Demi Moore isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to her thoughts on aging.
The actor, 61, stars in the upcoming horror film “The Substance,” playing an aging movie star who takes a pill that creates a younger version of herself. Her role, in which she appears nude, has earned her critical acclaim and some early Oscar buzz — she received a 13-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
But she says working on the film hasn’t changed her mindset about getting older.
“It’s not hugely different before and after,” she told Variety in a new cover story.
“But it gave me a greater appreciation for myself as I am. One of the biggest themes of my career is challenging preconceived ideas and limitations. I’m at a point where I’m writing my own story, as opposed to my story being dictated to me based on my age.”
“Who says somebody can’t look a certain way or do certain things? Your 60s is not what your 60s used to be,” she added.
“There’s a part of me that’s enjoying figuring it out as I go along. I had more challenges, particularly in my career, in my 40s, than I do now. At that time, no one quite knew what to do with me. I wasn’t 30, but I wasn’t 40 in a way that people could comfortably identify me as a mother, etc. There was no place for me.”
Moore’s career choices have been the subject of much conversation over the years, whether it be shaving her head for “G.I. Jane,” appearing pregnant and nude on the cover of Vanity Fair or going topless in the 1997 movie “Striptease,” a film for which she made $12.5 million, the highest salary given to a female actor up to that point. As a result, many people falsely assumed she was highly confident in her appearance, Moore said.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I loved my body. The reality is, so much of it was me calling in certain projects that would give me an opportunity to help me overcome insecurities about my body,” she explained.
“It was the same with the Vanity Fair covers; it was not that I loved it — it was about trying to free myself from the space of enslavement that I had put myself in. The other truth is, things that are provocative — not in a sexual way, but things that provoke meaningful thought — have always fascinated me.”
While Moore was one of the biggest box office draws in the ‘90s, her career changed when she appeared in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” in 2003, a byproduct of where she was in her own life.
“I turned 40 on that movie. After that, there was so much focus on my external self; no one knew where to put me,” she said.
“But I do feel like things have changed. We see so many more interesting roles for women who are 40 to 50 — what I would call ‘young women.’ ‘The Substance’ is harsh in how it tackles the entertainment industry, its judgments and its beauty standards. But it’s also throwing this idea that a woman’s desirability ends with her fertility in Hollywood’s face.”
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