Actress Demi Moore is opening up about her horror film, “The Substance,” and the particularly intimate shot that bothered her to watch.
Demi Moore has spoken at length about the vulnerability it took to film full-frontal nudity in her body horror film “The Substance,” but the actress, 62, is now opening up about seeing her backside on screen.
In one scene of the film, director Coralie Fargeat, known for her artistic derrière shots, filmed Moore’s butt from a low angle, under bright lights.
“It’s like, ugh,” Moore told Elle magazine of the up-close and personal shot. “It bugs the s— out of me.”
DEMI MOORE, 61, SAYS FULL FRONTAL NUDITY IN CANNES FILM FESTIVAL HIT WAS A ‘VULNERABLE EXPERIENCE’
But Moore, who has also spoken outwardly about her disordered eating past, wanted to maintain the integrity of the film, a story about a woman who combats aging and ostracization by using a black market drug to create a younger version of herself, and didn’t ask for edits.
“I didn’t ask for any adjustments because I knew it was in service of something that was more important than me,” Moore explained. “It felt like any hardship, any exposure of my own insecurities, would be worth it if I was part of bringing forward the conversation.
“There was an incredibly liberating aspect to stepping into this really vulnerable, exposed place emotionally and physically,” Moore told Elle’s 2024 Women in Hollywood portfolio. “The film gave me the opportunity to look at where my ego was kind of running the show, where I was giving up my power, and it pushed me to find a little bit more gentility and acceptance of myself as I am.”
Director Fargeat has also spoken about the scene and its importance.
“The a– is a very strong symbol of how our body is not neutral in the public space,” Fargeat told Letterboxd Magazine, days after the film premiered in the U.S. “How our body is constantly scrutinized, has been shaped to please the man’s eyes, has been seen as a body part that was objectified, that was detached from the person who was simply bearing it.”
In the film, Moore also wears intense and disturbing prosthetics.
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Days ago, she spoke with Vanity Fair about the process she underwent to transform into an older version of her character.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
Her performance is generating Oscar buzz, something she says is new territory for her.
“Up until now, I’ve never really been brought into that conversation. So, I’m feeling a lot of appreciation, and, at the same time, keeping myself right-sized, because, in truth, I didn’t know if this film would work at all,” she told Elle.
“It was conceptually so crazy that I really didn’t know. So, I’m in this beautiful place of having let go of any expectations, and so everything that’s been happening just feels like this added gift.”
