The Substance

Pop Culture Happy Hour

NPR

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4.5 • 11.6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

The Substance is a bloody, campy, fiercely feminist body horror film. Demi Moore plays a TV aerobics instructor who learns of a mysterious drug that causes another younger, entirely separate version of herself (Margaret Qualley) to splurt out of her back and assume her consciousness. The movie has earned Moore her first Oscar nomination, and she's the frontrunner in this year's best actress race. So we thought it would be the perfect time to revisit our conversation about the movie.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
0:05.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy, working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:19.5	The substance is a bloody, campy, fiercely feminist, and completely bonzo, banana pants, body horror film.
0:27.4	Demi Moore plays a TV aerobics instructor who's fired when she turns 50.
0:31.4	Desperate to stay in the spotlight, she avails herself of a black market drug, a substance that births from her body a younger, entirely
0:39.0	separate version of herself very squelchily.
0:42.5	The movie's earned Demi Moore, her first Oscar nomination, and she's the frontrunner in
0:47.2	this year's Oscars' best actress race.
0:49.5	So we thought it would be the perfect time to revisit our conversation about the movie.
0:53.6	I'm Aisha Harris. And I'm Glenn Weldon, and today in this encore episode of NPR's
0:58.0	Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're revisiting our conversation about the substance. Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
1:14.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
1:21.0	Learn more at RWJF.org.
1:25.1	It is just the two of us today in the same studio.
1:28.9	Yay.
1:29.1	East coast, West Coast.
1:30.3	Look at this.
1:30.9	Look at what's happening.
1:32.1	Yes.
1:32.6	Cambocha and Duncan is what's happening right now.
1:35.6	Wow.
	...

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