Demi Moore revealed that she struggled while filming the Substance (Picture: Rex)
Demi Moore has opened up about her struggles while filming her chilling new movie, the Substance, sharing that she actually lost weight from her efforts.
The 61-year-old – known for her hits including Ghost, Indecent Proposal and Striptease – is starring in the body horror film alongside Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, with Coralie Fargeat serving as director.
In the creepy flick, she plays ageing actress Elisabeth Sparkle, who is axed from her exercise segment on a morning show on her 50th birthday, leading her to take an experimental substance that ‘generates a new, younger, more beautiful, more perfect, you’.
However, unpacking the shoot in a new interview, the Hollywood icon confessed that it wasn’t quite fun and games behind the scenes.
‘To give you an idea of the intensity, my first week that I actually had off, where it was just Margaret working, I got shingles,’ she told the LA Times.
‘And I then lost, like, 20lbs.’
The Substance is out in cinemas this month (Picture: Mubi)
It is not for the faint hearted… (Picture: Mubi)
Margaret, who plays the ‘younger’ Elisabeth, aka Sue, interjected and shared that she also had ‘crazy acne’ for a long time while filming.
‘You have to walk away feeling that you put it all on the table,’ Demi added. ‘It called for it and it’s what you want to bring to it.’
The Substance is slated to be released in the US on September 18, and will premiere in the UK two days later.
It currently boasts a whopping 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has won praise for being ‘relentless, thought-provoking and morbidly fun’.
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Chuck Bowen from Slant Magazine described it as the ‘greatest performance’ of Demi’s career, while others commended her for ‘going for broke’ and delivering so much.
However, the GI Jane actress admitted that she found it ‘very difficult’ while detailing a scene where Elisabeth was preparing for a date by changing up her make-up.
‘It was very difficult. It’s one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the film,’ she said. ‘I think we can all relate to trying to make ourselves look better, and just making it worse and worse.
Demi suffered with shingles during filming (Picture: WireImage)
She explained that she also found some scenes ‘very difficult’ to get through (Picture: Getty)
‘Coralie likes to do a lot of takes, and my face was just raw. I got to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore. And Coralie still wanted one more take. The makeup artist stepped in and said, “We’re done.”
‘It was a certain kind of madness. There are three setups to that scene, and easily 15 takes for each. Also, the idea of looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing only what’s wrong — it’s like you’re seeking to make yourself uglier, so you can look how you feel.’
The Substance is out in cinemas on September 18 in the US, and September 20 in the UK.
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