In a podcast by the New York Times, Demi Moore reflects on the intense controversy surrounding her film “Striptease,” released in 1996. A film for which she received an absolute record salary. But it also turned out to be a poisoned gift…
Demi Moore is still actively promoting her upcoming film, The Substance, which resonates like an artistic resurrection. This gives her the opportunity to also share memories from her career during the interviews she conducts.
Recently, she discussed the unique trajectory of a film that became a classic, Ghost, the film that revealed her to the public. A film she was not at all sure would be successful with its mix of genres.
In the New York Times, she reflects on another film that caused controversy upon its release in 1996: Striptease. Riding on an ever-growing popularity in the first half of the 90s, she was racking up hits: A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal, and Disclosure.
“I felt extremely ashamed”
Then came Andrew Bergman’s film, in which she plays a single mother fighting to regain custody of her daughter by becoming a stripper. Designed as an ideal showcase for her star status, she even agreed to appear topless in the film. In exchange for an absolutely colossal fee for the time—a record indeed—12.5 million dollars.
“Striptease feels like I betrayed women, and with A Few Good Men, it feels like I betrayed men.” she comments. “But what’s interesting is that when I became the highest-paid actress, why, at that moment, was the choice made to bring me down?”
“I don’t take that personally. I think anyone who had been the first to achieve that kind of pay equality would probably have suffered. But because I made a film that dealt with the world of stripping and the body, I felt extremely ashamed.”
Colombia Pictures
At that time, the actress was married to Bruce Willis, one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors. For context, he was paid no less than 15 million dollars to reprise his role as John McClane in Die Hard with a Vengeance, released in 1995.
“It wasn’t about comparing myself to him,” she explains. “Yes, I saw how much he was paid. I thought to myself: ‘Why shouldn’t I make this film?’ If I’m putting in the same amount of work, why shouldn’t I get that salary?”
“And it’s no different from when I was on the cover of Vanity Fair pregnant. I didn’t understand why that was such a big deal, why pregnant women had to hide?”
The astronomical fee Demi Moore received for her role in Striptease turned out to be a poisoned gift nonetheless. Not only did the film underperform at the box office, bringing in only 113 million dollars, but it was also heavily panned by critics and dampened her career for a while.
After this film, to which A Few Good Men would deal the final blow, she never managed to regain her previous status as an ultra bankable leading lady.