Interview: Margaret Qualley (‘The Substance’) on Unachievable Perfection and Getting Monstro Elisasue’s Earring Just Right
The famous Cannes Film Festival is a launching pad for great cinema of the year, a massive international festival held on the glamorous and glitzy French Riviera at the beginning of summer that attracts critics, auteurs, and stars to showcase their newest efforts. Earlier this year, the festival held the premiere for Coralie Fargeat’s (Reality+, Revenge) newest feature, The Substance, a body horror-comedy with an incisive view of the turmoil and violence undergone by women in Hollywood for beauty purposes. Some undergo a scalpel to change their physical appearance, others might use injectables to plump different parts of themselves. In The Substance, former Oscar winner Elisabeth Sparkles (Demi Moore) is terrified as she watches her career slip into irrelevance with the shackles of ageism holding her in place, executives looking for someone younger to take over her current job as an on-screen fitness personality hosting an aerobics program. The film went on to win Best Screenplay at the festival and began its push towards one of the biggest successes of the year.
She discovers a liquid called “The Substance” that she believes could help her situation, an assured promise that this neon injectable will solve the issue of aging with a sincere desperation marking her choice to inject it. A more youthful version of herself cracks open her spine and crawls from her back: Sue (Margaret Qualley, Emmy Award nominee for Maid). Sue gets a position that replaces Elisabeth and pushes forward until she’s violating the rules and not allowing Elisabeth to return to her body. An internal tug-of-war ensues, Elisabeth only wanting to feel desired again – perhaps even seen by someone. People look at Sue, they hang on her words, they’re fascinated by what she might do next. Qualley embodies both the physicality and mindset of someone fresh in the world, a new cognizance unaffected by the darkness that societal expectations can push into the mind. The Substance not only examines the lifelong effects of constructs placed upon us, but allows a fresh perspective while watching Sue realize her reality is not what she believed.
The film was picked up by MUBI and is a box office ($70 million, more than making up its budget) and critical hit, while its two stars have earned raves for their fearless performances. Margaret Qualley was recently nominated for both a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her supporting role in the horror film that has taken the year by storm.
I sat down and spoke with Qualley about the film, her feelings on perfection and its connection to her early life aspirations, and what it felt like putting that earring on – you know the moment – in the finale of the film.
Spoilers for The Substance follow
Tyler Doster: Your first on-screen role was The Leftovers, and ever since then you’ve been making fascinating choices [picking roles]. When The Substance was brought to you, what specifically sold the movie to you? Was it the script, the production?
Margaret Qualley: The script, yeah. It was just like… It kind of reminded me of what I would imagine it would be to read a princess story or something, like a Cinderella or a Beauty and the Beast, only if it were incredibly fucked up. It had that kind of really fantastical storytelling element to it. But then it was talking about things that are unfortunately terribly relevant in our lives, and it was just a really unique way of making people’s personal relationships with their bodies or aging and that experience in the world, like funny and crazy and loud and dramatic.
TD: This past week, the script actually became available online for download. So a lot of people are seeing it for the first time, seeing how Coralie framed everything. What is something that specifically grabbed your attention?
MQ: I was blown away. I also think what’s interesting because it is this kind of thriller, right? And it has almost like action elements, but it’s such a female relationship to action that I’d never seen before, and I thought this kind of fantastical, almost princess-like way of storytelling was a really perfect and captivating way to tell this story.
TD: Bringing a princess into the body horror realm.
MQ: Yes!
TD: What was your relationship with body horror cinema before signing onto this movie?
MQ: I don’t have a big body horror relationship other than the own body horror that everyone experiences through their teens and whatever. But I’m really into the body horror fans. I’m really into the culture. And it’s been such a rewarding process for me, going to these Q&As and having people that really show up for body horror and show up for genre films like this, and I find the audience really special.
TD: You’ve said before that your early life aspirations to be a ballet dancer ended up being something you didn’t want to do because you thought that it might be tied to an aspiration to perfection, which is something that this film touches on. Did you think back to any of that while filming this movie?
