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Demi Moore & Margaret Qualley Talk Feminism, Misogyny and 'The Substance'

The Substance co-stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley discuss the release of the 2024 horror film, which tackles issues surrounding beauty standards, body image and ageing head-on.

Released on 09/20/2024

Transcript

If it's an expression of yourself,

then like it'll be effortless and-

Yeah, if you like to be in a pushup bra

and all that- And go off, absolutely.

You know what, more power to it,

but it's really goes back to what brings you joy.

That's a tool, right?

Like that's a tool that a woman has in her arsenal,

or like a card in her deck.

And if you have that card and you wanna use it, amazing.

But I hope that you have all of the cards

and that you can use any card you'd like.

Well, I think in a way,

there is the latitude within it for the individual,

what each of us take from it.

You know, you could look at it and say

that she was finally fully liberated,

once the physical body kind of had kind of melted away

to really then finally fully kind of be

in the awe and appreciation of who she is.

That's one version.

I mean, you know,

I think that that's the interesting thing,

is that it's how it affects each of us.

Totally.

Yes, I think it can,

but I think that it would be limiting it

to say that it actually doesn't,

like that it wouldn't resonate with men equally.

Yeah, but I guess I'm of the belief

where it's like we're all feminists.

Yeah. We all have to be.

Because it is like human.

Yeah, exactly.

Humanists. Exactly.

It was important part

of really capturing the vulnerability

and so that, for the audience,

they could be with us in that vulnerability.

I mean, to your question of it being how was it?

I mean, it's awkward.

We were both laying on,

we were on cold tile floor that was hard.

We had bones that were hurting. [laughs]

I mean, and, you know,

and gratefully we had each other to look out for each other.

Like, oh, cover that up, look at this, you know.

I don't know.

Like, we didn't have what they have quite often now

of a intimacy person, like, that they have.

I think so much of it

is really about the communication upfront.

And also I think when you are given the room

after the fact to be able to have a voice

as opposed to just having to give of yourself

and leave it to somebody else,

which I think we both put in place

so that we had an opportunity.

I think a lot was set up upfront, but we also,

you know, had certain kind of support protections

to be able to have a voice after it was all cut together.

And I don't think either of us

changed anything after the fact.

But I think knowing that we had that

maintains, I think, a certain democracy

that I think is important and empowering,

Just like having each other's back,

as far as like the physical origami of it all.

[all laugh]

It's just quite literal, you know.

Like, okay, I'm gonna be falling on top of you

in this moment, and are you okay?

And how is that? [laughs]

Yeah, just like squishing each other.

But I don't know, to me, couldn't have been a,

I couldn't have had a better person to work with.

Same.

I've looked up to her for a long time.

I'm such a freaking fan of hers,

and she's just such a team player and so supportive

and I felt like super lucky to be able

to hold her hand walking through this fire.

I think that, again, for me,

this is just my personal, you know, view,

is that it's setting up a circumstance

of some social conditioning

that exists in a very overt way

that perhaps isn't quite as externalized.

But for me, the more important aspect of this

is not what's being done to her,

but what she's doing to herself.

And that I think is the key

because that's what we have the ability to shift and change.

And it also shifts us out of being a victim

by placing it as it's just misogynistic,

I think actually limits the real scope of what,

and the real expansiveness

of what the journey in this story is.

To me, it's like the first two thirds

or three fourths or something, it's like,

it's also so much about loneliness, you know.

It's about, like, this deep desire to be loved, right,

and going about that in all the wrong ways.

And then once she finally loves herself

is when everything becomes madness and chaos

and this kind of like explosive, bloody massacre,

if you will.

Not massacre but just madness.

But to me it's actually like,

it's at that point because it leaves reality so much.

Not that we were in reality before,

but because it's so unrealistic, it almost becomes comical.

But in a way that brings relief

because I think it's also like,

as it gets weird and then you're like,

it can't get any weirder and it does-

And also, like, pardon me,

I just spelled out the entire plot of the film.

[all laugh]

No, but I also think that- Oops. [laughs]

It gives us a relief from the intensity

in a way that is also externalizing

what we do to ourselves on the inside.

At the end of the day, it was a very difficult

and hard shoot for us on many levels,

but I feel like I walked away feeling very liberated,

you know, in a way going to those places

that were not so attractive, that were not glamorous,

was very freeing.

For me, it was kind of like,

you know, I play this kind of hypersexualized,

like, idea of perfect,

like her interpretation of the male gaze,

her being Coralie.

So for me it was like this kind of brutal experience of,

like an exaggerated form of all the ways

in which women try to manipulate their bodies

or feel like they have to manipulate their bodies,

you know, with like false eyelashes.

And I had fake boobs on

and like long hair extensions.

And when I didn't have the fake boobs on,

I'd have like a crazy pushup bra

and just like all these kinds of things

that were obtrusive and uncomfortable,

like this big shield that I was really excited to be rid of.

I don't know, I guess, like,

for example, like all those things I just mentioned

could be really positive sweet things

if you're enjoying them, you know what I mean?

It's like, I guess, [sighs] it just...

It's like, who are you doing it for?

Yeah, exactly. Who are you doing this for?

If it's for your heart, if it's an expression of yourself,

then like, it'll be effortless-

Yeah, if you like to be in a pushup bra

and in all that- And go off, absolutely.

You know what, more power to it.

But it's really goes back to what brings you joy.

And also it's like, I think, that's a tool, right?

Like, that's a tool that a woman has in her arsenal

or like a card in her deck.

And if you have that card and you wanna use it, amazing.

But I hope that you have all of the cards

and that you can use any card you'd like.

Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley