Though the box office is gearing up to have one of its best Thanksgiving weekends ever, theaters have been struggling to pull audiences for years. Speaking in a recent interview on “Hot Ones” with Sean Evans, actress Demi Moore expressed her dismay over the move away from communal viewing, but is happy to see rare bright lights like her own film “The Substance.”
When asked what the greatest shift in entertainment she’s witnessed in her career has been, Moore said, “I think it would be the loss of the cinema experience. What’s been really interesting to see with ‘The Substance’ is how it’s really pulled people into the theater.”
Going further, Moore explained how in cinema, as with life, “we’re moving towards too much isolation” and we need spaces that allow us to come together.
“I think it’s our communal experience that allows us to connect with one another, when we have those shared experiences,” said Moore. “And while I truly love streaming and appreciate it and think that there is an aspect that’s quite additive for all of us, I hope that we can find a middle ground with bringing us all back to the theater, to really not lose that.”
In discussing how filmmaking and performance has had an effect on her own life, Moore told Evans that “you take away something in a certain way with everything that you do” and has continued to leave space for that no matter the part.
“There was an aspect to say ‘G.I. Jane,’ not just the physical action of it, but once my head was shaved,” Moore said, “and there was an awareness that women can tend to approach things a little bit this way and that men go very direct, and when I had no hair and I had this large body, I had kind of found this external strength — this unapologetic way of moving forward — and then realized that I wanted to take that and just move it all to the inside. That I didn’t need to wear it, I could just be.”
Reflecting on her work in “Ghost,” Moore was reminded of how struck she was by the story and what it brought forth in her emotionally on a personal level. This eventually leaked its way back into the character in ways she didn’t expect and helped her open up more in her own life.
“‘Ghost’ scared the crap out of me,” said Moore on “Hot Ones.” “I think because it was also to be such a young person dealing with the loss of your partner, in reading the script I was so overwhelmed at the kind of grief that I was going to have to tap into. I know that there’s this kind of iconic thing about the one eye. I didn’t plan that, I have no control over that, that’s just how it happened. But that one helped me get over a hurdle.”
Watch Moore’s full “Hot Ones” interview below.
