An excerpt from my script review for The Substance which will be available 10/08/24:
3.) Quality of Characters
Elisabeth, the fading star who’s reached the end of her career.
Sue, the ideal image of youth and beauty that every man is obsessed with.
The issue is with the latter…you paint yourself into a corner.
If your story requires the ideal anything chances are there isn’t an actor on the planet that can fill that role.
And this one?
You pick Demi fucking Moore for Elisabeth and Margaret Qualley as Sue?
Take a second to think about that…
Demi Moore is aging, sure, but who of us isn’t?
It’s not like anyone’s ever had to sub in Jennifer Connelly for her.
And Margaret Qualley? I’m not starting a Hilary Swank Office argument on whether she’s hot or not (she’s attractive) but look at how the character of Sue is presented in the script.
Anytime she passes a man on screen…
It was just so silly!
Two questions…
First, has the writer ever met men in real life?
Second, has the writer ever been to L.A. where being attractive is practically a city ordinance?
I remember walking through the Orlando airport once and seeing a disproportionate amount of attractive women in the gate area. When I looked to see where the flight was going…?
Los Angeles. You guessed it!
So Sue would have be to be perfect and even then would be doubtful the reaction would be this campy.
Take the example of Elisabeth’s neighbor, Oliver, who didn’t sound like he’s a ladies’ man by any means.
He’s pissed when he hears a bunch of construction going on in the apartment next to his, ready to bitch Elisabeth out, but when Sue opens the door…
“Uh…I’m handy with tools, Sue.”
He’s a lame caricature of a man at best, setting aside that his neighbor is played by Demi fucking Moore!
No, no, you’re right…a guy like that wouldn’t find her attractive at all because she’s 50…
(At the time of writing this, the actor is technically 61, but I stand by my argument!)
Another example is Harvey, who’s the creep of a boss that fired Elisabeth for being too old.
I’m not saying he wouldn’t be attracted to someone like Margaret Qualley, but he sees her on this 1950s bank of monitors in his office during her audition and he’s all…
And to be so cooperative when she can only be there every other week?
I mean, I know it has to work for the script, but c’mon that doesn’t fit with his character, particularly when you factor in all the “beauty” walking around the City of Angels that he’d argue could easily replace her.
And on the flip side, everyone is so cruel to Elisabeth like she’s an old person in Logan’s Run!
Troy, one of Sue’s one night stands, Elisabeth bumps into him accidentally on the street and he becomes irate practically screaming, “Move bitch!”
Never in my life have I seen a normal person bump into a fifty year old (man or woman) without simply replying, “Oh, excuse me.”
Not to mention you’re asking an actor to realistically sell being angry that Demi fucking Moore bumped into him?
If you want to have your story to have a social commentary, that’s fine, but remember…
Plot first.
You can be making the greatest point ever, but if it’s hidden in a weak story that won’t reach the masses then what’s the point.
The other major character issue I had was…
Don’t Elisabeth and Sue share the same consciousness?
When Sue cheats and takes a few extra hours as Elisabeth, suddenly she wakes up and doesn’t remember what happened.
It didn’t really make any sense. If we’re playing by the “rules” sure cheating as Sue would negatively affect Elisabeth, but would she really care?
Couldn’t she technically cheat the system, spending the minimum amount of time necessary to “recharge the matrix” which was obviously less than seven days? The whole thing felt like it was written that way because it’s convenient to the plot.
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