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‘The Substance’ – A Gloriously Bold WTF Movie

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

It has been an hour now since I witnessed Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” and I am absolutely convinced I will not see a more bug fuck crazy motion picture in 2024. It combines the extreme body horror of David Cronenberg’s films (“The Fly” in particular), the graphic effects of John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” and the brutal satire of “Network” to create a truly unforgettable motion picture which serves as a middle finger to unrealistic beauty standards, and also a reflection of our own internal biases which we don’t always face up to.

Demi Moore, in what may very well be her finest performance ever, stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, an Oscar winning actress who is currently hosting an aerobics show on television. It is also her birthday, her 50th to be exact, and while everyone is quick to wish her well, her boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) is out to fire her as he sees her as being too old in a business which is constantly looking for young blood on an endless basis. In the process, what should be the happiest day of the year for her is now the worst ever as she is instantly rendered irrelevant in the eyes of many, and she barely survives a truly horrific car crash which would have killed anyone else.

Salvation, however, just might be coming her way when she is encouraged by a doctor to try a black-market serum which is simply called The Substance. It looks a lot like the one Herbert West used to awaken dead corpses in “Re-Animator,” and a sexy male voice, which sounds like it is about to say “I really am as sexy as I sound” tells her this serum will create a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” counterpart of herself. This counterpart ends up emerging from a huge slit in her back in a style reminiscent of “Videodrome,” and while the situation might seem normal, we know this will eventually descend into an inferno no one could ever see coming.

The counterpart is Sue, and she is played ever so unforgettably by Margaret Qualley. Sue ends up auditioning for the job Elisabeth was fired from, gets hired for it, and she becomes a huge sensation in what seems like no time at all. Fargeat really takes the time to show off Sue’s alluring body and curves as she conducts her workout television show as if she is giving pointers on how to have great sex with your lover.

“The Substance” does take its time building up its characters and the serum both become a slave to, but it is all worth it as gives audiences much to enjoy before Fargeat rips the rug out from right underneath us and sends us all in a downward spiral Nine Inch Nails would have loved to make an album out of.

One term which stands out in this film is “respect the balance,” but it eventually becomes clear that Sue cannot as the demands on her become increasingly strenuous to where she uses more of the “stabilizer fluid” from Elisabeth than she has any right to. As a result, Elisabeth starts to see some startling deformations on her body which alarms her to a terrifying extent.

This is where the body horror of “The Substance” comes into full focus as Elisabeth realizes she needs to stop taking the serum, but losing Sue’s infinite success in a business which has pushed her coldly to the side becomes too terrifying to endure. As the story continues, it all becomes incredibly grotesque to where we as an audience become inescapably horrified than she is at the horrors none of us could ever be prepared for. How bad does it get? Well, let me put it this way; there is a track on Raffertie’s wonderfully propulsive soundtrack entitled “Golem.” Need I say more? Well, it’s safe to say this serum will not exactly be “my precious.”

There were a number of other movies I was reminded of while watching “The Substance.” The first was “Requiem for a Dream” in which we watch addicts struggle to obtain the American Dream by any means necessary only to find a pathway to a hell of their own making. Watching Sue continually drain stabilizer fluid out of Elisabeth reminded me of Jared Leto’s abscessed vein in “Requiem for a Dream” in which he injected heroin into. The abscessed veins in both movies are truly horrifying sights to see, and do not promise a better future for either character.

I am also reminded of David Cronenberg’s remake of “The Fly” while watching this film as body parts falling off the human body here have not been as mortifying as watching Jeff Goldblum’s ear fall off in front of Geena Davis. Sitting in a large audience while watching “The Substance,” there was no denying the strong reactions to t characters lose various body parts as it all kept leading to a horrific conclusion much like the one in Brian De Palma’s adaptation of “Carrie.”

Is this really Demi Moore’s finest hour? It may very well be, but this might imply that all her work before this doesn’t measure up, and that’s just insulting. I think she deserved more credit than she got for her work in “A Few Good Men,” and her performance in “G.I. Jane” is one I will never ever forget. In “The Substance,” she is perfectly cast as an actress whom many will be foolishly quick to say is past her prime as it says more about them than it ever will about her. She fully invests herself into the character of Elisabeth Sparkle, and she looks as fabulous as she ever has in the process.

