Demi Moore is speaking out on what she says is the disappointing, to say the least, coverage of her upcoming movie, The Substance.
On Thursday, Sept. 6 and on opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival, the iconic actress told Deadline that most of the media coverage surrounding her latest flick has been focused solely on the film's nude scenes.
"It’s interesting, I just saw a couple of little headlines, particularly in English-speaking press, and it was interesting almost to the point of the movie that the way they were putting the headline was only focused on it being about nudity," she told the outlet at the time. "And I thought, 'Oh, how sad that it’s kind of being presented in a way that’s shaming and diminishing.' It’s the least part of the movie."
The film, scheduled to be released in September, follows Elizabeth Sparkle (played by Moore) who decides to take a black-market drug in order to create a younger version of herself. According to an official synopsis for the film, the drug "generates another you. A new, younger, more beautiful, more perfect, you."
Moore stars alongside Dennis Quaid and Margaret Qualley, who plays the younger version of Moore's character.
In a previous interview with People, the film's director, Coralie Fargeat, said that it was "surprisingly easy" to sell Moore on the movie.
"To be honest, when her name came up, you know, when we were thinking about actresses, I said, 'Oh, forget it. She will never want to do something like that. Let's not lose time, you know,' " the director told the publication at the time.
"And then I said, 'Well, we have nothing to lose. Let's just send the script.' And when I heard that she responded in a positive way, it was something very strong that I felt that it could be such a great match for the role."
During a recent press conference, Moore said she knew going into the film "the level of vulnerability and rawness that was really required to tell the story."
“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," she added, according to Variety and CNN. (In the film, Moore has several full-frontal nudity scenes.)
Moore went on to credit her co-star Qualley for helping her feel comfortable during the more intimate and revealing scenes of the film.
"(I had) someone who was a great partner who I felt very safe with," she said at the time. "We obviously were quite close—naked—and we also got a lot of levity in those moments at how absurd those certain situations were."
During the film's premiere at Cannes, the director and cast received somewhere between a nine and 13-minute standing ovation, according to Variety and Deadline.
