Demi Moore doesn’t want to be defined by the Brat Pack

Sometimes, all you need to land your breakthrough role is an exciting ride—at least, if you Demi Moore. The iconic actor shared how it all started in one Vanity fair‘S Career timeline ahead of her latest film matter, will hit theaters on September 20. Moore takes a trip down memory lane in this video, recalling her experiences filming memorable films like St. Elmo’s Fire, Ghost, And Indecent proposal.

Moore was actually leaving an audition for a John Hughes movie when she got her breakthrough role in Joel Schumacherfamous movie of the 80s St. Elmo’s Fire. “I could have been riding a motorbike,” Moore said, as Schumacher spotted her through the window, followed her and asked her to audition for the roles of international banking student and party girl Jules. Ironically, Moore starred in St. Elmo’s Fire with John Hughes regulars like Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham, And Sheedy ally, who created Hughes’s infamous Brat Pack. “No one wants to be called a brat. It’s not trendy or popular,” Moore said. “It felt like it humbled us or made us less serious. I think that motivated me to keep moving forward and not be tied to it — almost as if it didn’t define me.”

And determined she did not. Moore continued to chart his own path, taking a big step forward with Ghost, a supernatural romantic thriller about love and loss. “Conceptually, it is a comedy, thriller and romance,” she said. “And I think this could be wonderful, or it could be a real disaster. And that’s really exciting.” Luckily for Moore, Ghost followed the same path and became an instant classic, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1990 at the domestic box office and receiving five Oscar nominations. In the video, Moore recalls the first time she met her co-star, the late Patrick Swayze, and how she was drawn to her “beautiful combination of masculinity and strength, coupled with gentleness.” and sweet” him. In spite of Ghost was a critical and commercial success, it also allowed Moore the space to process the losses in his life. “I had experienced the loss of my father, but hadn’t really experienced it in a way that was healing and uplifting,” she said.

Afterward Ghost, Moore continues to make interesting and compelling choices, starring in indie films deadly thoughts, Aaron Sorkin‘S Some Good People, and of course, the scandalous porn opera Indecent proposal from the director Adrian Lyne. “Knowing that there are a lot of love scenes, the challenge was that it had to be done, not only tastefully, but also appropriate to the relationship,” Moore said. She recalls coming up with the idea of ​​approaching love scenes in a less prescriptive style than was common at the time. “Instead of saying ‘we can have this many nipples, we can have this many, you know, butts….’ For me, I would show up in scenes and still be in my head, instead of being free to really communicate emotions.” Moore recalls asking to be “a real collaborator” with Lyne and asking to see cuts of intimate scenes when all was said and done to see if anything was a bit too much for the idea. Does she like it? In the end, she was satisfied with the result: “In the end, I didn’t ask for anything.”