The Substance is making quite an impression on audiences, as director Coralie Fargeat’s satirical feature turns heads — and maybe some stomachs — with the disturbing physical transformation of its lead, played by Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. If the film lands Oscar recognition for best makeup and hairstyling, it will follow the flight pattern of fellow body-horror flick The Fly.
Starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz, director David Cronenberg‘s 1986 cult classic is a remake of the 1958 movie of the same name that is based on a short story by George Langelaan. The movie centers on Seth Brundle (Goldblum), a visionary scientist who suffers a mishap during a teleportation experiment, leading him to slowly and gruesomely transform into a human-fly hybrid.
Special effects and makeup artists Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis, who had previously worked with Cronenberg on 1981’s Scanners, oversaw the look of Goldblum’s monstrous evolution. Walas was in demand at the time, having worked on such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi and Gremlins.
“The Fly was one of the toughest shows I ever worked on, simply because we had much less time than we needed in preproduction,” he recalled in a 2017 interview. The film was already shooting in Toronto as his California-based shop was still buzzing about to create inside-out baboons, an oversized maggot and Goldblum’s eventual self. “A large portion of the puppets that were used at the end of the film could only be cosmetically finished to a certain point, and I would have to do the final work in Toronto, between scenes,” Walas added.
20th Century Fox released The Fly on Aug. 15, 1986, and it made $60 million ($174 million today) at the global box office. Walas and Dupuis earned Oscars for their makeup work, and the movie amassed a devoted following.
Walas went on to direct 1989’s The Fly II starring Eric Stoltz, but fans keep hoping Cronenberg will revisit his film’s universe. There were rumblings in 2009 of a follow-up, but Cronenberg revealed that budget concerns kept it from landing.
“It was a meditation on fly-ness,” he said of his scuttled sequel. “It was something I was very pleased with, and it was a disappointment not to get it made.”
This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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