THE SUBSTANCE Trailer 2 (2024) Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley

THE SUBSTANCE Trailer 2 (2024) Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley

THE SUBSTANCE Trailer 2 (NEW, 2024) Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Coralie Fargeat, Thriller Movie
© 2024 - Mubi

Margaret Qualley is still keeping it weird: While she appeared in “Poor Things” as a science experiment gone wrong, Qualley is now literally shedding her skin for the co-lead role in the body horror film “The Substance.” It’s already the most talked about thriller of the year.

Qualley stars as the younger version of Demi Moore‘s aging actress in the buzzy feature from writer/director Coralie Fargeat. “The Substance” debuted at Cannes 2024, where IndieWire’s David Ehrlich deemed it an “instant classic” and first reactions applauded its feminist message. The film, which won Best Screenplay at Cannes, will have its North American premiere at TIFF 2024, opening the Midnight Madness section.

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The official synopsis for “The Substance” reads: “Demi Moore gives a career-best performance as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister past her prime and suddenly fired from her fitness TV show by repellent studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid). She is then drawn to the opportunity presented by a mysterious new drug: THE SUBSTANCE. All it takes is one injection and she is reborn – temporarily – as the gorgeous, twentysomething Sue (Margaret Qualley). The only rule? Time needs to be split: exactly one week in one body, then one week in the other. No exceptions. A perfect balance. What could go wrong?”

“The Substance” is produced by Working Title, Blacksmith, and A Good Story.

The director of photography on the film is Benjamin Kracun (“Promising Young Woman,” “Beast”), while co-editors are Fargeat, Jerome Eltabet (“Revenge”), and Valentin Feron. The music is composed by Raffertie (“I May Destroy You”), production design is led by Stanislas Reydellet (“Le Bal Des Folles”), and costume design comes from Emmanuelle Youchnovski (“La Belle Epoque”).

Moore told IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio that while her character does not have a “lot of dialogue,” the film is unprecedented in its “level of rawness and vulnerability.”

“If we step back from it being about an actor, [the film is more about] a desire to have validation, to be seen, to be appreciated, to belong, and what it is to feel rejected and to feel not-enough, that there’s something wrong with you,” Moore said. “When you add into it the aspect of aging — which is really about our inability to control — [it becomes] an exploration of a lack of acceptance of self. What really connected me was the unique way in which [Coralie Fargeat chose] to tell this story. What I love is this was a rich, complex, demanding role that gave me an opportunity to really push myself outside of my comfort zone, and in the end to feel like I explored and grew not only as an actor, but as a person.”

“The Substance” premieres September 20 in theaters. Check out the trailer below.

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Trailers
Have you ever wanted to transform? Not become a different person, but become a better version of yourself? In the new trailer for Coralie Fargeat’s (“Revenge”) new horror movie “The Substance” we get to watch Demi Moore (“Feud”) become a better version of herself.

Well, at least until it all comes tumbling down and turns into a nightmare.

“The Substance,” 2024
“The Substance,” 2024 (Mubi)
“The Substance”
The new movie tells the story of Elizabeth Sparkle (Moore), an A-list actress whose career is on the wane. A fact that colleagues like studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid) are happy to remind her of when he fires her from her fitness show. Desperate she tries a new wonder drug called The Substance. The injectable promises to unlock your DNA and produce a “better version” of yourself, one that is “younger and more beautiful.”

“The Substance,” 2024
“The Substance,” 2024 (Mubi)
Once injected Elizabeth takes over the body of a young woman named Sue (Margaret Qualley). The only rule is that time needs to be split: exactly one week in one body, then one week in the other. No exceptions.

After enjoying some newfound attention, Elizabeth begins to spiral due to a “slight misuse of the substance.” From there the film descends into body horror-fueled madness.

“The Substance” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the festival’s Best Screenplay award. Moore’s Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque performance is already receiving rave reviews.

“The Substance,” will hit theaters on September 20th. You can check out the newest trailer below:
Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley learn the price of perfection — and the pressure of the male gaze — in the first red band trailer for director Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes body-horror sensation “The Substance.”

The film tells the story of a former Hollywood star (Moore) whose career decline lands her in Jane Fonda-style fitness-show territory. Upon being fired, she’s offered a revolutionary medical treatment named The Substance, promising to deliver a younger, enhanced version of herself.

