Demi Moore. Sonja Flemming/CBS
Demi Moore has hinted that a Hollywood producer who infamously dismissed her as a “popcorn actress” may be dead.
The Substance star shared in her Golden Globe Award acceptance speech on January 5 that she’d been cruelly insulted by an unnamed producer 30 years ago.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, like over 45 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor,” Moore told Golden Globes attendees and viewers. “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 wasn’t something that I was allowed to have.”
She revisited her comments during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, February 4, where she suggested the infamous producer may have been “rolling over in his grave” after her Globes win. Moore also told Jimmy Kimmel that she eventually “reframed” the significance of being called a “popcorn actress.”
Demi Moore is pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction to her latest film, The Substance, after she considered stepping away from the big screen for good. “It’s not like I ever officially left, but I understand the sentiment and appreciate it,” Moore, 61, shared with Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Thursday, May 23. “There […]
“What somebody else does or doesn’t do is irrelevant. How you hold it is everything,” she explained. “And while I may have taken [the insult] as he intended it, it’s what I made it mean about me. It’s that I made it mean that somehow I wasn’t ever going to be somebody that could be acknowledged in that kind of arena or platform, that I couldn’t win awards… But he didn’t do that. He just said the words. So that’s the difference.”
Moore continued: “In our current times, and in reframing how I look at being a ‘popcorn actress,’ how fortunate do I feel that I am in a movie that not only is a popcorn movie, that’s got people into the theaters to have a communal experience, but it’s also getting critical acclaim? So, two things are possible at the same time!”
During her Golden Globes acceptance speech in January, Moore said she once felt she could do “movies that were successful [and] made a lot of money” but she would never be “acknowledged” for her talents.
Matt Winkelmeyer/WireImage Demi Moore had quite the Halloween surprise for fans of The Substance. In celebration of her horror film becoming able to stream on MUBI, the actress decided to share four shocking behind-the-scenes photos from the set of her latest critically acclaimed movie. “Spoiler alert 🚨 Been holding onto these gems from @trythesubstance and […]
“I bought in [to the ‘popcorn actress’ insult] and I believed that,” she admitted. “That [comment] corroded me over time to the point where, a few years ago, I thought maybe this was it… maybe I had done what I was supposed to do.”
Moore has earned career-best reviews for horror movie The Substance, in which she plays a fading Hollywood star who discovers an alluring but dangerous way to recapture her youth.
She recently received her first-ever Best Actress Oscar nomination, in addition to receiving nods from the BAFTA Film Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards.
Moore told Us Weekly in a statement via her publicist that it was an “incredible honor” to be nominated for an Academy Award.
“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,” she told Us on January 23.
Demi Moore won’t let aging stop her from reaching new heights of personal and professional success. “I really try to be as present in the moment as possible, and what I feel is an excitement of possibilities, that we’re defining a new — I don’t want to say generation — but we are what the […]
Moore will have tough competition in the Best Actress Oscar race, as she is nominated alongside Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora) and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here).
The 97th Academy Awards will air live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, March 2.
