{"id":221965,"date":"2025-10-24T05:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T05:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/221965\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T05:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T05:40:09","slug":"the-movie-that-convinced-margaret-qualley-to-become-an-actor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/221965\/","title":{"rendered":"The movie that convinced Margaret Qualley to become an actor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Margaret<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ MUBI)<\/p>\n

Thu 23 October 2025 21:45, UK <\/p>\n

Adorned in pink, her metallic leotard reflecting the bright lights of a camera crew as she gyrates across a studio, Margaret Qualley<\/a> is unforgettable as Sue in the Oscar-winning body horror hit The Substance, playing the part of a younger, \u2018better\u2019 version of Demi Moore\u2019s ageing TV star, Elisabeth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was by no means Qualley\u2019s introduction to Hollywood \u2013 you probably already recognised her from getting barefoot with Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, bearing the familiar smile of her famous mother, Andie MacDowell. Yet, it was undoubtedly The Substance<\/a> that cemented her place in the industry as a star, with the actor proving just how far she\u2019d go for her work.<\/p>\n

Acne, panic attacks, and physical exhaustion were just some of the side effects from her prosthetic-heavy and emotionally draining role in Coralie Fargeat\u2019s film, but if it meant making a movie that would leave people squirming, equally as repulsed as they were impressed, then it was seemingly worth it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the actor now becoming a frequent collaborator of directing icons like the Coens and Yorgos Lanthimos, Qualley\u2019s career as a leading star is firmly in the bag. You might think she got here by desperately following in the footsteps of her mother, but Qualley admits that it was actually a certain Emma Roberts film that truly solidified her decision to become an actor.<\/p>\n

Qualley and Roberts would end up starring alongside each other in Gia Coppola\u2019s coming-of-age film Palo Alto in 2013 (which also featured Jack Kilmer and Nat Wolff, making it quite the nepo baby concoction<\/a>). But several years before, Qualley would stumble upon the film It\u2019s Kind of a Funny Story, a hopeful tale of a teen boy\u2019s time in a psychiatric ward, where he meets several patients who change the course of his life for the better. <\/p>\n

Roberts played Noelle, a teen girl with a history of self-harm who forms a relationship with protagonist Craig, and it was this performance that influenced Qualley. \u201cThis might be strange, because my mom\u2019s an actress, but the movie that I saw that I was like, \u2018I should be an actress\u2019, was It\u2019s Kind of a Funny Story starring Emma Roberts,\u201d she told Collider. <\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cI moved to New York at 16 and I didn\u2019t know what I was going to do with my life \u2013 I was living here alone, a little aimless. And I saw that performance and I was like, \u2018I kinda look like her\u2019 and I was like \u2018I\u2019m sad too\u2026maybe I should do this.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Not only was Qualley inspired by Robert\u2019s performance, but she clearly absorbed the film\u2019s exploration of figuring out your place, with Craig\u2019s journey resulting in his realisation that he can\u2019t force himself into a world of academic validation when his true calling is to be an artist. In recognising this, he becomes free from the shackles of intense pressure, and he is able to rebuild his life around this new goal. <\/p>\n

Just three years after the release of It\u2019s Kind of a Funny Story, Qualley would make her screen debut in Palo Alto, and everything seemed to fall neatly into place. She might not have been inspired by her mother, but clearly, her close proximity to Hollywood was pretty convenient in making her dream a reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ MUBI) Thu 23 October 2025 21:45, UK Adorned in pink, her metallic leotard reflecting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[87321,96,11054,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-221965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-emma-roberts","tag-entertainment","tag-margaret-qualley","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}