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'Magical, bold' script for 'The Substance' yields Globes win for Demi Moore

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Demi Moore, film icon of the '80s and '90s, is now a Golden Globe winner.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DEMI MOORE: Oh, wow. I really wasn't expecting that.

SUMMERS: Moore accepted the award for best actress in a movie musical or comedy for the body horror film "The Substance." At the 82nd Golden Globes last night, Moore said it was her first acting award ever.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

In the world of "The Substance," women in Hollywood are easily discarded.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "[TITLE]")

DENNIS QUAID: (As Harvey) People always ask for something new. It's inevitable.

SUMMERS: It's a feeling Demi Moore could relate to, as she remembers thinking a few years ago that her career maybe was over.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MOORE: And as I was at kind of a low point, I had this magical, bold, courageous, out-of-the-box, absolutely bonkers script come across my desk called "The Substance." And the universe told me that you're not done.

KELLY: In "The Substance," Moore plays an aging Hollywood star named Elisabeth Sparkle who decides to use a black market drug to live as a younger version of herself, played by Margaret Qualley.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

YANN BEAN: (As The Substance) Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself - younger, more beautiful, more perfect?

SUMMERS: Talking with Tonya Mosley on NPR's Fresh Air, Moore said that though she did not see herself as Sparkle, she empathized with her.

MOORE: I don't know if I was more perfect than someone else, but I definitely felt that I had a body of experience that really could be brought to it and that I really - I felt like I related to it and - in that very human way.

KELLY: Moore is 62 years old. Her first trip to the Golden Globes as a nominated actress came way back in 1991 for the box office darling "Ghost."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GHOST")

MOORE: (As Molly Jensen) What do you think you're doing to me?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: (As Oda Mae Brown) Hey. Look. If you think I'd come all the way down here for my health, you're out of your mind.

MOORE: (As Molly Jensen) Sam's dead. OK? He's dead.

SUMMERS: That decade, Moore also became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood when she starred in "Striptease" and "G.I. Jane."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "G.I. JANE")

MOORE: (As Jordan O'Neill) Tell me you didn't sell me out. Tell me you didn't sink my whole career to make you look good.

KELLY: Three decades later, she found a role that many critics call the finest of her career. Moore says the movie is a reminder to women to reject feelings of coming up short.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MOORE: I had a woman say to me, just know you will never be enough, but you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick.

SUMMERS: Moore wore a metallic silk gown to accept her prize, evocative of a Golden Globe statue and also an Oscar, which may well be within her reach.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHANCE THE RAPPER SONG, "CHILD OF GOD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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[Copyright 2024 NPR]
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