a ‘popcorn actress,’ a comment that stuck with Moore. Hence, she expressed surprise at winning a Golden Globe at the 82nd Awards Ceremony this year.
Now 62, Moore delivered a heartfelt speech recounting her journey as an actor and further discussed the challenges of portraying the ‘vulnerable’ scenes in the award-winning film.
In The Substance, Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a once-celebrated star who resorts to a black-market drug after being dismissed by her age-discriminating producer, portrayed by Dennis Quaid.
The drug induces unforeseen effects, and the film’s portrayal has been described as both ‘disturbing’ and ‘utterly captivating,’ with some calling it ‘f**king awesome.’
Within the project, Moore appears in multiple nude scenes and confessed to Woman Magazine that it was ‘a very vulnerable experience’ requiring ‘a lot of conversations around it.’
“But it was taking you to the raw place that you needed to [go],” she explained.
Moore remarked that, from her perspective, the nude scenes did not feel ‘sexualized’ because ‘so many of [the] scenes were about the experience of being with yourself.’
She elaborated: “And often we are with ourselves nude and it’s those moments of our own personal gaze, and self-judgement. I think the depth of the vulnerability and where it took me is, in a way, what was needed to help me tap into my own vulnerability.”
Moore conveyed that her character’s sensations of ‘despair’ and ‘rejection’ are emotions that ‘not just women,’ but everyone, ‘can all connect to on a human level.’
She continued: “I’ve certainly walked through that at different times in my life, where I too have placed too much value on my external self, and not enough on my insides, and where I gave my power away based on being validated on what I look like.”
She reflected: “Ironically, it was when I was much younger. In particular, the scene where [my character] is at the precipice of being able to get out of her self-imposed prison by going on the date […] I think that idea of going there or changing your outfit and trying to make it better – you can make it worse.
“Again, I think we’ve all had moments like that. Haven’t we?”
Moreover, Moore discussed the film’s exploration of how ‘women have been kind of relegated to being sidelined as they age.’
She concluded: “Or, as in the film, once your fertility fades, that somehow you are less desirable. And the reality is, we all kind of agreed to that, and it’s just not true.”