Demi Moore Thinks the Scariest Scene of The Substance Involves Dennis Quaid and Shrimp

-Welcome back, everybody. Our first guest tonight is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actress. You know her from iconic movies like "Ghost," "A Few Good Men," and "G.I. Jane," plus the FX series "Feud: Capote Versus the Swans." She stars in "The Substance," which is in theaters September 20th. Let's take a look. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Please welcome back to the show Demi Moore, everybody. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Hi. -Hello, Demi. -Hello. -Demi, you made a very special movie. -I did. -It's really something. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. -That is true. -Yes. -That is true. It's quite a ride. -And this is a movie that was at the Cannes Film Festival. And it was at Toronto just this week, correct? -Yes. I just came in from Toronto. -Midnight viewing. -Yes. -And I just heard people lost their minds. And I would imagine seeing it at midnight with a theater full of people, it must have just been exceptional. -It's an incredible experience being -- first of all, it's a genre I wasn't familiar with. But for those who are -- -For people who didn't know, it's a rom-com, obviously. [ Laughter ] -Just some light entertainment. There is some laughs in it, though. -I believe it. I mean, I believe people laughed. I saw it and I will say, you know, one of the downsides of -- it's very exciting when you host a show like this because people send you links to movies. And while I was watching this movie, I really had a sense of, "Oh, I really wish I was watching this with an audience." -Definitely I encourage people to see it in the theater because it's a powerful shared experience. -Yes. I mean, it's interesting too, because you mentioned you haven't worked in the genre before. So when you see a script like this, like, can you tell right away? I mean, it must be impossible to conceive what it's going to look like. -First of all, I mean, for those who don't know, so it's dealing with aging and the kind of male perspective of the idealized woman that we as women have bought into. And on paper, because it goes to such a unique place in telling this story, I looked at and I thought, "Well, this, if it works, could be amazing or it could be a disaster." -Yeah. -There's definitely a disaster version of this movie. Where right now I'm sitting here being like, "So that looked like fun." -Yes. Crawling on the ground and a hunchback. I don't want to give too much away. -Yeah. Well, it is interesting because you play sort of a fitness expert, sort of a -- like a jazzercise, if you will, aerobics. -Yes, kind of, I think, you know, Jane Fonda in her Jane Fonda video workout days was I think the writer/director's, you know, inspiration. -And so I should note, there's a couple of things that seem very taxing to me, insofar as what you had to go through for this film. One, you had to actually do a lot of aerobics. -We did have to learn some routines. -Yeah. I mean, that was not -- I mean, they're not CGI. You're out there doing aerobics. -No, we were doing those moves. -Yes. And then there's a lot of sort of what seems to me to be practical makeup. I would imagine you were both moving a lot and then also having to sit still for a great amount of time. -Yes. There's quite a bit of prosthetics. And so I sat in the chair anywhere from 6 to 9.5 hours with a good, you know, two hours to take it off. -Wow. That is a real commitment to film. -I will just say it's a much easier thing to read on paper. -Yes. -But I'm so glad I had the experience. I feel like I have tremendous respect for those who've really gone all in where the whole film is that way. I may be thinking twice before jumping into one again. -Next one? Yeah. -Yes. -You know, the other thing I'll say, because you're so fantastic in this film. -Thank you. -You act the lights out, but also when you read the script, there's not a ton of dialogue. -No, I mean, in fact, in a way, it's a very intimate experience of someone really being with themselves and really -- which is different. You have to really show up and have done, I think, a lot of prep work to have a full life of the person you're playing so that the subtleties can come through just through your eyes and very, you know, small gestures. I mean, most of my scenes were alone. -And like I said, you feel -- you do see the whole breadth of the character. This is, again, somebody who's being replaced at their job because they're 50. There's a younger version of you, played by Margaret Qualley, who's wonderful. Dennis Quaid plays a fantastic creep in this film. -Yes, he does. -Just a real -- I mean -- -And I will just warn everyone, the scene with Dennis eating the shrimp, which you haven't seen, is by far the most violent scene in the whole movie. -Okay. -He ate, I think, 4 pounds of shrimp, tearing the heads off with sound effects. -Practical shrimp. He was eating practical shrimp. Yeah. By the way, it's so funny. There's so many worse things in this film than Dennis Quaid eating shrimp. Like, I'm like, "That's what you thought was scary?" Like then I will not be asking you out to dinner because I have bad table manners. -It -- Okay. -It is really -- It's really something else. You know, you play -- this is -- Again, it is about, you know, aging and who comes next. And sometimes that transition is very lovely. When this film was at Cannes, you played -- you were the -- What is the name of the award you gave out? -It's like the godmother. -You were the godmother. I'm going to read it to make sure -- the Trophée Chopard. This is when an established -- a legend like yourself gives out an award to a male and female actor who are sort of the next generation. -Yes, and Mike and Sophie -- I think maybe I took it a little too seriously. -How so? -Like, I was like, "I'm really going to be there for you." -Yeah. -They're like, "Yeah, great." -"I am your godmother for life." -Call me if you need me. They're like, "Okay, we're just here looking good, wearing some diamonds." -Do you -- If you could go back, because you've been doing this a long time, and what advice would you give yourself as a younger actor? -That's always an interesting question. Because I think if I look back when I was younger, I recognize, like, how much more afraid I was. And so I'd probably just say it's okay. -Yeah. -I would say it's okay to make mistakes. In fact, it's the best thing that could probably happen. -Well, that's an interesting -- People ask me the same question, and I always say, I would hate to go back because I wouldn't want to say something that would take me off the path I ended up on. -And I agree with that. -And I would be bad -- Like, I'm both bad at giving and receiving advice. And so at any age, I would screw it up because to some degree I think, right, the ignorance, the fear is an important motor. -It's all of the very things that get us to where we are today. Like, I think I truly believe in the, you know, point of view that everything is happening for you, not to you. And when you look at life through that lens of perception, you can then open yourself up to what any given situation is trying to give you. Like, what is this in service to? -Great advice. I have a lot more to ask you. Will you stick around? We'll be right back with more from Demi after this.