‘The Substance’ scene that left a makeup artist begging Coralie Fargeat to stop: “She’s going to hurt herself”
The Substance was one of the most talked-about movies of 2024, revitalising Demi Moore’s career with a fitting tale about Hollywood shunning ageing women in favour of younger stars. Using body horror to convey the horrors of misogyny, Coralie Fargeat’s film stunned critics and audiences alike, dividing some with its motif and reference-heavy approach and leaving others deeply impressed.
The film was nominated for several Oscars, including ‘Best Actress’ for Moore, although it only won for ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’. Having been called a “popcorn actress” by a producer in the past, as she revealed in her Golden Globes speech, many people were surprised to see Moore take on the arthouse role, but it couldn’t have been a more perfect casting choice.
The actor gave a career-defining role, pushing herself to the limits as Elisabeth Sparkle, a woman who is shunned by executives for getting older and no longer being ‘good enough’ to present a workout programme.
When she takes the black market drug known as The Substance, she is given a younger, “better” version of herself, Sue, who she takes turns to switch roles with. Of course, in Fargeat’s stomach-turning world, Sue can only spawn by emerging from Elisabeth’s back, literally bursting out of the seams like an alien.
However, events take a turn for the worst when Sue ignores the rules of The Substance so that she can enjoy her success, resulting in excessive gore and a terrifying, monstrous end. Moore’s character transforms into a hideous, decaying, mess, with her hair falling out, her skin peeling and her bones breaking.
Before she reaches this stage of the film, though, Elisabeth gets ready for a date with an old friend in front of the mirror. Yet, as she looks at herself, wearing red lipstick, she sees hideousness, she sees every supposed flaw, and she begins to violently remove her makeup. She smears the lipstick across her face before tugging at her skin, her eyelashes, and her hair, contorting her face in a way that appears to foreshadow her deteriorating body.
Yet, a makeup artist on set, Stéphanie Guillon, had to demand Fargeat stop requesting so many takes of the scene, which threatened to cause real damage to Moore’s skin. She told Marie Claire, “My concern was she’s going to hurt herself. At the end, I did something that I never did on a movie, ever. I told Coralie, ‘That’s enough. You cannot do it anymore because she’s going to have a rash all around the face.’”
Guillon stood her ground because the amount of takes that Fargeat was asking for was getting a little extreme. “Coralie said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, no problem.’ But of course after the 11th [take], she said, ‘We are going to do it once again,’ and I took the remover pad and I squashed everything, and I said, ‘I removed everything, that’s over. You have already 11. You cannot have more because tomorrow she will have a red face.’ Normally you don’t do that! But it was too much because it was very hard on her skin.”
The scene that is featured in the movie is incredibly impressive, with Moore really giving it her all as she tugs at her skin with utter frustration. However, it seems as though Fargeat got a little carried away when it came to shooting the important scene.