The engaging teaser trailer starts with Moore gazing into a mirror, accompanied by a mesmerizing voiceover: “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?”

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This question sets the stage for a thrilling first look, packed with high-energy imagery. We see Dennis Quaid disgustingly chomping on food, unsettling shower sequences, the mysterious “activation” serum, and Moore violently flying across a room onto a table. Adding to the intrigue, Moore angrily smears lipstick across her face, and Qualley wraps up the teaser with a sly wink.

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“The Substance” made a grand entrance onto the 2024 cinematic scene at the Cannes Film Festival, earning an enthusiastic 11-minute standing ovation. It also snagged the best screenplay prize from the jury.

Variety’s chief film critic, Owen Gleiberman, lauded the film’s daring approach, particularly praising its direction, style, and standout performances. He wrote, “Moore’s performance is nothing short of fearless. She’s playing, in some very abstract way, a version of herself (once a star at the center of the universe, now old enough to be seen by sexist Hollywood as past it), and her acting is rippled with anger, terror, despair, and vengeance.”

Mubi has acquired the movie for North American distribution, and will release the film exclusively in theaters.

Produced by five-time Oscar-nominated duo Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (“Elizabeth,” “Atonement,” “Les Misérables,” “The Theory of Everything,” and “Darkest Hour”), along with Fargeat, who also penned the script, “The Substance” marks Fargeat’s second directorial feature after her intense action-thriller “Revenge” (2017).

This year is shaping up to be monumental for Moore, who is not only in the Emmys conversation for her role in FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” but also stars alongside Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm in Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming Paramount+ series “Landman,” premiering on Nov. 17. Moore’s illustrious four-decade career, which boasts memorable roles in films such as “Ghost” (1990) and “Indecent Proposal” (1993), has put her front and center in the hunt her first Oscar nomination for best actress. Qualley’s equally superb work could also factor into the awards discussion, as well as the stellar makeup and hair execution.

“The Substance” will open nationwide on Sept. 20.

Watch the trailer below.

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Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Mubi, The Substance
This articles discusses plot details of “The Substance,” in theaters now.

The final act of Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” has the internet in shock, and might just be one of the wildest 20-minute rides in recent times.

Special effects artist Pierre Olivier Persin explained that Fargeat wanted to use practical effects, instead of digital CGI, where possible. “70-80% of what you see is practical,” Persin told Variety.

Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a faded Hollywood superstar relegated to hosting fitness videos reminiscent of the 1980s. Sadly, the producers want someone younger and search for a new host to replace her. Overhearing the conversation, Elisabeth comes across an opportunity to try a drug that promises to enhance her into a better version of herself. But it comes with strict and specific instructions. Elisabeth injects herself with the slime-green substance, and ends up birthing a younger version of herself – Sue, played by Margaret Qualley. Sue lands the fitness job, and the town becomes obsessed with her. Meanwhile, every seven days, without exception the two need to switch. And of course, things go downhill as Sue gets a taste for the adulation, the success and the youthfulness. As Sue sticks around for longer than her seven days, Elisabeth starts seeing the consequences, beginning with a dead and aging finger. It only gets worse. By the end, Sue needs to stay in her body longer so she can host the New Year’s Eve party celebrations – but with Elisabeth’s body already depleting and aging, Sue finds herself desperate. She injects herself with the serum which specifies a one-time use only. Sue/Elisabeth morph and birth Monstro Elisasue, a mutated version of both of them.

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Persin spent over a year working on the film and the final design, going through many iterations. “We did tons of designs and used everything from computer-generated sculptures to Photoshop to traditional sculptures and drawings to find the character that Coralie liked,” Persin told Variety.

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In the end, he found himself using a traditional maquette to sculpt what the morphed entity would look like.

Monstro Elisasue, as she was called had puncture holes and more than one spine. In one version, Fargeat told Persin how she loved how he had designed the Monstro’s spine, and she wanted him to add more spine. But it didn’t end there. Said Persin, “She said, ‘Maybe we can add teeth, biting one of the boobs.’ So, I added that. It was as if we put Sue in a shaker and shook her body.”

