Was it the 30,000 gallons of fake blood sprayed through a fire hose that did it?
Or (readers of a sensitive nature may want to look away now) the prosthetic breast, ‘birthed’, complete with umbilical cord, by a many-headed monster at the film’s climax?
Whatever, it can be revealed that Universal – the studio giant behind last year’s Oscar winner Oppenheimer – sold the super-gory, feminist, body-horror The Substance at a $5 million LOSS after executives saw it, hated it and refused to release it.
A source said that the company ‘had no idea’ what to do with the picture which they viewed as ‘batsh*t crazy’, but which has gone on to take more than $66 million at the box office.
The movie stars Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle, a film star turned TV fitness guru who is fired on her 50th birthday and as a result, takes a ‘substance’ which allows her to give birth to a younger, more beautiful version of herself called Sue.
But Sue (Margaret Qualley) plays fast and loose with the rules of taking The Substance, which are that the women must swap places every seven days – with riotously horrifying consequences.
The film won a 13-minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival this spring and was named best screenplay.
And there is embarrassment heaped upon financial loss for Universal, with talk of an Oscar nomination for the 62-year-old Moore.
Demi Moore (pictured) as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance 2024
Margaret Qualley who plays a younger version of Moore in the 2024 film The Substance
The Substance won a 13-minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival this spring and was named best screenplay
The Substance has also gained instant cult status, with fans dressing up as the characters for Halloween this year.
The story begins when Universal, parent company of Working Title, stumped up the $17.5 million budget for French director Coralie Fargeat’s film, in exchange for distribution rights.
It was filmed in France between May and October 2022. Director Fargeat told a French language movie magazine that she screened it for Universal after working on edits for over a year…and they ran a mile.
She said: ‘This screening was the most memorable of my life. There were two men and a woman in the room. One of the guys hated it.
‘He demanded that we redo the entire edit and, since that was not possible, he made sure that Universal dropped the film.’
The director, who had the right of final cut, said that after the screening the female executive told her that she had wanted to defend the film, but had not been ‘allowed to open her mouth’. ‘That says a lot about where power still lies in Hollywood,’ said Fargeat.
British producers Working Title, a subdivision of UPI, were then allowed to sell the film on, and did so – to arthouse streaming service Mubi – for $12 million.
Mubi has distributed the film at cinemas in the UK and US and other territories, and it is also streaming on their channel.
The Substance follows a fading celebrity who decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance, that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself
The Substance has also gained instant cult status, with fans dressing up as the characters for Halloween this year
But Sue (Margaret Qualley) plays fast and loose with the rules of taking The Substance, which are that the women must swap places every seven days – with riotously horrifying consequences
Eric Fellner head of Working Title – the man behind smash hits such as Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary – told the London Film Festival last month that he had been blindsided by the full-on horror of the film, but he didn’t disclose the financial consequences to Universal, or dwell too much on the box office loot which could have been heading their way.
Of The Substance’s success, he remarked: ‘It made us realise that if it’s really ‘out there’, people are interested. They don’t get turned off.’
Fellner added graciously: ‘I think it’s a good thing. It’s definitely brought people to the cinema, which is great.
‘And for a company like Mubi to be bringing people to the cinema shows that both streaming platforms and theatrical can coexist and can work well together.’
Cinematographer Benjamin Kracun was not surprised by the gore factor. ‘Coralie said at one point, ‘I want to have fire engines full of blood spraying the audience!’
And I thought, ‘OK, maybe that’s just a French way of saying there’s going to be a lot of blood.’
‘But no, she really wanted a hose.’
Stanley Tucci could opt for Egyptian-style burial with jam and cheese
Stanley Tucci is rather taken by the idea of being buried along with some fine jams and cheeses… in a Fortnum & Mason wicker basket.
He was speaking to Kathy Burke on her Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake podcast, where guests plan the ‘perfect death’.
Discussing funeral arrangements, Tucci told Burke: ‘I like the idea of the wicker basket, now that you say it. Like a hamper, because food would have come in it. You can put food in it, too. Like an Egyptian.
‘So if you did a big hamper from Fortnum & Mason, and you put me in it, I’d go for that.’ He added: ‘I know Ewan Venters, who used to be the CEO. I’ll ask him if he can arrange it.’
The actor, who lives in London, is a renowned foodie and recently released a book What I Ate In One Year.
He has a very expensive range of cookware with Fortnum’s — a sauté pan costs £229.95.
For that money, I’d expect him to come over and fry my steak in person!
Stanley Tucci (pictured on Lorraine in October) is rather taken by the idea of being buried along with some fine jams and cheeses… in a Fortnum & Mason wicker basket
Lily-Rose Depp reclaims her professional reputation in Nosferatu
Lily-Rose Depp is reclaiming her professional reputation with her performance in Nosferatu as a young woman tormented by her psychic connection to a vampire.
It’s a reboot for her after short-lived TV series The Idol, which was a disaster. And the film itself is a reworking of the legend which came to the screen in 1922 and 1979.
Co-star Nicholas Hoult says: ‘She plays it so beautifully, every detail of her performance is astounding. I can’t wait for people to see it.’
The film, which is out here on New Year’s Day, was directed by Robert Eggers.
His Nosferatu is Bill Skarsgard, who was evil clown Pennywise in the It films.
Depp has what you might call a vampiric background — she grew up in an extravagant turreted property known as the ‘Dracula’ mansion, in LA with dad Johnny Depp (mum is Vanessa Paradis).
And Johnny played Ed Wood in the movie about the cult filmmaker’s friendship with the most famous Dracula of all, Bela Lugosi.
