How ‘Striptease’ destroyed the career of Demi Moore
At one point in the 1980s and early ’90s, Demi Moore was one of the most exciting young actors working in Hollywood, rising to prominence as a member of the Brat Pack who arrived to shake up the industry at the time. Included among such names as Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall and Rob Lowe, Moore would become the most successful of the bunch.
Though she appeared in several supporting roles through the 1980s, including in the popular romance St. Elmo’s Fire in 1985 and alongside Robert De Niro and Sean Penn in the 1989 crime comedy We’re No Angels, Moore’s first sniff of considerable success came in 1990 when she starred opposite Patrick Swayze in Ghost. The film earned $500 million worldwide from a budget of $22 million and became a romantic comedy classic.
The film sparked an impressive decade for Moore, who became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood by the middle of the 1990s, earning $12.5 million for the 1996 movie Striptease, more money than any other woman in Hollywood had ever been offered at the time. Though some paychecks, no matter how large, simply aren’t worth taking, with the erotic comedy proving to be detrimental to Moore’s later career.
Directed by the writer of the comedy classic Blazing Saddles, Andrew Bergman, the film, which co-starred Burt Reynolds, Ving Rhames and Robert Patrick, failed to hit the mark with audiences, despite making $113.3 million at the box office. In addition, it received a woeful critical reception, with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel heavily panning the film upon its release, which led to Moore receiving the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress of the year.
After the movie’s release in 1996, Moore received backlash so bad that she was branded ‘box office poison’, with Disney studio executives panicking about the forthcoming release of the Moore-led G.I. Jane movie, co-starring Viggo Mortensen and Anne Bancroft.
As one executive told Newsweek at the time, “We don’t know what to do…People just don’t want to see her. We would have to drag them kicking and screaming to see this movie,” as Disney became very reluctant to release the movie about a female Special Forces officer at all, worried it would ruin their industry reputation. After G.I. Jane also failed to make a considerable profit, Moore became a Hollywood outcast.
Despite this, fans and cinema historians have noted Moore’s contributions to the film industry, with Lifetime magazine writing, “She became a pioneer for other actresses by being the first female lead to demand the same salary, benefits and billing as her male counterparts”.
Becoming a key figure in ’90s Hollywood, the respect for Moore is understandable, particularly given the disparity in opportunities for male and female actors at the time. Since then, no doubt, with the help of Moore, industry standards have drastically improved.