Due to time constraints, Persin subcontracted the build of Monstro Eliasue’s suit to a U.K.-based company. “We had two full suits, one for a stunt double, and a half-built suit for Margaret, which she wore for closeups.”

Persin and his team took care of all the effects, including the boob that squeezes out of one of Monstro’s many holes.

The highlight of the scene is the obscene amount of blood that sprays the audience that has come to see Sue at the New Year’s Eve show.

For that bloody mess, Persin had a special blood rig built by Jean Miel, the film’s special effects coordinator. “We put that inside the suit, and it was like a fireman’s hose that would spray blood – there was blood everywhere.”

For Monstro EliaSue’s last moments, Qualley was inside the half-suit for Monstro’s last closeup moments. She wore a cooling vest, similar to what racing car drivers wear. “It had a cooling system that would inject cold water to cool her down,” Persin explained.

In the build-up to Monstro EliaSue, there were various stages the Moore went through, each one was given a nickname on the shooting schedule. Said Persin, “We had the ‘Requiem’ stage, as in ‘Reqiuem for a Dream,’ that was the first stage with the half face. And we had a Gollum stage, I did a maquette design where she had a bent back, but that was straightforward,” Persin said.

However, it all begins with the finger. As a starting point to show something was wrong, it was important Persin get it right. “I thought it was too big at first. It looked fake and funny. So we started again. Coralie came into the workshop or I’d send her videos, but we did a ton of designs for each stage. It really was about trial and error and starting over to make it better.”

Christine Tamalet
In total, Moore’s makeup took anywhere from 45 minutes to six and a half hours. The longest application was when Elisabeth had aged, but because she was in the shower, Persin had to apply “arm prosthetics, full leg prosthetics and a full face prosthetic.” But for Persin, it wasn’t as simple as applying prosthetics — he also had to apply blue veins and spots because Fargeat wanted the decaying to “look like poison.” So it was a matter of adding more blue to the veins. In the end, Persin found, applying them like fake tattoos, printed from a Photoshop file, worked the best and was the most effective.

As for the birthing scene, Persin admits he didn’t have a visual reference when he first read the script. Initially he wanted to build a big puppet that could be mechanically operated. “They were sophisticated puppets,” Persin said. “We wanted to keep it simple and use our hands or devices to keep it organic because that was important for Coralie. So, we used a full back prosthetic on the actress, and we added all the complicated effects at the end of the shoot,” Persin revealed.

Read More About:
Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, The Substance
The official trailer has dropped for the “body horror” film, The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat. This might be the second trailer, or the first full trailer after the teaser. Either way, I’m late posting it. But better late than never.

I must admit I’m intrigued, not just because Fargeat is a compelling filmmaker but also the idea of what women put themselves through now to stop the clock and preserve themselves. I don’t know what the “discourse” around this movie will be but I can’t wait to see it and dig into its themes.

The tagline:

Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?
You. Only better in every way.
You’ve got to try this new product.
It changed my life.

The film was well-received in Cannes and has a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film opens September 20.

Here is an interview with Moore and Qualley:

Dennis Quaid might not get in for Reagan but I think he has a shot for this in supporting. Who knows, right? It’s a popularity contest, of course, and he could be more popular in the industry. But still, if it’s about performance, then maybe.

Tags: Demi MooreMargaret QualleyThe Substance
Directed by Coralie Fargeat
Written by Coralie Fargeat
Produced by
Coralie Fargeat
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Starring
Demi Moore
Margaret Qualley
Dennis Quaid
Cinematography Benjamin Kracun
Edited by
Coralie Fargeat
Jérôme Eltabet
Valentin Feron
Music by Raffertie
Production
company
Working Title Films
Distributed by
Mubi (United Kingdom and United States)
Metropolitan Filmexport (France)
Release dates
19 May 2024 (Cannes)
20 September 2024 (United Kingdom and United States)
6 November 2024 (France)
Running time 141 minutes[1]
Countries
United Kingdom[2]
United States[2]
France[2]
Language English
Budget $17.5 million[3]
Box office $13.9 million[4][5]
The Substance is a 2024 satirical body horror film co-produced, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat. It stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. An international co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States and France,[2] its plot follows a fading celebrity (Moore) who uses a black market drug that temporarily creates a younger version of herself (Qualley), with horrifying side effects.

