Once the hottest female star in Hollywood, Demi Moore has spent the last few years flying well below the radar. Following the end of her marriage to Ashton Kutcher in 2011, Moore was determined to embark on a long process of introspection as she rebuilt her private life.
"If you're lucky and have a long career, you're going to have enough good films to look back on with pride," Moore said at the time. "Being famous or doing the biggest movies was never my goal. The most important thing to me was that I remain honest with myself in everything I do in life. I hope that what I leave behind me is authentic and honest. And that I can give people more than they have given me."
Today, at age 62, Demi still has exemplary youth on her side as she embarks on a new chapter in her career.
In recent years, Moore's acting output has been limited to the occasional supporting roles in relatively unheralded films, albeit TV work (not least in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans) put her back in the ascendancy, and The Substance, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, finally sees the actress back in a lead role.
She stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, the star of an aerobics show, who is fired on her 50th birthday by her boss because of her age. When she returns home, her morale is at its lowest. Yet, she receives an unexpected proposal: a mysterious laboratory offers her a miraculous substance that will enable her to become the best version of herself.
STRIPLV: Those who have seen The Substance have been feeding back that both the film and your performance are brilliant. How does that make you feel at this stage of your career? MOORE: To be honest, I'm still in a bit of disbelief. You never know if something like this will come together or succeed, but you hope it does because when I first saw it on paper, it felt like a gamble. The whole experience has been incredibly humbling. It's my first-ever premiere at Cannes, so being in the theatre with people who truly love cinema was amazing, especially now, with all the challenges of getting them there. It was so uplifting to witness that passion for film, not just because I was involved. The whole experience has been extraordinary. STRIPLV: Some shrewd voices are hailing it as one of the best roles of your career. That's some high praise, indeed. MOORE: Again, I'm very flattered, but it does feel like one of my better performances, and I really enjoyed it. I'm so glad that I said yes to it. It's such a different film and role to anything that I've done before. I knew I was at the point where I needed to push something, to try something, to reach beyond. I'm glad I did that. It's an intricate and nuanced piece that the director, Coralie Fargeat, has held with her concept of the movie for some time. With having only been in one horror movie before, and that was about 40 years ago – wow, that's made me do something of a double take to make sure that was right. STRIPLV: Yeah, The Seventh Sign in 1988. MOORE: Yeah, that's it. Well, there we go, I wasn't far off, was I? 36 years ago, damn, that's crazy. I was almost certainly a different person back then. STRIPLV: With that in mind, how much could you relate to the character Elisabeth, as she is an actress who has a lot of experience behind her and is of a certain age? MOORE: I don't think it's even that. Anyone who is "of a certain age," as you say, can begin to feel that they may be on the verge of being dropped or pushed out from whatever job they're doing. It can happen to anyone at any time, depending on who is making the decisions on their lives, either directly or indirectly. It may not even be a job - it could be a relationship, it could be friends. It doesn't even have to be someone of a certain age. As a human being, we surely all go through an experience of being liked, of being disliked, of being rejected, of being unappreciated. It could be that you think you know someone, and then further down the line, something happens you never thought they were capable of. Ultimately, it comes down to a lack of control for Elisabeth, as it is for many of us. That is until she discovers The Substance to try and reclaim what she had and has now lost. STRIPLV: There is quite a bit of nudity in this film. How did you feel about that? MOORE: I did have to have a think about it at first, but the more I spoke to Coralie, the more I realised exactly how she wanted to do it. It wasn't going to be just for the sake of it, and it was more about trying to make it believable and justified. The whole thing behind being comfortable with baring yourself for a movie is that you're not exposed in terms of your vulnerability. Some critics will always aim to make nudity the big part of the story, but I know it's not. The movie stands alone as a piece of work. It's a long way from Indecent Proposal or Striptease, put it that way. STRIPLV: You've said in the past that you have never had a plan for not just your career but your life. How have you been able to navigate it all with such dexterity? MOORE: Well, thank you for saying that I have, but I would just say that I've been fortunate; I've had setbacks, there have been ups and downs, and it's been thrilling; it's also not over just yet. Though when you don't have a blueprint set in stone, it means that you can keep changing the goalposts for yourself. You don't get dramatically sad if something doesn't happen because you didn't have your heart set on a particular goal. You can be more independent, and I think I have been, although when you don't have anything to fall back on, it can be scary. However, in the same way, you've also got nothing to lose, so you don't worry about failure. In fact, what is a failure if you don't have a sole aim? The other side of the coin is that if something doesn't work out, then where do you go after that? If I had laid down specific targets or things I wanted to do, I might not be where I am now or have achieved the things I have. STRIPLV: Tell us about Landman, which is Taylor Sheridan's take on the Boomtown podcast. What can you tell us about that? MOORE: It's a fascinating one. I play the wife of Jon Hamm, who is an oil tycoon in Fort Worth, and it's a family drama around the oil industry. My old friend Billy Bob Thornton features, as well. It was one of those movies where the people mean as much as the story. It was a pleasure to do. STRIPLV: You've always been big on charity work and have said in the past that was always something you wanted for your children so that they would feel inspired. MOORE: I'm so glad that they were proud of me for working with Visionary Women in fighting human trafficking and for the organization I co-founded, Thorn. I always feel that having something to one side that offers help to those who need it should be at the heart of who we are as