Just when we thought Demi Moore is already a has-been in Hollywood, she is staging a comeback with an Oscar nomination for a leading role. Her gripping performance as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance earned her first ever nomination from the Academy.
The role seems to be tailored for Moore. On her fiftieth birthday, producer Harvey abruptly fires Elisabeth Sparkle, a once-famous but now-faded Hollywood movie star, from her long-running aerobics television show because of her advanced age. Distracted by a billboard depicting her being taken down, a distraught Elisabeth crashes her car. Actually, “the substance” refers to a single-use activator serum that promises a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” version of the person who uses it.
Moore is up against four other equally talented actresses: Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Karla Sofia Gascón (the first openly trans actor ever nominated for an Oscar) for Emilia Pérez, Mikey Madison for Anora and Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here.
Upon hearing her much-waited nomination, Moore said in a statement: “Being nominated for an Oscar is an incredible honor and these last few months have been beyond my wildest dreams. Truly there are no words to fully express my joy and overwhelming gratitude for this recognition. Not only for me but for what this film represents. I am deeply humbled.”
For the same performance, Moore previously took home the Best Actress trophy from the most recent Golden Globes. As she accepted her well-earned award, she gave a heartfelt speech in which she discussed her personal experiences in the film industry and the difficulties that many women encounter in it.
“Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a popcorn actress, and at that time, I made that mean that this (award) wasn’t something that I was allowed to have,” she said at the beginning of her speech. “(It meant) that I could do movies that were successful and that made a lot of money but that I couldn’t be acknowledged, and I believed that. That corroded me over time, to the point where I thought a few years ago that maybe this was it, maybe I was complete, maybe I had already done what I was supposed to do.”
She also said, “I’ll just leave you with one thing that I think this movie is imparting. In those moments when we don’t think we’re smart enough or pretty enough or skinny enough or successful enough or basically just not enough—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.”
Moore started her acting career when she joined the cast of the soap opera General Hospital. She departed the show in 1983 and rose to prominence as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in the films Blame It on Rio (1984), St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), and About Last Night (1986).
But it wasn’t until she co-starred opposite Patrick Swayze in Ghost (1990) that she became a star in her own right. For the said performance, she earned her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
Ghost is a love story of Molly Jensen (Demi Moore), an artist, and Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze), a banker. The two are deeply in love. But Sam is left to wander the world as a helpless ghost after he is killed by his friend and dishonest business partner Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn) over a dubious business transaction. Sam has to enlist the aid of psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg, who got an Oscar for a supporting role) after discovering Carl’s treachery in order to make amends and shield Molly from Carl and his thugs.
Other memorable performances by Moore include the following movies:
A Few Good Men (1992): Moore is Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway, a military lawyer. She convinces Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise), also a military lawyer defending two U.S. Marines charged with killing a fellow Marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, that the accused marines were most likely carrying out an order from a commanding officer (Jack Nicholson).
Indecent Proposal (1993): It is based on a 1988 novel by Jack Engelhard, Moore plays Diana Murphy, who was offered by John Gage (Robert Redford) the huge sum to go bed with him for one night.
Disclosure (1994): The movie is set in an office in the mid-1990s computer industry and combines elements of mystery and thriller. The story’s primary focus—from which the titles of the book and movie are derived—is sexual harassment and the power dynamics surrounding it.
Striptease (1996): Based on Carl Hiaasen’s 1993 best-selling book of the same name, it follows a former FBI secretary (Moore) who turns into a stripper and gets entangled in corrupt politics and a child custody battle. Moore became the highest-paid movie actress at the time when she received an unprecedented $12.5 million to star in the movie.
G.I. Jane (1997): The movie is a fictional account of the first female participant in U.S.-style special operations training Navy SEALs. In spite of the movie’s lackluster box office performance, Moore wrote in her memoir Inside Out that G.I. Jane’s greatest career accomplishment.
Moore has been married three times. Her first husband was Frederick George “Freddy” Moore, an American rock musician known for his 1980 song, “It’s not a rumour.” They were married in 1981 and divorced four years later.
Her second husband was movie actor Bruce Willis (of Die Hard distinction). They tied the nuptial knot in 1987 but the marriage ended in 2000. They have three daughters.
Another actor, Ashton Kutcher, was her third husband. They got married in 2005 and divorced in 2013.
Now, will Moore win the Oscar award? Your guess is as good as mine.
