• Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About
Menu

World of Reel

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Home
‘Lilo & Stitch’ Earns Insane $180M Memorial Day Weekend
IMG_5589.jpg
Guy Ritchie’s ‘Fountain of Youth’ Faces Critical Wrath Despite Star-Studded Cast and $200M Budget
IMG_5586.jpg
Łukasz Żal to DP Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Fatherland’— Shooting This Summer
IMG_5584.jpg
Cannes 2025 Postmortem
IMG_5576.jpg
Michael Bay Denies He’s Directing ‘Skibidi Toilet’
Featured
Capture.PNG
Aug 19, 2019
3-Hour ‘Midsommar' Director's Cut Screened in NYC
Aug 19, 2019

This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.

Aug 19, 2019

World of Reel

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
  • More
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
  • About
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About

Universal Sold ‘The Substance' to MUBI After Coralie Fargeat Refused to Change Ending

December 11, 2024 Jordan Ruimy

“The Substance,” one of the year’s best films, has become an indie success, and full credit should go to its visionary director, Coralie Fargeat. However, it turns out that the making of the film was absolutely CHAOTIC. There’s no other word to describe it.

Fargeat recently sat down with Le Point to describe the experience of making this film, and she went on to say that “it was my Apocalypse Now.” Six months of shooting that led to a studio’s attempt at interfering with her vision.

Universal Pictures was originally supposed to distribute the film, but weeks before the Cannes Film Festival screening of ‘Substance,’ the studio stepped away from the project, selling it to MUBI.

Problems with the film began early. Production had to be halted as Ray Liotta, who had already shot several scenes, passed away. Liotta was replaced by Dennis Quaid. Fargeat, who would shoot 20 or 30 takes of the same scene, refused to speed up filming due to the tight schedule, and continued to exude obsessively meticulous attention to every detail, every frame. Moore and Fargeat would go on to have numerous on-set outbursts, according to Le Point.

Multiple sources state that the studio was "worried about the prospect of releasing the film." According to Fargeat, the film encountered significant challenges during post-production, including a contentious test screening attended by “two unnamed male executives and one unnamed female representative from Universal.” Post-production on the film lasted 18 months.

One male executive hated the film so much that he insisted on an extensive recut of not just the whole fillm, but also the “disgusting” ending. The problem was that Fargeat's contract had her getting final cut. Prior to its Cannes debut, MUBI acquired worldwide rights to the film for $12.5 million.

“The Substance” went on to win a prize at Cannes, critical acclaim, and has earned an impressive $70M worldwide. It might even get Moore, and potentially the film, Oscar nominated. Universal clearly made the wrong decision.

← Fandango Poll of 10 Most Anticipated of 2025 is DepressingConfirmed: Paul Mescal to Play Paul McCartney in Sam Mendes' Beatles Movies →

FOLLOW US!


Trending

Featured
IMG_5403.jpg
Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’ POLARIZES; Starts as Satire, Ends in Horror — Not Everyone’s Buying It [Cannes]
IMG_5383.jpg
‘Sirat’ Screens — Surreal, Chaotic and Unsettling [Cannes]
IMG_5352.jpg
‘Mission: Impossible 8’ Review Embargo Breaks — It’s A Mess [Cannes]
IMG_5328.jpg
‘Sound of Falling’ Gets Bogged Down by Heavy Symbolism [Cannes]
IMG_4571.jpg
David Fincher & Brad Pitt Reunite for ‘The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth' + Plot Details

Critics Polls

Featured
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘Vertigo’ Named Best Film of the 1950s, Over 120 Participants
B16BAC21-5652-44F6-9E83-A1A5C5DF61D7.jpeg
Critics Poll: Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Tops Our 1960s Critics Poll
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘The Godfather’ Named Best Movie of the 1970s
public.jpeg
Critics Poll: ‘Do the Right Thing' Named Best Movie of the 1980s
Critics Poll: ‘Mulholland Drive' Named Best Film of the 2000s
g4.jpg
Critics' Poll: ‘Goodfellas' Named Best Movie of the 1990s
Critics Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s
World of Reel tagline.PNG
 

Content

Contribute

Hire me

 

Support

Advertise

Donate

 

About

Team

Contact

Privacy Policy

Site designed by Jordan Ruimy © 2023