MQ: Totally. I was like, “What the hell was I thinking? Why did I do this?” And it was also five months of shooting. You know what I mean? I’m supposed to feel perfect for five months until I’m playing Monstro or whatever? I think one of the things that is so rewarding about my job usually is the messiness [and] is the humanity. And so when I’m playing… If Demi is representing humanity and I’m playing the villain that I’m everything that’s inhuman. I’m so far on the other side of a place that feels comfortable or safe within my own psyche. It was super challenging for me. It was really hard actually. It took a lot of self-love to kind of soothe myself in order to be playing something so vain and grotesque and inhuman.
TD: Yeah, I can imagine that playing someone whose ultimate goal is unattainable perfection can be something that can sit in your mind. What was the biggest challenge in taking that on, and what steps did you take to take care of yourself in your mental headspace during that?
MQ: It was a total mindfuck, honestly. It was a total mindfuck because, even from trying to get the right body, I wanted to make sure my body was representing whatever Coralie, the director’s, idea of perfection was, and that was a challenging pursuit. And then I had to at some point realize that we were shooting and that I just had to be nice to myself because there is no such thing as perfect. And if I just sell whatever this is, if I can make myself feel good in this form, then that should translate and that’ll be okay. But it’s not always easy to feel good about yourself. And I would meditate on my way to work and meditate on my way home and try to surround myself with loving kindness thoughts. But it was challenging when so much of my performance doesn’t take place in that world.
And it was a really isolating experience. I’m so grateful to have had Demi because she really was just the most ideal team player. She’s somebody who’s also been through what I was going through in real time in the ’80s and in the ’90s, and she’s wise and sage and cool and kind and loving. So I had Demi, I had the crew. One of the things that is always amazing for me about making a movie is the group of people that come together and the bond, and forging a path towards the same thing, even when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
TD: Obviously that was a physical transformation, and I know that you’re someone who prepares for your roles before you get onto the set. What else were you involved in other than physicality to get yourself in that headspace of Sue and a little outside that perfection for the end.
MQ: Okay, so the first, there was the literal lifting weights and going to the gym, working out with a trainer. There’s all that. And then I got more into yoga because I wanted to feel… Sue is entering the world fully formed, and so she wouldn’t have any of the tension or shame or mannerisms that we form throughout the course of our lives from our own personal experiences and the way that adolescence shapes your body. So I really tried to almost be like this baby in a fully fledged body, moving through the world without pain, moving through the world without tension. And then on top of that, everything that she does is kind of funneled through the idea of being watched by somebody that is sexualizing you. There’s a sexual gaze to every single thing that she’s doing.
So I’m somebody who, I think I almost do the opposite of that in life. I desexualize myself, as many women do, in order to find safe communicative territory where you are presenting something other than your physical form. But in the case of Sue, it was the exact inverse of that, of what comes naturally to me. It was leaning into all the things that I never do in life, which was liberating in its own way. And then in terms of her downfall, if you will, or turning into Monstro, that was almost like her soul kind of cracking out. Once I was actually in that monster costume, putting on those earrings, those were some of the most wholesome moments for me. Then the monster part and being a human within, it was physically taxing, but emotionally easier.
TD: Even watching once you hit the end, the dissonance that is clearly arising in Sue’s head is uncomfortable to watch.
MQ: Yeah. But by the time I got there, it all kind of fell into place. I was very much in that character and very much experiencing levels of almost like physical agony.
TD: You mentioned putting the earrings on as Monstro Elisasue, [which is] something I’ve thought about weekly since I saw the movie a few months ago.
MQ: No way.
TD: I think it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year, but it also has this intense melancholy and sadness to it. Set the scene for me on even just positioning the earring in the correct place. How specific was Coralie in all of that to choreograph that moment and to get that sadness with that humor?
MQ: So at that point, I am in layers and layers and layers of prosthetics. I’ve had it glued to my face. I can’t see out of one eye, I can only see out of this eye. I can’t hear. My head is [tilted to the side]. My arms are glued to my body. The only thing I can move is my right hand, and I’ve just also burnt my hair. All of this stuff is practical. All of this stuff is real. We’re doing it in real time. I’m really frying the hair. I’m really popping the earring in. And it’s kind of a race because it takes so long to organize those moments because of how elaborate the prosthetics are that it’s a quite simple shot, but I think by that time I’d really understood the… It was at the very end of the shoot, the musicality of the film. And there is such a kind of beat to it. The volume of the performance is so high. You’re really accelerating. And so you know that by that moment that it’s almost like being a human within a cartoon world.
