The Substance’s Director Discusses Her ‘Super Important’ Conversations With Demi Moore And Margaret Qualley About The Film’s Extreme Prosthetics And Nudity

Writer/director Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is a relatively simple movie in some respects, with its high concept plot and limited number of settings, but in addition to being rich with metaphor, it's a film that demanded a great deal from stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. On top of the emotional extremes experienced by the characters, there are also physical extremes, with both actors doing nude scenes and working with complicated body horror prosthetics.

Given these complicated aspects in bringing protagonists Elisabeth Sparkle and Sue to life, Coralie Fargeat maintained very open communication with the stars – and she spoke about that relationship when I interviewed her virtually earlier this month prior to the arrival of The Substance in theaters.

Coralie Fargeat Was Quick To Illustrate Her Vision For The Substance

One of my early questions was about the discussions she had with Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley after they respectively had the chance to read the script, and she first noted her emphasis on her aesthetic vision and heavy use of symbolism. Said the French filmmaker,

In The Substance, Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle – a Hollywood star who is unceremoniously fired from her job hosting an aerobics program on her 50th birthday. Her emotional distress leads to a car accident, but her visit to the doctor leads her to learn about the titular procedure: a medical invention that allows her to "birth" a younger, better version of herself. Sue (Margaret Qualley) emerges from Elisabeth's spine after she takes the special Activator substance, but a failure for the two women to recognize that they are one and respect the balance leads to extreme consequences.

With Coralie Fargeat's style, there's only so much that Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley could understand about The Substance by just reading the script, and the writer/director was prepared to illustrate for them what was in her mind:

How Coralie Fargeat Approached Discussions About Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley's Nudity And Prosthetics Work In The Substance

I followed up by asking about the physical requirements of bringing Elizabeth and Sue to life, and Coralie Fargeat stressed the magnitude of open discussions with her actors to discuss the most extreme aspects of The Substance. Both roles see Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley performing sans clothing, and in addition to being up front about how the scenes in question would be shot, she also explained their significance in the work's visual language:

Continuing, Fargeat explained said that there were similar discussions about the film's prosthetics. Without getting into spoilers, both Elizabeth and Sue go through some terrifying metamorphoses in The Substance, and that required the actors to spend a great deal of time in the makeup chair and mentally process the stories of their characters out of sequence:

Both Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley were ultimately very giving as they embraced the glamour and horror of their parts in the context of The Substance's commentary about age and beauty standards for modern women.

Coralie Fargeat noted that it was essential for everyone to be on the same page early on in the process so that they could all work together to create what the film is in the final cut: