Vlad Bunoan

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Yong

Yong Chavez

ABS-CBN News North America

<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gj_-KTJ_xd4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>The light in my hotel room refused to cooperate. It was too yellow, too dim, too unforgiving. I kept shifting lamps like a mildly panicked stage manager while the clock kept ticking nearer to my Demi Moore virtual interview check-in time. This was an interview with one of the Hollywood stars I idolized growing up.When the actress appeared on my laptop screen, she looked as radiant as ever. Her long dark hair worn loose and unfussy, she was wearing a dark suit with a tie. Ready to do business, like her boss character in 1994’s &quot;Disclosure.&quot; Though, of course, the real Demi Moore is decidedly unproblematic.I’d be hopelessly starstruck if not for the fact that, sitting on her lap, was her beloved dog Pilaf, whose hair she stroked as we talked.Moore’s press day for Season 2 of &quot;Landman&quot; was just beginning, and Pilaf, it seemed, anchored her in the otherwise exposed act of being interviewed and talking about herself. Or maybe she just really loves the cute chihuahua. Either way, it made her less of a childhood idol and more of a real person with real needs.The star was warm and had a disarming, slightly nervous energy. She did not seem media-trained in the modern sense. She answered thoughtfully, circling her thoughts, hesitation sounds popping up.It was refreshing and familiar. It reminded me of interviewing Winona Ryder a couple of years ago for the latest &quot;Beetlejuice&quot; sequel, another conversation marked by sincerity rather than polish. These are actresses who came up in a system long before social media branding, before carefully engineered vulnerability, before saying no was either easy or encouraged. They are not schooled in the performance of relatability.Early in the conversation, I brought up a pivotal moment from the Season 2 premiere episode. After losing her husband (played by Jon Hamm), her character, Cami, delivers a speech while taking over a company, brimming with defiance and authority. The previous scene showed Cami in the bathroom, seriously doubting herself and looking defeated. That is until the acidic words of a group of mean girls lit a fire under her skin.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1767341642201Environmental_Cami_0004_B_f.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Demi Moore in &#x27;Landman.&#x27; Handout</div>I asked how her character&#x27;s defiance against being underestimated resonate with her.“Oh, I mean, I think it was, first of all, it’s just great writing,” Moore said. “There wasn’t a lot I had to do except really just connect with what was at stake for Cami. And being underestimated can be great fuel.”Cami being undervalued initially wasn’t framed as trauma or grievance to get over, but energy and motivation to be unleashed.I told her it was good to see her shining in that scene, that her character’s perseverance after a devastating loss felt inspiring.“Aww, thank you!” she said, smiling widely, and for a moment an image of her grinning face from &quot;St. Elmo’s Fire&quot; flashed in my memory.Looking at Moore now, it’s striking how little she seems interested in reclaiming anything in the same way that many seem to be obsessed with their youthful heydays. There’s no sense of comeback desperation. Instead, she appears deeply rooted in who she is now: someone curious about opportunities up ahead and grateful about where she has landed.When I asked her to reflect on the broader arc of her life and career, and what she hopes others might take from it as they face their own crossroads, she shared this: “Hopefully that they can take from it that the challenges don’t represent an end,” she said. “That they see that as opportunities to keep moving forward and striving. And that there’s always more.”It felt less like advice and more like her lived truth, especially coming from someone whose life has unfolded so publicly, under a microscope that existed long before empathy became part of the cultural conversation.That forward-looking mindset clearly informs her recent work. Moore spoke animatedly about the reward of allowing herself to be challenged creatively.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1767341673319LANDMAN_201_EM_0407_02027_RT_f.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Demi Moore in &#x27;Landman.&#x27; Handout</div>“As always, it’s the progression and the opportunity to really step in and be pushed out of your comfort zone. To try something different,” she said. “It’s the diversity within the roles. I love finding the different balance of being able to step into something as extreme as &#x27;The Substance&#x27; to something like &#x27;Landman&#x27; that’s also a completely different form of working.”She continued, growing more assured as she spoke about what she liked most about the parts that are being offered to her now.“To be able to have the longer time to find, develop, and explore a character, which is really new for me, to then being able to do something that’s out of the box and more comedic.”This, clearly, was her comfort zone: the work. Talking about herself required more care, more pauses.When the conversation turned to &quot;The Substance,&quot; a project that has come to define this phase of her career, Moore was candid about not knowing how it would land when she first signed on.“Obviously, &#x27;The Substance,&#x27; it made a huge impact,” she said. “But going into it, I didn’t know if that was going to be the outcome. But I knew the experience, regardless, would be life-changing and important for me.”What stood out was her insistence that the most pivotal choices came before validation, before anyone declared this Demi Moore era a renaissance.“I stepped in to do &#x27;Landman&#x27; way before &#x27;The Substance&#x27; had come out,” she said. “Nothing yet was there. And so I think that I just am really sitting with so much gratitude at the continuous opportunities that are unfolding.”After we signed off, I grabbed my coat and headed out into the New York cold night, thinking about underestimated fuel and the women who endured systems that never made space for softness yet found it anyway.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1767341702107LANDMAN_110_EM_0325_01098_RT_f.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Demi Moore in &#x27;Landman.&#x27; Handout</div>

Demi Moore opens up about resilience, creative risk, and embracing life’s next chapter in a candid conversation about her new projects, personal growth, and the lessons learned from being underestimated.

Demi Moore opens up about resilience, creative risk, and embracing life’s next chapter in a candid conversation about her new projects, personal growth, and the lessons learned from being underestimated.

Here in Hollywood: Demi Moore on life’s ups and downs, and how we get up

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Here in Hollywood: Demi Moore on life’s ups and downs, and how we get up

Yong Chavez,

ABS-CBN News North America

Published Jan 02, 2026 04:59 PM PHT

Read More:

Here in Hollywood

Yong Chavez

Demi Moore

Landman

The Substance

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