But moreover, Moore has an unforgettable scene in which we see her preparing to go out on a date with an old school friend, only to hate what she sees in the mirror. Watching her violently wipe the makeup off her face reveals a self-hatred we have all experienced at one point in our crazy lives, and the effect this has on her is quite profound thanks to Moore.

Margaret Qualley makes Sue into more than a sex symbol of her time. Instead, she makes her into a person who is instantly gifted a stardom many others spend their lives striving for while the odds remain as astronomical as ever. Seeing her handle this newfound fame is something she makes all the more palpable throughout even as Sue descends into a hell of her own making which results in one of the bloodiest climaxes ever seen in a motion picture.

Just when you think “The Substance” cannot get crazier or bloodier than it already has, you are thrillingly proved wrong in epic fashion. But while I thought this film would descend into the same cinematic chaos which would leave forever psychologically scarred as “Requiem for a Dream” did, Fargeat gives the proceedings a good deal of satirical humor which helps to soften the blow. In fact, it makes everything all the more insidiously fun as we come to see this story will have an inevitably dark ending.

While we are at, I do have to single out Dennis Quaid’s unabashedly shameless performance as Harvey, the producer who heartlessly casts Elisabeth aside and hires Sue because she is ever so young. Quaid is truly sublime and hateful as he takes this heartless character and makes even more heartless than he already is. Seeing him gorge on an endless number of shrimps at the movie’s start is enough to make you see how selfish and thoughtless this guy is, and it is presented us in truly disgusting detail. Basically, he is as slimy as the shrimp he eats, but you all can see this even before he eats the last one on his plate.

“The Substance” is not a cinematic experience I will ever forget, and it is one of the best movies of 2024. In the process of giving us such an insane film, Fargeat gives a huge middle finger to those who continue to hold beauty standards to an obscene and unrealistic standard even this period of the Me Too and Time’s Up movements. It offered up an insanely good time, and watching it with a large audience made it all the more thrilling. If there is any movie out right now which invites you to see and experience it on the big screen, it’s this one.

* * * * out of * * * *

Steven Knight on Tobey Maguire, Bobby Fischer and ‘Pawn Sacrifice’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: This interview took place back in 2014.

“Pawn Sacrifice,” the movie about Bobby Fischer’s quest to beat the Russians in the game of chess, proves to be another cinematic triumph for both Edward Zwick and Tobey Maguire. Another person who deserves credit for this movie’s critical success is Steven Knight who wrote the screenplay. Knight’s previous writing credits include David Cronenberg’s “Eastern Promises,” Stephen Frears’ “Dirty Pretty Things” and John Crowley’s “Closed Circuit,” and he wrote and directed “Hummingbird” which starred Jason Statham. He also wrote and directed “Locke” which featured Tom Hardy in what proved to be one of the most underrated movies of 2014.

I got to sit in on an interview with Knight while he was in Los Angeles, California at the Four Seasons Hotel to promote “Pawn Sacrifice,” and it was really nice to talk with him again after having interviewed him about “Locke” for the website We Got This Covered. His screenplay showed how well researched he was in Bobby Fischer and the world championship games he ended up playing against the Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky.

Ben Kenber: I read that when you found out Tobey Maguire was going to be playing Bobby Fischer in this movie that it made it easier for you to write the script.

Steven Knight: Yeah, well it was Tobey who came to me with the idea, so from the outset it was always going to be Tobey playing Bobby. That really helped because this is about a battle being fought with the face if you like. It’s the intensity of the movement, and Tobey has got that intensity so much.

BK: Boris Spassky (played by Liev Schreiber) is an interesting character as presented in this movie. This could have easily become a good guy/bad guy story, but the movie avoids that thank goodness.

SK: Yeah because that wasn’t the case. If anything, Bobby was the bad guy. He was the one with the unreasonable demands. He was the one everyone chased around for reasons that we know. But Boris was a decent person, and when he applauds at the end of game six you realize that this is a man who knows how to lose and have the dignity. If there’s any message about this Cold War, it’s that when two human beings can overcome that conflict.

BK: It’s almost scary to think about how Bobby would’ve handled fame if he were to become famous in this day and age because there would have been nowhere for him to hide.

