The team behind new horror movie with a near perfect Rotten Tomatoes score The Substance used The Fly as inspiration for Demi Moore’s transformation

When it comes to horror movie transformations, they don’t get more grotesque than the metamorphosis seen in David Cronenberg’s The Fly, which stars Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brindle, a scientist who slowly becomes a gruesome, insect-like creature after an experiment goes wrong. 

So iconic is Brundle’s change that it inspired Demi Moore’s transformation in upcoming horror movie The Substance. She plays actor Elisabeth Sparkle, who, after losing her job as the host of an exercise show, injects a mysterious substance that births a younger woman (Margaret Qualley) from a grisly wound in her back. 

“I was thinking of The Fly,” French prosthetics veteran Pierre Olivier Persin tells Total Film in our new issue out on Thursday, August 15, which features Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on the cover, of Elisabeth Sparkle’s gradual deterioration. “At first, he has hair on his back. He’s losing one nail. It’s a small decay. It’s step by step. He’s not suddenly gruesome. So it was trying to find the right balance. We didn’t want one stage to be too much, so when we see where it’s going, it’s a surprise.”

We also have an exclusive behind the scenes look at Moore’s transformation, which you can see below.

(Image credit: Christine Tamalet/Mubi)

For Moore, the prosthetics experience was a significant first. “I will say: reading it on paper is certainly a lot easier than what it actually is!” admits the star. “It was also a part of what was enticing and exciting. The team was incredibly talented. But it’s time-consuming. It’s intense. It really does require that you get very Zen, to be still. But even with whatever discomfort or challenge – for me, it’s why you want to do something, because it’s so far outside of my normal baseline existence. And it was such an important part – and a unique way – of telling this story.” 

Pre-order the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice issue of Total Film

The Substance is released on September 20. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, August 15.

Check out the covers below:

(Image credit: Martin Schoeller/Total Film/Cover Art Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

Pre-order the issue here to bag your copy or click here to subscribe to Total Film and never miss another exclusive. You’ll get every issue before it’s in stores and you’ll get subscriber-exclusive covers. 

(Image credit: Total Film/Warner Bros/Disney/Marvel Studios/20th Century Studios/Amazon)