AS 'THE SUBSTANCE' IS RELEASED MARGARET QUALLEY

ON MAKING THE LEAP FROM BALLET TO HOLLYWOOD

- GILL PRINGLE

When director Coralie Fargeat was looking for two actresses to play “two faces of the same coin” – but with a 30-year age difference – she chose Demi Moore, 62, and Margaret Qualley, 30. Not that the two remotely resemble one another.

According to the French feminist film-maker, it was more about selecting “two powerful actresses” who could handle the physical and symbolic demands of her body horror movie The Substance.

In the film, Demi’s fading celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle – sacked from her TV show after turning 50 – takes a black-market drug, a substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself. Enter Margaret’s sexy Sue, who is both angelic and libidinous.

One might imag ine tha t Margaret, the daughter of Green Card and Four Weddings and a Funeral star Andie MacDowell, always dreamed of following in her mum’s footsteps, but she initially trained as a ballet dancer – a skill that helped her enormously in portraying TV workout star Sue.