Demi Moore Gets Candid About Performing ‘Vulnerable’ Nude Scenes in New Erotic Thriller

Demi Moore got candid about the “vulnerable experience” of performing several lengthy, fully nude sequences in her controversial new horror movie The Substance, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last weekend.

The Cronenbergian body-horror picture stars Moore as a has-been celebrity who utilizes a cell-replicating service which creates a younger version of herself, played by Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). The movie features prolonged scenes of nudity from both actors, often performing in tandem.

“I had someone who was a great partner who I felt very safe with. We obviously were quite close—naked—and we also got a lot of levity in those moments at how absurd those certain situations were,” Moore said of Qualley, who’s no stranger to sexually charged performances.

Moore has performed nudity in several of her past roles, most notably in The Scarlet Letter (1995) and Striptease (1996), but those scenes were relatively chaste and didn’t require her to disrobe completely, as she does in The Substance.

One protracted sequence early on in Coralie Fargeat’s new film features Moore examining her body in a mirror before Qualley’s character is “birthed” in a non-traditional manner. “When Qualley emerges, she too marvels at her supple new skin suit. It’s a stark but perhaps necessary display of full-frontal for both,” Variety reported.

Though Moore admitted to feeling “vulnerable” during those sequences, she knew from the jump what she was getting herself into.

“Going into it, it was really spelled out—the level of vulnerability and rawness that was really required to tell the story,” Moore said at the Cannes press conference. “And it was a very vulnerable experience and just required a lot of sensitivity and a lot of conversation about what we were trying to accomplish.”

Moore concluded: “But ultimately, it’s just about really directing your communication and mutual trust.”

The Substance also stars Dennis Quaid in a role originally set to be played by Ray Liotta before the actor died in 2022. It’s being distributed by indie label Mubi, which has yet to set a North American release date.

So far, the movie is getting tremendous reviews. Variety raved: "Shocking and resonant, disarmingly grotesque, and weirdly fun, The Substance is a feminist body horror film that should be shown in movie theaters all over the land."