“It Took Me a Year to Recover”: Margaret Qualley Opens Up About Severe Skin Damage from The Substance Prosthetics

Margaret Qualley has shared details about the severe skin damage she suffered while working on the film The Substance. In a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, the 30-year-old actress discussed the toll the film’s prosthetic makeup took on her skin, revealing that some scenes had to be altered or cut entirely because of the damage to her face.

“Like, in the end, when they’re shooting up my skirt in the beginning credits, and it’s like the palm trees all around and they have all these long lenses from the bottom, that’s just because my face was so f***** up by that time that they couldn’t, like, shoot my face anymore,” Qualley told Horowitz.

Qualley, a Golden Globe nominee, noted that it took nearly a year for her skin to recover.

“So, you know the character that has all that acne? That was just my acne from the prosthetics,” she explained. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this is kind of perfect. I’m playing all these different characters — for one of them we’ll use all my crazy prosthetic acne.’ It took me probably a year to recover physically from all of it.”

This isn’t the first time Qualley has opened up about the physical demands of her role in The Substance. In a previous interview with The Sunday Times, she revealed that she also wore fake breasts to portray her character, Sue.

“Unfortunately, there is no magic boob potion, so we had to glue those on,” she said at the time.

Despite the challenges, Qualley’s commitment to her craft and willingness to embrace the physical transformation underscores her dedication to her roles. Her candid account sheds light on the often-overlooked physical toll that demanding roles can take on actors.

Fans of the actress have praised her transparency and resilience, while her experience has sparked conversations about the physical impacts of heavy prosthetics and makeup in the film industry.