Demi Moore wins Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards for her performance in The Substance. The victory solidifies her status as a frontrunner for the Oscars amid controversy surrounding her rival Karla Sofia Gascon.
Demi Moore took home the Best Actress award at the Critics Choice Awards on Friday, cementing her position as the favorite for the Oscars. Her win came during a tumultuous week that saw scandal engulf her Emilia Perez rival, Karla Sofia Gascon.
Moore’s critically acclaimed horror film, The Substance, also earned Best Original Screenplay at the star-studded Los Angeles gala hosted by North America’s largest critics’ group, where Anora was crowned Best Picture of the Year.
This latest triumph follows Moore’s win at the Golden Globes in January, propelling her toward a remarkable career resurgence, with the Oscars just weeks away.
"This has been such a wild ride," said Moore, 62, reflecting on a career that peaked in the 1990s with blockbuster hits but was later overshadowed by public fascination with her personal life.
That perception has shifted with The Substance, a body-horror film in which Moore plays an aging celebrity who injects a serum to temporarily relive her youth.
Acknowledging the film's visceral and unsettling imagery, Moore thanked critics for recognizing "a genre of horror films that is often overlooked and not appreciated for the depth it can convey."
Her victory was notably at the expense of Karla Sofia Gascon, the Spanish transgender star of Emilia Perez, whose Oscar campaign collapsed after offensive social media posts resurfaced. These posts included derogatory and racist remarks about Muslims, China, and even the Oscars themselves.
As a result, Netflix dropped Gascon from its Oscars campaign, and the film's director, Jacques Audiard, denounced her comments as "absolutely hateful" and "inexcusable."
Gascon was absent from the Critics Choice Awards, and when her name was read among the nominees, the typically celebratory Hollywood crowd fell silent.
While Moore acknowledged her fellow nominees, including Gascon, during her acceptance speech, neither Audiard nor Zoe Saldana—who won Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Perez—mentioned Gascon in their remarks.
A Netflix spokesperson told AFP they hoped "the actions of one person" would not tarnish the film, which remains in contention for Best Picture at the Oscars.
This year's Best Picture race is unusually competitive. Friday’s ceremony provided a significant boost for Anora, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner about a young New York stripper who enters an ill-fated marriage with a Russian billionaire’s son.
Other key winners included Adrien Brody, who won Best Actor for The Brutalist; Conclave, which earned Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Acting Ensemble; and Wicked, which garnered Best Director honors for Jon M. Chu.
With AFP
Comments