The team behind new horror movie with a near perfect Rotten Tomatoes score The Substance used The Fly as inspiration for Demi Moore's transformation
Aug. 14, 2024Exclusive: Demi Moore’s transformation in The Substance is inspired by an iconic horror movie
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When it comes to horror movie transformations, they don’t get more grotesque than the metamorphosis seen in David Cronenberg’sThe Fly, which stars Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle, a scientist who slowly becomes a gruesome, insect-like creature after an experiment goes wrong.
So iconic is Brundle’s change that it inspired Demi Moore’s transformation in upcoming horror movie The Substance. She plays actor Elisabeth Sparkle, who, after losing her job as the host of an exercise show, injects a mysterious substance that births a younger woman (Margaret Qualley) from a grisly wound in her back.
“I was thinking of The Fly,” French prosthetics veteran Pierre Olivier Persin tellsTotal Film in our new issueout on Thursday, August 15, which featuresBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceon the cover, of Elisabeth Sparkle’s gradual deterioration. “At first, he has hair on his back. He’s losing one nail. It’s a small decay. It’s step by step. He’s not suddenly gruesome. So it was trying to find the right balance. We didn’t want one stage to be too much, so when we see where it’s going, it’s a surprise.”
We also have an exclusive behind the scenes look at Moore’s transformation, which you can see below.
For Moore, the prosthetics experience was a significant first. “I will say: reading it on paper is certainly a lot easier than what it actually is!” admits the star. “It was also a part of what was enticing and exciting. The team was incredibly talented. But it’s time-consuming. It’s intense. It really does require that you get very Zen, to be still. But even with whatever discomfort or challenge – for me, it’s why you want to do something, because it’s so far outside of my normal baseline existence. And it was such an important part – and a unique way – of telling this story.”
The Substance is released on September 20. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, August 15.
Check out the covers below:
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I’m a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site’s Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.
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