To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video Demi Moore has defended the extreme violence, nudity, and body horror in her shocking Cannes film that has received the festival’s longest ovation. The Substance, directed by Revenge creator Coralie Fargeat, premiered at the French festival yesterday, with many lauding the Ghost actor’s, 61, performance. Yet to receive a UK release date, the Palme d’Or contender sees Demi star as Elizabeth Sparkle, a fading Hollywood actor whose career is at risk of being axed until she discovers an experimental medical procedure to combat ageing.
The all-star cast is rounded out by Margaret Qualley, Hugo Diego Garcia, and Dennis Quaid , who replaced Ray Liotta in the film following his death aged 67 in 2022. Following its premiere, many critics were left shocked by the explicit content of the film and its gore, including a particularly bloody fight scene between Sparkle and Qualley’s character Sue. Moore has defended The Substance’s graphic elements, praising her co-stars and director Fargeat.
Following a 13-minute ovation, Moore praised Qualley and said she was ‘a great partner’ to share scenes with. ‘We were obviously quite close at some moments..
.and naked. But there was also a levity [in shooting those scenes],’ she told the crowd (per The Hollywood Reporter ).
She said the film ‘pushed her out of her comfort zone’ but that the explicit imagery was ‘necessa.