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| “ | Pretty girls should always smile! | „ |
| ~ Harvey to Sue on New Year's Eve. |
Harvey is the overarching antagonist of The Substance. He is a sexist and vulgar television studio executive, who coldly fires Elisabeth Sparkle due to her age and happily hires Sue over her upon her appearance.
He was portrayed by Dennis Quaid, who also played Corporal Gallo in Pandorum, Ely Vaughn in Beneath the Darkness and Charlie Peck in The Intruder.
Personality[]
Harvey seems incapable of talking or gesturing without being loud and over-the-top. He is extremely misogynistic and will bad-mouth women both behind their backs and to their faces. Despite this, he claims to have a wife. He is just as disrespectful to his female staff as he is to the actresses he manages, shortening his personal assistant Isabella's name to "Cindy" (upon even remembering it), claiming it is too long.
He proves to be a shallow, obnoxious, sleazy man who is part of the reason why Elisabeth starts to feel bad about herself in the first place and is mostly just concerned with finding the youngest, hottest actress for their show. Although he takes a liking to Sue and is even considerate when it comes to things like her “scheduling issues”, it is clear that it is mostly due to her youth/appearance along with the other deals they have made for the show and nothing that suggests genuine loyalty. It is also quite possible that after the events of the film that he will receive no comeuppance for his treatment of Elisabeth and being indirectly responsible for her demise, and will simply go on to follow the same pattern he did with her (finding a young, attractive actress to be in his shows and discarding her once she reaches a conventionally unattractive age range).
Biography[]
The Substance[]
Harvey is first seen using the men's restroom while on the phone with a colleague. Unaware that Elisabeth is using a stall due to the women's restroom being out of order, he demands that his colleague find a "hot and young" actress to replace Elisabeth on her aerobics show, all the while cruelly insulting her and her age. He later holds a lunch with Elisabeth and tells her, while messily eating a shrimp seafood meal, that she is to be let go because people always want something new and that "renewal stops" at her age of 50. When asked to elaborate by Elisabeth, he struggles to do so before noticing a colleague of his, allowing him to make an excuse to leave the conversation.
Harvey is later seen meeting with Sue in his office. He gleefully states that she is hired and states she is set to air her new show in two weeks from their meeting. When Sue brings up her "scheduling issues" of needing to be out of town every other week to take care of her sick mother (in reality due to the seven day switch limit between her and Elisabeth's bodies), Harvey ominously pulls her in close and states they are desperate to have a woman like her for the show and will work around whatever issues she has in regards to scheduling. After Elisabeth switches back to her original body and heads to the studio, Harvey gleefully approaches her holding a box of her belongings, asking her where she has been. He also presents her with a giftwrapped present as a going-away gift, stating it was his wife's idea. As her walks away, he insincerely states that it is always good to see her.
Later, after Sue switches back a few more times and finds her morning show has been cancelled, Harvey calls her into his office and states that people love her so much that she is not only going to have a new show soon, but she will be hosting the New Year's Show with 50 million viewers live. This causes Sue to begin heavily abusing the balance and going beyond the seven-day limit in order to meet Harvey's expectations.
On the night of the New Year's show, Harvey is seen complementing Sue in her New Year's dress. He then meets her in the hallway and introduces her to the shareholders. Sue, who has lost several teeth and is rapidly deteriorating due to killing Elizabeth in a fit of rage and thus losing her only source of life-saving stabilizer, is forced to give a closed-mouthed smile to reassure Harvey that all is well. After he and the shareholders are distracted by the sight of the dancers running by them, she then races home to use the Substance once more on herself.
At the New Year's show, Harvey is then seen in the audience with the shareholders bragging to them about how Sue is his "most beautiful creation" and he has shaped her for success. However, he soon joins the rest of the audience in shunned shock and disgust at the deformed appearance of Monstro Elisasue, especially once her glued-on mask falls off. Once the audience erupts into chaos and an audience member decapitates Elisasue, Harvey is last seen shaking and yelling in anger as he is drenched in blood coming from the wounded creature. It's unknown what happened to Harvey after the events of the film, either he continued ruining other starlets' lives like he did with Elisabeth, or his career was tarnished due to what happened at the New Year's show.
Quotes[]
| “ | People are gonna love that. | „ |
| ~ Harvey on Sue's attractiveness and "pure heart". |
| “ | It's like when you see someone fart on screen. People just love that. I mean, that's just the way it is, c'est la vie. People are just people, and I have to give people what they want, that's what keeps the shareholders happy! And people always ask for something new. Renewal is inevitable, and at 50, well, it stops. | „ |
| ~ Harvey explaining why Elisabeth is being let go from her aerobics show. |
Trivia[]
- The late Ray Liotta was originally cast in the role of Harvey before he passed away in May 2022, which led to director Coralie Fargeat recasting the role with Dennis Quaid.