people. It doesn't matter who you are or what your career is; the essence of helping others is a wonderful feeling. It's a human emotion, and it's really important. To ensure my kids realize the importance of that is so important for me. Ultimately, philanthropy and charity are something I'd rather be judged on than movie reviews. STRIPLV: You've said before that your screen comebacks regularly follow periods of deep reflection and spiritual rebirth, often those that see you take on new views of the world. Is that still the case? MOORE: I would say so, yes. There is always a stimulus that encourages me to get out there again and do something. I never work for the sake of it, and actually, I make no apologies for that. Ultimately, I want my productivity to come from somewhere because that then means I'm doing it for a reason, not just for a payday. I think that's what any actor should feel. Often, it's a case of being wanted in a romantic sense, and I'm honest enough to say that. I believe I'm like many other people when I admit that what scares me is to reach the end of my life and feel that I do not deserve to be loved, that there is something wrong with me, that I was not wanted here. So, my struggle is to find that self-esteem that gives me the courage to reach all my potential. If I find that through acting, then is that really such a bad thing? I used to think that I was afraid to be abandoned until someone told me that only children could be abandoned. Adults cannot be abandoned because they have a choice. Then I began to think that if that was the case, what did I have to be afraid of? I think a lot of the anxiety I've experienced at different points in my life was caused by not having the courage to reach all my potential and allowing fear, insecurity, and doubts to dominate me. STRIPLV: Many will state their favorite work of yours was in Ghost, all three decades ago. Do you resent that? MOORE: Never. Ghost is a love story, and it's a guy, a dead guy, trying to save his wife, and there is a comedy part. Yet, really, it's a love story, and I thought, "Wow, this is really a recipe for disaster". I thought that it was either going to be something really special, really amazing, or really an absolute bust, and the beauty of being at the beginning of your career is that you can take that sort of risk, and you will be forgiven if it turns out to be a dud. I think the beauty in that film is that none of us knew, and the alchemy that came together with Whoopi (Goldberg) and the late Patrick (Swayze) it just had a magic and everyone who saw it was moved. STRIPLV: It seems you've also arrested the insecurities you had about your appearance. MOORE: Deep down, I was always very uncomfortable with my body. I've always felt much more self-conscious about my appearance. If you look at everything I've done before Striptease, there weren't a lot of highly sexual roles. It wasn't until 2010 that I came to terms fully with the fact I had an extreme obsession with my body. I made it a measure of my own value. I tried to dominate it, which I did, and I changed it multiple times over. The irony is that when I abandoned a desire to dominate my body, it actually became the body that I always wanted. Yet that only happened when I stopped trying to control it. At the end of the day, that kind of obsession is pointless and meaningless, and I'm glad to see the back of it."
Demi Moore Loves & Hates
Loves
Ghost "The film has something that touches people's hearts, it transcends and has comforted people's souls in great loss, and it has instilled a sense of hope and magic that those we love are always still with us. I'm truly grateful to have been part of this film. I'm sure there was a huge boon in pottery classes that they hadn't seen since macrame, Birkenstocks, and hairy legs were in fashion."
Embracing her age "Aging is inevitable! I find the healthiest approach is to try to make the best of yourself. You should be happy about what you have, and don't try to chase what you don't have. The image of women in their 40s and 50s has totally changed today. Life doesn't end there."
"I don't know if there is any particular secret, but laughter and smiling are one of the best antidotes to aging that you could possibly have. I think of myself as still being about five. I'm honored if I can inspire somebody else. I'm just still trying to figure it all out about myself."
Vintage Tom Ford outfit "My favorite outfit is a Tom Ford (for Yves Saint Laurent) low-cut, sheer emerald silk ruffle dress that I wore to the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle premiere in 2003. I still have it in my closet."
Inner strength "I think there must be some strength, (but) it's not something I'm conscious of. But I think it's there. It's part of some of the tough and challenging experiences I've had in my life. That I've overcome them has created a sort of strength."
Her children "When I saw that I needed to be with my kids in one place (Idaho) for whatever amount of time, it didn't feel like a risk in terms of my career. It was just that my children were important to me. They were little, aged from about five to 11. It wasn't about: ' Am I giving up work? 'It was about: my children are important to me."
Hates
Stress "Stress sheared off my front teeth," Moore declared on the Jimmy Fallow show last month after she claimed that her front two teeth fell out due to stress. "I'd love to say it was skateboarding or something really kind of cool, but I think it's something that's important to share — because I think it's, literally, probably after heart disease, one of the biggest killers in America, which is stress."
Consumerism "I always try to keep a positive perspective on what's valuable and the importance of restricting that immediate gratification... I've realized, most importantly, that who you are isn't the stuff you have."
"I am, of course, in a privileged situation. But I have always tried to teach my children an appreciation for everything that is good and beautiful in life, which has nothing to do with material possessions."
Sex trafficking "The average age that a girl enters the industry is 12 to 14. As a mother, I have to say, 'Let's put this in perspective: this is someone's sister, someone's daughter. It's a little girl.' There's a general misperception that people have about the girls in the industry: that they are choosing it. Enslavement is not just physical but also mental manipulation. We're talking about people preying upon the most vulnerable among us, our children." [Ed: She and Ashton Kutcher launched a foundation in 2010 while they were married to fight against sex slavery].
Fear "You could either be trapped by what was going on around you, or you could find a way out. Everything, whether it is scary or good, comes into our lives to help elevate and expand us as human beings.