Demi Moore thought her Hollywood career was done and dusted in 2022

10 December 2024

Demi Moore thought her time in Hollywood was "complete" in 2022.

Demi Moore considered 'stepping away' from acting before the script for 'The Substance' landed in her lap

The 'Ghost' star, 62, has just received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of Elisabeth Sparkle in the acclaimed satirical body horror flick 'The Substance’.

And while receiving another accolade at the 2024 SFFILM Awards in San Francisco, California, the Maria Manetti Shrem Award for Acting, Demi admitted that before taking on the "risky" film, she feared her acting career was done and dusted, and she contemplated “stepping away”.

Accepting the prize onstage at the Gateway Pavilion on Monday (09.12.24), she said: "I've had a very long career, but I haven't really ever been part of the conversations that allowed me to be part of [awards shows] and to really receive the love and celebration of my work. I'm really just so humbled.

“At the beginning of 2022, I had a moment where I was at an event and I felt I didn't belong. I didn't know why I was there. I wanted to be invisible and I couldn't figure out how to get out.

'And I thought, 'You know what? Maybe my time doing this is complete. Maybe I've done everything I was supposed to do.' … Two weeks later, the script for 'The Substance' came across my desk.”

In an interview with Deadline, Demi – who began her acting career in 1981 with a role on soap opera ‘General Hospital’ before launching a successful movie career - admitted she was in “shock and awe” by the Golden Globes nominations for ‘The Substance’.

Her co-star Margaret Qualley (Sue), 30, is in contention for Best Supporting Actress, while the Coralie Fargeat movie also received nods for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

She said: “I’m in shock and awe, and … Really, I just feel so much joy, I have to say. I mean, this was a risky project from the beginning, with really no certainty of how it would all come together. And so to see the journey it’s been on, and to have this acknowledgement, I just think is such a win on so many levels and I’m so excited for Margaret, too. I would say it’s been hard earned, obviously, if you’ve seen the film.”

‘The Substance’ sees Demi play a washed-up fitness guru who takes a mystery black market drug to create a younger, sexier version of herself, played by Margaret.