Did life imitate art at the 2025 Academy Awards?
Fans of Demi Moore’s performance in “The Substance” have suggested as much. In a tight race, Moore, 62, on Sunday lost the best actress Oscar to “Anora” star Mikey Madison, 25, and social media was quick to compare the outcome to “The Substance” itself.
In the body horror film, Moore stars as an aging film actress and television host, Elisabeth Sparkle, who is fired after turning 50 because the network wants to replace her with a younger star. She begins taking an experimental drug that creates a younger version of herself, Sue, played by Margaret Qualley. Elisabeth soon grows jealous of her alter ego while Sue is rapidly embraced by the public.
Fans couldn’t help but see the irony after Moore, an industry veteran, lost to Madison, a much younger star who is relatively unknown.
“Demi Moore losing to Mikey Madison is basically the plot of the ‘Substance,'” read one X post, which received over 250,000 likes. Another said, “The layers of irony to this year’s race as it relates to ‘The Substance’ with Demi Moore losing to a younger actress. It’s kinda sad.”
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“wow demi moore getting passed up for a younger brighter star someone should make a movie about this,” quipped an additional user, while another post argued that the Oscars “just proved square and fair they don’t take older women seriously and they don’t take horror seriously.”
One area where real life and fiction diverge, though? “The Substance” establishes that Moore’s character, Elisabeth Sparkle, has won an Oscar. Moore received the first Oscar nomination of her career for “The Substance.”
Moore was generally seen as the favorite to win best actress after she received honors at the Golden Globe Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. But others saw Madison’s victory coming after she won over Moore at the British Academy Film Awards.
Mikey Madisonshocks with first Oscar as best actress for ‘Anora,’ thanks sex workers
Madison also had the advantage of starring in a film, “Anora,” that was more widely embraced by the Academy than “The Substance.” While “The Substance” only won a single Oscar for best makeup and hairstyling, “Anora” won five, including best picture and best director for Sean Baker.
In previous years, close acting races have often favored the contender whose film is generally more well-liked in the Academy. Last year, for example, Emma Stone triumphed over Lily Gladstone as Stone’s movie “Poor Things” won four Oscars, compared to zero for Gladstone’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In 2021, support for “Nomadland,” which won best picture, carried Frances McDormand to a best actress win in another competitive race against the likes of Viola Davis and Carey Mulligan.
Oscars 2025:Anora’ wins 5, including best picture and actress for Mikey Madison
Madison seemed as surprised to win the Oscar as anyone else. In her speech, the actress, who played a young stripper swept away into a whirlwind romance with a Russian oligarch’s son in “Anora,” recognized “the sex worker community” and said she will “continue to support and be an ally” to them.
Although Madison is only 25, she hardly emerged out of nowhere like Sue in “The Substance,” as the actress has racked up an impressive list of credits during her short time in Hollywood. Before “Anora,” she was best known for her roles as a Charles Manson follower in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and a Ghostface killer in “Scream.” She also starred with Pamela Adlon on the FX series “Better Things.”
