Margaret Qualley has opened up about the significant skin damage she endured while filming The Substance, a role that required extensive prosthetics. The Hollywood star revealed it took nearly a year for her skin to recover from the intense effects of the makeup.
In an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, hosted by Josh Horowitz, Qualley shared the toll the prosthetics took on her skin, especially during the final stages of filming. “By the time they were shooting the opening credits—when you see the palm trees and the long lens shots from below—I couldn’t show my face anymore,” she admitted. “My skin was so damaged.”
The prosthetic effects, which were a crucial element of the film’s body-horror genre, led to severe acne that persisted even after the project wrapped. “I was still dealing with acne when I started filming Kinds of Kindness,” she said. “The character in that film had acne, and it worked out perfectly. I thought, ‘Hey, let’s use my real prosthetic acne for the role.'” She added that it took about a year for her skin to fully recover.
The Substance, a psychological thriller directed by Coralie Fargeat, explores the dark side of aging and the pursuit of youth. The film centers around Elisabeth Sparkle, a fitness guru played by Demi Moore, who turns to a black-market drug to regain her youthful appearance, leading to horrifying consequences. Qualley plays Sue, the younger version of Elisabeth, who emerges from a gruesome surgical procedure.
As the film delves deeper into the horrors of vanity, Qualley’s character endures extreme physical transformations, including wearing a prosthetic suit that she described as “a torture chamber.” She recalled the grueling process to the LA Times: “We would just go until I had a panic attack,” Qualley said, noting the temptation to remove the suit was overwhelming, but doing so would have caused further skin damage.
The prosthetic application itself was an arduous process, taking anywhere from six to nine and a half hours to complete, as revealed by Moore in an interview with Access Hollywood. The removal process was equally taxing, taking at least an hour and a half.
Despite the physical toll, The Substance has been met with widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. The film’s disturbing exploration of youth and beauty has resonated with audiences, with both Moore and Qualley receiving praise for their performances. Moore, in particular, earned a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy Motion Picture.
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