Margaret Qualley Says The Substance Was 'Outside My Comfort Zone': 'I Knew It Was Going to Be a Big Challenge' (Exclusive)

Embodying her character in Substance challenged Margaret Qualley to take new risks on screen.

Qualley, 29, talks to PEOPLE about director Coralie Fargeat’s provocative body-horror film (Revenge), was “really out of my comfort zone.”

“I guess for me it’s something I’ve never really done,” says the actress playing Sue, a younger version of her co-star Demi Moore’s character, Elisabeth Sparkle, who is hypersexualized throughout the film. “I think I’ve deliberately gone in a different direction throughout my career.”

IN SubstanceQualley takes on the role of Sue, a younger clone of Moore’s aging actress created by an illicit serum. The film contains nudity and plenty of hard-to-watch moments as two women, who share the same consciousness, inject each other with the film’s main serum.

Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty

I knew it would be a big challenge for me. Maidservant star shares role. Qualley added that the nudity in the film “serves the purpose of this story a lot.”

She continues, “It’s a journey you have to go through to bring this to life. And I was excited for the challenge.”

How Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley were related before they played versions of the same character in Substance (Exclusive)

Moore, 61, agrees. “That’s part of what makes it interesting and exciting, pushing yourself, because I think you end up getting more of yourself when you face what can be an individual’s discomfort, fear. I don’t really look at it as fear as much as just vulnerability,” she says.

For Qualley, the film’s themes have a certain universality: Elisabeth and Sue yearn for youth, fame and recognition – all things that society values.

Substance.

MUBI/Youtube

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“We all chose, highlighted different parts of ourselves to present to the world, how you want people to see you,” notes the actress. “And not that many of Sue’s attributes fit the ones I present to the world. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t somewhere in me.”

Substancestarring Dennis Quaid, is in theaters now.

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Source: HIS Education