A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame literally cements many talents with a permanent place in the entertainment industry, but, as depicted in Coralie Fargeat‘s body horror satire “The Substance,” a star can also represent the insecurity in trying to ensure their legacy and value. Despite this toxic underpinning, the star of the film, Demi Moore, recently shared in an interview with the Los Angeles Times how she wouldn’t mind receiving this honor one day soon.
“I think it would be a sweet thing,” said Moore. “I think often about it, less for me and more for my children and their children. There was conversation about doing it this year, the feeling like, ‘Wow. The timing would be perfect.‘ But there’s a bit more bureaucracy involved.”
In acknowledging how the Walk of Fame star is used in “The Substance” and what it means to her character Elisabeth Sparkle, Moore added, “I do love how she comes back around to the star, like she’s reaching back for what she sees as the love she has always craved.”
While she may share some of Sparkle’s insecurities and issues around beauty and vanity, Moore admits that the character is a far cry from her real-life persona, especially how alone Sparkle’s life seems to be.
“I have family. I had my kids at 25,” Moore said to the LA Times. “She’s the extreme version of someone placing their value completely in the validation of other people. Parts of Elisabeth’s story did hit me deeply, namely, the violence we can have against ourselves in the pursuit of some idea of perfection.”
Moore’s actual mindset leans more on gratitude and acceptance, as trying to fight against the cards life deals you is a fool’s errand. Trying to interrupt the normal process as Elisabeth tries to do in “The Substance” actually goes against how Moore operates, but she does understand the impulse.
“What somebody does or doesn’t do is irrelevant. Everything in life is happening for me, not to me,” she said. “It doesn’t mean I always like it or that it’s going the way I want. But you can’t just choose that philosophy when things are going your way. I look at the challenges of my childhood and realize, ‘Wow. It really gave me a strength, a drive, an ability to take a risk.’ Would I have had the same drive if things had been cushy?”
“The Substance” is currently showing in theaters and available to stream on MUBI or PVOD.
