Demi Moore Was ‘Almost Ready to Step Away’ From Hollywood Before ‘The Substance’

While accepting the Maria Manetti Shrem Award for Acting at the SFFILM Awards in San Francisco, California Monday, the 62-year-old actress reflected on how accepting the role in the hit horror thriller, The Substance, changed her outlook on her acting career.

“I’ve had a very long career, but I haven’t really ever been part of the conversations that allowed me to be part of [awards shows] and to really receive the love and celebration of my work. I’m really just so humbled,” Moore said, admitting that she thought her time in the film business was over before she filmed The Substance.

The actress, who has been nominated for Best Female Actor at the Golden Globes for her role in the body horror flick, plays an ageing actress in the film, who obtains a black market drug to create a younger version of herself in a bid to remain relevant — with disastrous consequences.

The Ghost alum continued, “At the beginning of 2022, I had a moment where I was at an event and I felt I didn’t belong. I didn’t know why I was there. I wanted to be invisible and I couldn’t figure out how to get out. And I thought, ‘You know what? Maybe my time doing this is complete. Maybe I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.’ … Two weeks later, the script for ‘The Substance’ came across my desk.”

Moore ended her speech by saying that while she was “almost ready to step away” from the industry, she’s so grateful she didn’t.

Speaking with Deadline about the her Golden Globe nomination for the role, Moore said she was “shocked,” adding that she had no idea the film would garner the reaction it has.

“I’m in shock and awe, and … Really, I just feel so much joy, I have to say. I mean, this was a risky project from the beginning, with really no certainty of how it would all come together,” she told the outlet. “And so to see the journey it’s been on, and to have this acknowledgement, I just think is such a win on so many levels and I’m so excited for Margaret, too. I would say it’s been hard earned, obviously, if you’ve seen the film.”

As for her initial expectations for the film, Moore said she weas interested in exploring the “emotional subject matter,” knowing that the making a movie like this posed as much risk as it did reward.

“My only expectation, really, was just the exploration of the emotional subject matter. I mean, I read the script and I was captivated and I thought that it had the potential to be something amazing — but it equally had the potential to be a disaster,” Moore said. “It was really asking a lot and going to places that were so extreme. I didn’t know [which way it would go], but I knew that it was worth the risk. I knew it was worth stepping into, and it was a role for me that had nuances and complexities and, most importantly, had a depth that was meaningful. And for me, that’s what my hope always is.”