The Brat Pack may be getting back together.
Demi Moore, who is currently generating Oscar rumors with her daring role in “The Substance,” announced that talks are underway with Sony, the studio behind “St. Elmo’s Fire,” about a sequel to the groundbreaking 1985 film.
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“The update is definitely, there are conversations happening,” Moore said in an interview at the Toronto Film Festival. “The studio has really pushed this. From what I understand, everyone seems to be on board, which I think would be great.”
The original film explored the lives of a group of recent college graduates struggling through the difficult early stages of adulthood marked by relationship problems and career anxieties. It also helped to popularize Moore and his cast mates, including Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, Judd Nelson and Andrew McCarthy (whose recent documentary, “Brats,” revisited the furore surrounding that group of actors, dubbed “The Brat Pack” in a scathing New York Magazine article). Moore said there is no script for the sequel yet and the studio is “looking for the right partner” to write it.
“Then, I think we’d all probably start to dig in and figure out who these people are, so many years later,” Moore teased as he stopped by diversity‘s Toronto Film Festival Studio, sponsored by J.Crew and SharkNinja. “It was such a pivotal film for everyone involved. And… to have worked with Andrew McCarthy on his documentary… would be a real joy.”
As for The Substance, which received a 13-minute standing ovation at Cannes, Moore admits she is delighted by the intensity of the audience reaction. The film follows Elizabeth Sparkle, a celebrated actress turned fitness guru who falls into a personal crisis after she loses her job as a TV presenter because a sexist manager thinks she is too old and unattractive. In response, Elizabeth takes a mysterious drug that gives her a younger doppelgänger (Margaret Qualley) who replaces her on the show and becomes an overnight sensation. It is a film that takes aim at Hollywood’s obsession with youth and arbitrary beauty standards.
“It’s impacted people,” Moore said. “You know, I hope that it creates a cultural shift, that it becomes part of a debate that makes a difference… and makes us realize how important it is to be gentler and kinder to ourselves.”
But filming was physically demanding. The Substance is a body horror film (a genre Moore had barely heard of), and the film follows Elizabeth as she literally sheds her skin to become her alter ego. In other parts of the film, where the substance has side effects that leave Elizabeth emaciated and prematurely aging, Moore was forced to contort herself in excruciating ways. She worked with a movement coach so she could “…be careful not to injure myself, as I spent a lot of time hunched over.”
She also had to undergo extensive make-up and pose for body casts, a process that took “between six and nine and a half hours.”
Moore believes that the grotesque lengths Elizabeth goes to to preserve her youth are relatable to people in the entertainment industry and elsewhere.
“I knew how important and relevant this issue was, not just for women … but I think for all of us as human beings,” she said.
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