Margaret Qualley’s newfound aversion to “obscure, arty” movies: “The bar is low”
Emerging from the bloody open wound on Demi Moore’s back, Margaret Qualley captivated horror fans last year with her performance as Sue in The Substance, the younger, ‘better’ version of an ageing star.
The role required her to wear intense prosthetics and perform scenes that pushed her to the absolute limits, but her hard work paid off, and the film became one of the most acclaimed pieces of cinema released in 2024.
Directed by Coralie Fargeat, the arthouse horror took inspiration from the likes of David Cronenberg, Stanley Kubrick, and David Lynch, all of whom have pushed the boundaries of the art form and challenged what is acceptable in the mainstream.
The Substance was an unexpected mega-hit considering its art film leanings – spawning memes and even Oscar nominations – so you might think that Qualley is now ready for a career in further experimental and daring productions.
However, the actor, who made her acting debut in the indie coming-of-age film Palo Alto back in 2013, is now interested in stepping away from the weirder side of cinema. Having got a taste for the kinds of movies that require a more unique palette in recent years, with appearances in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, Qualley has realised that she’s not actually an arthouse darling after all. She wants to make the kinds of films she actually enjoys.
Not every actor is into epic cinematic masterpieces, slow cinema, and obscure foreign gems; Qualley prefers something a bit easier to stomach. Talking to Vogue, the star said, “I think I’ve been in a lot of obscure, arty movies. And they’re not actually the movies I like to watch. And I think I wanna start being in stuff that I would wanna watch.”
As the daughter of Andie MacDowell, whose filmography ranges from Sex, Lies, and Videotape to Groundhog Day and Four Weddings and a Funeral, Qualley has grown up watching her mother appear in a wide range of movies, preferring the ones that delighted in romance and humour. While her attempts at starring in arthouse projects have been successful, it seems like Qualley wants to step back and do something a little more lighthearted, telling the publication, “I wanna do movies where I keep my clothes on and I don’t die in the end. The bar is low.”
It’s surely intense playing characters that require you to be incredibly vulnerable, so it’s understandable that Qualley would want to switch things up. “I’m so thirsty for a rom-com. I’m manifesting,” she added. However, rom-coms have changed a lot since the days of MacDowell starring opposite a floppy-haired Hugh Grant, with terrific scripts penned by Richard Curtis.
These days, most rom-coms don’t have the same spark, and with the ever-changing cinematic landscape making it harder for mid-budget movies to thrive – the category in which rom-coms typically fall – it seems as though the genre is fading away.
Perhaps Qualley could help to resuscitate a genre that is desperately in need of a good reboot, and as the daughter of MacDowell, she’s certainly more equipped than most.