SK: No, definitely not. If he came along today, he would get the best agent and he would get the best lawyers. They would come to him. He wouldn’t choose. They would get him than make a fortune.

BK: The last image of the movie, when Bobby Fischer wins and gets what he wants, has haunted me ever since because it’s all downhill for him from there. It’s sad to see that he’s not able to enjoy the success he earned.

SK: Yeah, and the image that’s always in my mind was he’s been running away and he’s hit a brick wall, and now they are gonna get him.

BK: It’s interesting that the movie ends there instead of following Bobby and observing what happened to him afterwards. It could almost make for a good sequel.

SK: It would make for an odd sequel (laughs).

Thanks to Steven Knight for taking the time to talk about what went into his screenplay for “Pawn Sacrifice,” and I look forward to what he has in store for us next. The movie is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW I DID WITH STEVEN KNIGHT ABOUT HIS FILM LOCKE.\

Edward Zwick on the Pressures of Fame and ‘Pawn Sacrifice’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: This interview took place back in 2014. This is worth noting especially when the director mentions a particular individual who has become far too famous for his or anyone else’s good.

Edward Zwick has remained one of Hollywood’s best and perhaps most underappreciated directors as he has given us such great motion pictures like “Glory,” “The Last Samurai,” “Blood Diamond” and “Legends of the Fall.” With “Pawn Sacrifice,” he takes us back to the Cold War when American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) took on the Soviet Empire and its chess grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber) in a 21-game competition in an effort to end the Soviet’s domination of the game. But as Bobby contemplates which moves he could make on the chess board, he also has to deal with his mental illness and paranoia which may descend him into a realm of madness he won’t be able to escape from.

Zwick sat down for an interview at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, California to talk about “Pawn Sacrifice,” working with Maguire and the genius of Bobby Fischer. As the interview went on, it focused more on the subject of fame and how crushing it can be. Bobby was really one of the first people who had to endure a type of fame which followed him all around the world, and we eventually saw what this attention did to him.

What’s up Hollywood reporter Izumi Hasegawa brought up the fact that, while this movie takes place back in 1972, it deals with celebrity in a way which feels very relevant to what’s going on today. We see artists like Miley Cyrus gaining notoriety for doing things which Hannah Montana would never do, and Zwick really made clear why we remain so deeply interested in famous people and the effect fame has on them.

Edward Zwick: We’re fascinated by the darker sides. We are fascinated when they reveal themselves in a way that is vulnerable or fragile or they have some sort of failures. I think we seize on that, and this was the very beginning of that. The person to ask about that too would be Tobey (Maguire) because he has had to deal with a share of it as an iconic superhero. I think that people of extraordinary ambition and single-mindedness reach a place that, at the same time, makes them more vulnerable to that glare. And as they try to retire from that glare and they turn inward, there is often this weird reaction and I’ve seen it with a lot of people I have worked with and it’s hard to describe. Most people who become artists to begin with, or who aspire to greatness, there’s often some vulnerability at the base that gets exposed, I think.

“Pawn Sacrifice” was released in a year which has seen documentaries made on the lives of Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain and Nina Simone; three brilliant artists whose lives were tragically destroyed because they couldn’t handle the pressures of fame which was thrust upon them. Since Bobby never had to deal with his likeness being plastered all over the internet, it’s tempting to say he got off easy, but this was not the case. Like those three, Bobby didn’t and couldn’t deal very well with fame as it isolated him more and more from the rest of humanity, and I remarked to Zwick how watching Maguire portray the chess prodigy here made me wonder how he would have dealt with fame in this day and age.

Edward Zwick: I think it would have been insufferable. Even the reason he disappeared even then was in some sense a reaction to that kind of scrutiny. It’s become so barbaric. I look at Donald Trump right now and I see someone who is now being considered in the political arena as legitimate who is famous for being famous. Not for his policies, good or bad, but because it is so important now in the culture to be famous or to be known, and he is now transitioning into this most serious realm. We’ve almost reached that height of absurdity.

What Zwick said rings absolutely true as our obsession with celebrities keeps getting bigger and bigger to where we are more likely to know who won the latest season of “American Idol” than the name of our current governor. This makes “Pawn Sacrifice” all the more important to watch, and it is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.