The Substance premiered on 19 May 2024 at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in its main competition section, where it won Best Screenplay. The film was released theatrically in the UK and the US by Mubi on 20 September, and is scheduled for release in France by Metropolitan Filmexport on 6 November.

Plot
Elisabeth Sparkle, an Academy Award-winning actress and host of an aerobics TV show, is fired from her show on her 50th birthday, told by her boss, producer Harvey, that she is now too old. Driving home from the studio, she is distracted by a poster with her face being removed and gets into a car accident. At the hospital, a nurse gives her a flash drive promoting The Substance, a serum that creates a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of the user.

Elisabeth orders it and injects the single-use "activator" serum, causing a younger version of herself to emerge from a slit in her back. The younger form, adopting the name Sue, must inject herself with a stabilizer serum extracted from the spine of the unconscious Elisabeth each day. The two must switch activation every seven days, with the inactive one lying unconscious. Sue is hired as Elisabeth's replacement and ascends to the fame Elisabeth once enjoyed.

Elisabeth drinks heavily and binge-eats, while Sue parties and has casual sex. Sue uses more stabilizer to avoid having to switch, which causes Elisabeth to age rapidly. Elisabeth contacts the supplier, who tells her that she can either keep switching or terminate use of The Substance, although neither will restore her past appearance. She relents. She arranges to meet for a drink with an old schoolmate who has always had a crush on her, but loses her confidence when she sees a poster of Sue and decides not to go to the date.

As weeks pass, Sue continues to abuse the stabilizer and Elisabeth becomes a haggard, elderly woman. When Sue is invited to host a highly anticipated live New Year's Eve special, she obtains enough stabilizer for three months. On the eve of the special, Sue runs out of the stabilizer. She calls the supplier to beg for more, but they tell her the only way to replenish the supply is to switch back to Elisabeth. When she does, she finds herself drastically aged, now a deformed hunchback.

Desperate to prevent Sue from further aging and deforming her, Elisabeth disguises herself in heavy clothing and obtains a serum to terminate Sue. However, still yearning for admiration, she does not administer the full dose and revives Sue, rendering both of them conscious and severing their connection. Upon seeing the near-empty termination serum, Sue realizes what Elisabeth was going to do, and attacks her, eventually beating her to death. Sue then leaves to host the New Year's Eve show.

Without the stabilizer, Sue's body begins to rapidly deteriorate, losing three teeth, a fingernail and an ear. In a panic, Sue tries to create a new version of herself with the leftover activator serum but inadvertently creates “Monstro Elisasue,” a grotesque hybrid of the two forms.

Elisasue dresses and goes to the live broadcast wearing an improvised Elisabeth Sparkle mask. As it gets on stage and starts to speak to the audience, the mask falls off. The horrified audience erupts into violent chaos; Elisasue is decapitated by a man and its dismembered body covers the audience with blood. What is left of Elisasue escapes the studio and collapses into viscera. Elisabeth's original face emerges and crawls towards her neglected star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, gazes up at the Milky Way and melts. The bloody remains are cleaned up by a floor scrubber.

Cast

Margaret Qualley, Coralie Fargeat and Demi Moore at TIFF 2024
Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle
Margaret Qualley as Sue
Dennis Quaid as Harvey
Gore Abrams as Oliver
Hugo Diego Garcia as Diego
Phillip Schurer as Mr. Scream
Joseph Balderrama as Craig Silver
Production
In January 2022, it was announced that Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley would star in the film, with Working Title Films producing and Universal Pictures distributing. Coralie Fargeat would serve as director, but also as producer alongside Working Title co-chairs Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan.[6][7][8] It was co-produced by Blacksmith, a Paris-based studio created by Fargeat that same year.[9][10] In February 2022, it was announced that Ray Liotta had joined the cast.[11] Liotta died in May 2022, which led Fargeat to later recast the role with Dennis Quaid.[12]

Filming was projected to begin in Paris in May 2022.[13] In August 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that the film was "currently in production."[14] Later that same month, Qualley confirmed in an interview with W that she was working on the film.[15] Filming officially wrapped in October 2022.[16]

Release
The Substance was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2024.[17][18] The film received a standing ovation, with conflicting reports that the applause lasted 9 minutes,[19] 11 minutes,[20] or 13 minutes.[21]

