Actress Margaret Qualley has shared that the prosthetic makeup she wore while shooting “The Substance” caused serious skin damage that took a year to heal.
In a recent “Happy Sad Confused” podcast episode, Qualley told host Josh Horowitz that her skin irritation became so severe that it changed the movie’s shooting schedule and how the cameras were used.
“They had to shoot up my skirt in the beginning credits, with palm trees all around and long lenses from the bottom, because my face was so damaged they couldn’t shoot it anymore,” Qualley said. Director Coralie Fargeat had to use clever camera settings to solve the problem.
Qualley still had skin issues during her next project, “Kinds of Kindness,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The damage helped her play one of the four roles in the movie better than she expected.
“The character with a lot of acne?” Qualley said, “That was just acne from the prosthetics.” “I thought, ‘This is just right.’ “I’m playing different characters, and for one of them, I’ll use my crazy prosthetic acne.” In the movie, she plays four characters: Vivian, Martha, Rebecca, and Ruth.
Live casting was used to create fake breasts for “The Substance’s” complicated makeup process. Production designer Pierre Olivier-Persin explained the process: “First, you make a live cast or scan, then you shape it into what you want, and finally, you create a mold from those shapes.” Use silicon or your material, attach it, and then paint it.
Even with these production issues, “The Substance” has become popular during awards season. The body horror film features Demi Moore as an older TV star who takes a secret illegal drug to make a younger version of herself. This role has already won Moore her first Golden Globe award.