BE SURE TO ALSO CHECK OUT THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW I HAD WITH EDWARD ZWICK WHICH I DID FOR THE WEBSITE WE GOT THIS COVERED DOWN BELOW

‘Major League’ Cast and Crew on Working with Charlie Sheen

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

major-league-charlie-sheen

Charlie Sheen is better known these days for his bad reputation than his talents as an actor. His ouster from the CBS show “Two and a Half Men” looked to be the end of him, but he soon bounced back and filmed a plethora of episodes for the FX series “Anger Management.” Still, his bad boy image is impossible for him to shake, and it makes one wonder just how much he is like his character of Ricky Vaughn in “Major League.”

The question of what it was like working with Sheen was brought up when American Cinematheque did a special screening of “Major League” and “Major League II” at the Aero Theatre. Sheen’s role as the Cleveland Indians star pitcher Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn remains one of his best and most memorable roles, and his current troubles in the press can’t take away from our pleasure in watching him. Among the guests at this screening were writer/director David S. Ward, Tom Berenger, and Corbin Bernsen, and each described their memories of working with Sheen.

Ward, who wrote and directed the first two “Major League” movies, described Sheen as being the consummate pro on set and said he showed up every day on time.

“He knows his lines, he gives everything, he very seldom goes up on a line, he’s very generous with the actors and they all love to work with him,” Ward said about Sheen. “I can’t say enough about him.”

Ward even remembered a time while making “Major League II” when Sheen had a scene with David Keith who played the overly cocky Jack Parkman. It was a scene where Sheen was pitching to Keith, and it turns out that Keith had lost his contact lenses and was seeing two baseballs instead of the one being thrown to him.

“I was trying to get a shot of him (Keith) hitting a ball that looked like it got in the air enough to get out of the stadium,” Ward said. “Well he (Keith) was seeing two baseballs coming at him, and Charlie threw him 128 pitches. And I said ‘Charlie let’s stop, we can do this tomorrow, we can do this some other day’ and he said ‘no, no, no let’s do this. I’m warmed up, let’s do this.’ 128 pitches, never complained, and it took us that many for Keith to hit one in the air! That’s the way Charlie was. He gave everything, he loves baseball, he loves to play baseball, he’s a terrific baseball player, and he’s got a great arm and throws hard.”

Berenger, who had previously worked with Sheen in Oliver Stone’s “Platoon,” recalled playing ball with him at Santa Monica High School before “Major League” began filming.

“He threw ten pitches, and out of the ten one was a little outside and nine were right on the corners of the strike zone,” Berenger said. “That’s how much control he had, and he was fast too. We went down and did batting practice with the Savannah Cardinals which was a minor league team at the time, and I warmed up one of the pitchers and he threw 94 miles an hour. And I’m guessing Charlie was about 88-89 miles an hour.”

Bernsen ended up telling this story of when Sheen was working on “Major League II.” One day Sheen found out his hotel room had been robbed, and among the items stolen were his wallet, his Walkman (remember those?) which he always had on him, and his gun.

“Charlie had just flown in one of 15 women who had come in during the shoot. Charlie is Charlie, he’s still professional but Charlie is Charlie,” Bernsen said. “I got pretty close with him and I remember him saying, ‘Fuck! I don’t care about my wallet, I don’t care about my Walkman, they took my fucking gun! Whatever happens, I just don’t want that to get out!’”

“So he and his girlfriend and I walked from the hotel across this walkway because he’s got to find another Walkman to do tomorrow’s shoot with because he likes to have his music,” Bernsen continued. “And he’s gonna go into the appliance store to buy a Walkman and always going, ‘I don’t care about the money and I don’t care about the Walkman. Don’t mention the fucking gun!’ And we walk into this department store into the appliance section back in the old days where they had a hundred TVs on the same station. The news was on and as we entered the department, ‘Breaking news: Charlie Sheen was robbed while in town making ‘Major League.’ Among the things stolen was his gun…’ And I just saw him freeze.”

Whether this adds or takes away from all those crazy stories we’ve heard about Charlie Sheen over the years, it also shows him to be far more professional than we give him credit for in general. Sheen’s performance in the “Major League” movies was no fluke, and if Ward and company are serious about making another movie in the future with these characters, they would be incredibly foolish to not include Sheen in it.