The scream queens are taking awards season, and supporting each other every step of the way. At the 2025 Oscars, director Coralie Fargeat stands to break the great glass ceiling for women in horror with “The Substance” — a dazzling resurgence for star Demi Moore, who blew audiences away with a stunning acceptance speech at the Golden Globes and will compete at the Academy Awards in March.
“It is the healing balm to the very issue this film brings forward,” Moore said of praise for her role in the film at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards. In her Best Actress acceptance speech, Moore echoed her previous statements about devaluing women based on age — and specifically defended genre movies. “Normally horror films are overlooked and not seen for the profundity they can hold,” she said.
Backstage, Kathy Bates celebrated her return to the national spotlight with a TV victory for “Matlock.” Taking home Best Actress in a Drama Series, the 76-year-old actress reflected on her time in Hollywood — which kicked off in 1991 with a surprise Oscar win for the then-unknown performer with “Misery,” based on the book by Stephen King. Asked what the actress formerly known as Annie Wilkes makes of this moment for horror at the Academy, Bates emphasized craft.
“I always felt it’s the performance you can’t really substitute,” she said. “It’s the work that always speaks for itself. I did see [‘The Substance’] — I think it’s great. But I never thought of Demi as a ‘popcorn actress; ever. She’s Demi.“
Bates continued, “She’s done amazing work and I love seeing her being recognized for this. It’s an absolutely bonkers movie, but I just think when you make a real human being — no matter what the genre is — you make a real human being people can relate to. And then you’re in.”
Although Bates has rarely stopped working, the actress has spoken at length about the gratitude she feels for her role in “Matlock.” The network show — a relative rarity in the awards landscape — sees Bates putting a new spin on the old legal procedural made famous by Andy Griffith.
“It’s a big deal for me,” she said. “I mean, it’s just been phenomenal. You’re not supposed to say this — oh, there’s my publicist. You’re supposed to say that ‘you’ve never had this before.’ But this is quite an extraordinary experience for me. This means a lot for me and our show and [showrunner] Jennie [Snyder Urman].”
Speaking with IndieWire in January, Bates’ “Matlock” co-star Skye P. Marshall, who was also in attendance at the Critics Choice Awards, recalled a special memory promoting the show.
“When people circulated pictures of us in Times Square looking at that billboard and us crying together, those were real tears because I couldn’t believe that I was in Times Square with Kathy Bates after accomplishing such a feat of a TV season,” said Marshall. “And Kathy could not have imagined being a poster girl at 76 — by herself. Tell me the last time you’ve seen her by herself on a billboard. With her extensive resume and me being a new discovery, we met each other in that moment with the exact same emotions and the gravity of what we had created together.”
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