Universal Pictures, which originally signed on as the distributor through a deal with Working Title Films, stepped away from the project. Multiple sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the studio was "worried about the prospect of releasing the film".[22] Prior to its Cannes debut, Mubi acquired worldwide rights to the film for $12.5 million,[3] planning to distribute it theatrically in North America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux as well as holding rights for Turkey and India, with its sales company subsidiary The Match Factory handling worldwide sales.[23] The Substance opened in theaters in the US, UK, Latin America, Germany, Canada and Netherlands on 20 September 2024.[24] Metropolitan Filmexport acquired French distribution rights from The Match Factory,[25][26] and will release the film on 6 November 2024.[27]

Reception
Box office
As of October 3, 2024, The Substance has grossed $7.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $13.9 million.[4][5]

In the United States and Canada, The Substance was released alongside Transformers One and Never Let Go, and was projected to gross around $3 million from 1,949 theaters in its opening weekend.[28] The film made $1.3 million on its first day, including $512,000 from Wednesday and Thursday night previews.[3] It went on to debut to $3.2 million, finishing sixth at the box office.[29][30] The film dropped only 39% the following weekend, grossing $1.8 million.[31]

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 281 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Audaciously gross, wickedly clever, and possibly Demi Moore's finest hour, The Substance is a gasp-inducing feat from writer-director Coralie Fargeat."[32] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 57 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score (including an average of 4 out of 5 stars), with 75% saying they would definitely recommend it.[3]

Peter Bradshaw's four-star review in The Guardian called it "a cheerfully silly and outrageously indulgent piece of gonzo body-horror comedy".[34] David Ehrlich of IndieWire graded the film an A, calling it "an epic, audacious body horror masterpiece... an instant classic. The most sickly entertaining theatrical experience of the year".[35] Nicholas Barber of the BBC awarded the film four stars out of five, while singling out Moore's performance: "Ripping into her best big-screen role in decades, Demi Moore is fearless in parodying her public image."[36] Phil de Semlyen's five star review in Time Out says it is "Moore who glues it all together, going full Isabelle Adjani-in-Possession in a vanity-free performance full of bruised ego, dawning horror and vulnerability".[37]

Owen Gleiberman in Variety praised the film's director: "Coralie Fargeat works with the flair of a grindhouse Kubrick in a weirdly fun, cathartically grotesque fusion of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Showgirls."[38] Radhika Seth in Vogue called it an "audacious piece of filmmaking ... the most exciting release to have debuted on the Croisette so far" and that it was her "current pick to win the Palme d'Or".[39] Damon Wise in Deadline said it is "a riotous, dreamlike horror-thriller that ends in a delirious symphony of blood, guts and otherwise undefinable viscera".[40]

Themes
Wendy Ide of The Guardian praised The Substance for its feminist perspective of older women, making note of how other female-led horror films like Carrie or Rosemary's Baby center on themes of menstruation and childbirth. She wrote that The Substance, in contrast, "not only offers a female perspective on women's bodies, but also argues that things only start to get properly messy once fertility is a dim memory".[41] New York Times critic Alissa Wilkinson noted the satirically exaggerated camera angles and shots, depicting the female characters in a way "that feels reminiscent mostly of porn". She wrote:

In the end that's what The Substance does best: not just remind us about the absurd standards for female beauty and the destructive power of celebrity, but turn the mirror back on us. The sharpest critique isn't about bodies, but about the way we've trained ourselves to look at those bodies, and the effect that has on our own. The movie is, appropriately enough, a mirror, and our discomfort reveals our own hidden biases and fears about ourselves. Being older, being famous, being seen, being loved, being usurped by someone younger and hotter—it's all here. Nothing like a mirror to remind you what lurks beneath.[42]

Accolades
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Cannes Film Festival 25 May 2024 Palme d'Or Coralie Fargeat Nominated [43]
Best Screenplay Won [44]
Miskolc International Film Festival 14 September 2024 Emeric Pressburger Prize The Substance Nominated [45]
Toronto International Film Festival 15 September 2024 People's Choice Award, Midnight Madness Won [46]
Hamptons International Film Festival 5 October 2024 Career Achievement in Acting Award Demi Moore Honored [47]