Lily-Rose Depp (pictured in Nosferatu) as a young woman tormented by her psychic connection to a vampire
What happened to Oscar frontrunner Emilia Perez?
As campaigning for the Oscars begins, you have to ask: What happened to frontrunner Emilia Perez?
The Spanish-language musical, starring Karla Sofia Gascon as a cartel boss who wants to transition to become a woman, has been one of the great critical hits of the year.
By French auteur Jacques Audiard, it’s already had an expensive global publicity campaign, with stars including Gascon, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez banging the drum in dozens of interviews.
It arrived on the streaming giant Netflix on Wednesday last week but despite rave reviews hasn’t made the Top Ten of non-English language movies. Meaning it will have been seen by fewer than 1.5 million people worldwide. (A source at the streamer points out that Netflix only have the rights in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland, which may have played a part in its poor performance.)
The biggest film on Netflix last week was Hot Frosty (about a hunky snowman who is magically transformed into a hunky man) which appealed to 16 million viewers.
But never mind Emilia Perez’s relative lack of appeal to the masses.
Selena Gomez as Jessi in the Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez
The Spanish-language musical, starring Karla Sofia Gascon as a cartel boss who wants to transition to become a woman, has been one of the great critical hits of the year
By French auteur Jacques Audiard, it’s already had an expensive global publicity campaign, with stars including Gascon, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez banging the drum in dozens of interviews
Some seasoned observers have been saying that Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential election has boosted the Oscars chances of the film, whose star Gascon is a trans woman.
They point to the surprise win for Moonlight (about the difficult life of a gay, black man growing up in Miami) shortly after Trump’s previous election as evidence that when liberal America finds its values rejected at the ballot box, they vote for projects which reflect their values to win awards.
There is a theory that the big budget adaptation of the musical Wicked could benefit, too; with Academy voters finding that its message about the evils of exclusion and repression resonate with a Trump presidency looming.
Eric Kohn of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that films which ‘tackle difficult issues of class disparity and oppression’ mirror the pulse of the entertainment elites.
However there is another barrier for Emilia Perez at the Oscars: the ‘Never Netflix’ voter, so called because many film execs in Hollywood think that streaming has persuaded the great majority that they might as well stay home and see what they can watch ‘for free’.
Perhaps this explains why Netflix has never won a Best Picture Oscar, despite massive campaigns for Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma in 2018 and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro last year.
Rubbing salt into the wound, the feel-good film CODA scooped Best Picture in 2022 for Netflix’s rivals, Apple.
Bookies are currently placing Emilia Perez fourth in the Best Picture race, behind The Brutalist, Anora and Sing Sing.
Paul Mescal fine with people watching Gladiator II for shirtless scenes
Paul Mescal suspects some people are only going to the cinema to watch Gladiator II so they can see him with his shirt off. And he’s fine with that.
Mescal, who plays the main character, Lucius, in the sword and sandals epic, said: ‘Whatever gets people into the movie theatre, happy days. If you come for the shirtless fighting, stay for the Ridley Scott film!’
He adds that he would love it if Gladiator III, now being prepared by director Ridley Scott, at the age of 86, was more about politics than fighting.
‘I haven’t spoken to him about what that looks like, but I would be excited for it to go into a more political sphere, or kind of in the world of Michael Corleone in Godfather II – somebody stepping into something that they don’t necessarily feel like they belong in.
‘I think when you see Lucius at the end of the first film, he’s looking for guidance. I think he has no desire to lead until the point that it’s thrust upon him. And I think you could draw parallels of that with something like Godfather II.’
Paul Mescal (pictured at the screening of Gladiator II) suspects some people are only going to the cinema to watch Gladiator II so they can see him with his shirt off. And he’s fine with that
Molly-May Hague on the up since her split from fiancé Tommy Fury
Former Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague — recently featured in British Vogue — is on the up and up after her split from fiancé Tommy Fury.
A six-part docu-series about her life, her baby and her business, called Molly-Mae, launches on Prime Video on January 17.
Former Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague — recently featured in British Vogue — is on the up and up after her split from fiancé Tommy Fury
Amy Adams goes extra mile for Nightbitch role
AMY Adams really went the extra mile for her role in the film Nightbitch, in which she plays a woman challenged by motherhood who turns into a dog at night.
In an early scene, she discovers new hair growing on her chin, and Adams (right) says: ‘The hair on the face — that was mine. I saw it as a wonderful expression of the human experience without any artifice or filters. Or tweezers!
‘I have that kind of hair that just grows overnight. One day it’s not there, and the next day it’s like I’m a catfish. That might turn some people away.’
The film is out on December 6.
Amy Adams attends Los Angeles Premiere of ‘Nightbitch’ at Linwood Dunn Theatre on November 20
Friends of late DJ Steve Wright come together to remember him
Friends of the late DJ Steve Wright are meeting today to remember him. I hear that Simon Bates has arranged the lunch in London, with fellow DJs Paul Gambaccini, Ken Bruce and Andy Peebles among the attendees.
Wright, one of the all-time-greats of radio, died suddenly in February this year aged 69, of a perforated gastric peptic ulcer.
He had presented Steve Wright In The Afternoon on BBC Radio 1 from 1981 to 1993; and on BBC Radio 2 from 1999 until it was axed in 2022.
He also presented Sunday Love Songs for the station, with his final broadcast just a day before his death.
Veteran BBC radio broadcaster Steven Wright, one of the most familiar voices on the airwaves in the UK, died at the age of 69 in February