TD: There’s a specificity that comes with this movie within an industry that’s hypervigilant on how women should present themselves. Is that something, including the expectation for glamour on red carpets, appearances, and we all know that are not the same for men. So not only was that in your mind during the production, but were those part of your early conversations with Coralie and Demi when getting ready for the movie? Specifically the pressure that women experience even in this industry.
MQ: I feel like that’s such a base level underst- you know what I mean? Even you and I, we don’t even need to get into it because we know. So I feel like that’s kind of how we entered the conversation, that same way that I feel like if you and I sat down for lunch, we would just have a common knowledge of the pressure that we both feel to… And I think that it really goes beyond Hollywood, especially now the way that people have social media. I think about fucking teenagers in middle school having a social media and the pressure just breaks my goddamn heart. Yeah. I feel like no one even needs to have that conversation because unfortunately it’s so present in our life that we’re all just kind of looking for a way out of that. And I guess sometimes the way out is through.
And that’s what I was hoping to get from this experience because I knew that I was going to be invoking even more pressure on myself and even more scrutiny. But I was hopeful that in the process I would be able to break free of any kind of remaining shackles that I felt. And to be honest, I don’t know that I did. I still am so hard on myself. I still have moments of very real insecurity and jealousy and it comes in waves. It’s like some days you feel great and some days you feel terrible. And I think that’s just very much a part of the human experience. But I guess that as I get… It’s boring, but the reality that we’re all experiencing that collectively is soothing.
TD: It almost relieves the dissonance to know that you’re not alone.
MQ: It does.
TD: Even if the dissonance is there and it’s still hard with all the pressure, knowing at least one other person knows what you’re talking about.
MQ: Yeah, totally.
TD: What was the most exciting part of being in the prosthetics for Monstro Elisasue?
MQ: Isn’t it hot? Well, honestly, it definitely made me laugh in moments, but that was because I had had the best team to put it on this, this British couple named Lou and Dave [Elsey] that were a married couple that would just crack me up. But the reality of it was pretty painful. The way that I would have to have my head positioned and the weight of it and the teeth were so big, they kind of cut my gums, and the glue. I messed up my skin so bad. I did this movie, Kinds of Kindness, afterwards. And if you watch the movie, you see I had this big strip of acne down my face, and that was from the prosthetics. And it was kind of great because I loved it for that character.
But it gave me crazy acne and it made me feel like I will get super bloated and feel just terrible and whatever. But it was also kind of cool because the monster felt bad too, so at least I was able to have a reality of [what it felt]. But then at the same time, it was freeing because I didn’t at least have to look perfect anymore. I could just giggle a little bit and put my earrings over there and make a do with whatever was happening.
TD: You could finally shed the perfection and put on the monster.
MQ: Yes, exactly.
TD: Thank you so much for your time, Margaret.
MQ: Thank you, Tyler.
The Substance is currently in theaters and available on MUBI.
- Interview: Margaret Qualley (‘The Substance’) on Unachievable Perfection and Getting Monstro Elisasue’s Earring Just Right - December 17, 2024
- 2024 Golden Globe Predictions – Television: Expect a ‘Shōgun’ Dominance - December 8, 2024
- ‘Somebody Somewhere’ TV Review: HBO’s Underrated Heartland Comedy Closes as Hilarious as Ever - October 20, 2024
2025 Oscars: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Dominates the Shortlists with 6, ‘Wicked,’ Alien: Romulus,’ ‘Gladiator II’ Among Top Mentions 
Interview: Lily-Rose Depp on Pushing Boundaries and Unlocking Ellen in Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’ [VIDEO] 
Interview: Margaret Qualley (‘The Substance’) on Unachievable Perfection and Getting Monstro Elisasue’s Earring Just Right 
40th Casting Society (CSA) Artios Awards Nominations: ‘Challengers,’ ‘Nickel Boys,’ ‘Thelma’ and More