section_path: Career/Independent films and varied ventures (2008–2023)
section_name: Independent films and varied ventures (2008–2023)
paragraph_text: Independent films and varied ventures (2008–2023)
  
  Moore made her directorial debut with the coming-of-age short film Streak (2008), which starred her daughter Rumer and screened at the Nashville Film Festival. In 2009, Moore played a daughter helping her father deal with age-related health problems in the dramedy Happy Tears, as well as a stealth marketer in the comedy The Joneses. The latter film was largely highlighted, with critics concluding that it "benefits from its timely satire of consumer culture" as well as a "strong" performance from Moore. That year, she acted in the 9th edition of 24 Hour Plays on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre. In Bunraku (2010), a film Moore described as a "big action adventure," she starred as a courtesan and a femme fatale with a secret past.
  
  Moore portrayed a chief risk management officer at a large Wall Street investment bank during the initial stages of the 2008 financial crisis in the corporate drama Margin Call (2011), in which she was part of an ensemble cast that included Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker, and Paul Bettany. The film was favourably received, and earned the cast nominations for Best Ensemble from the Gotham Awards, the Phoenix Film Critics Society and the Central Ohio Film Critics Association. She was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award in the category of Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film for her work as a director in a segment of the Lifetime anthology film Five (2011).
  
  During this period, Moore's career was noted to have shifted into "smaller movies and smaller roles". She played a "brash and overtly sexual second wife" in the black comedy Another Happy Day (2011), mothers in the coming-of-age films LOL (2012) and Very Good Girls (2013), an old flame of a quick-draw killer in the Western drama Forsaken (2015), the daughter of a retired high school teacher in the road comedy Wild Oats (2016), and the neglected wife of an indicted businessman in the drama Blind (2017). David Fear of Rolling Stone described her as "someone who, despite the fact that she still graces screens, makes you feel as if they’ve gone into self-exile in order to survive."
  
  Between 2017 and 2018, Moore had a recurring arc as a mysterious take-charge nurse on Empire. The comedy Rough Night (2017) featured her as one half of a swinger couple seducing a member of a bachelorette party. Alonso Duralde for The Wrap called her "wonderfully skeevy", but Tim Grierson for Screen Daily considered her part to be a "wobbly subplot" of the film. Her only wide theatrical release of the decade, Rough Night made $47.3 million globally. She played a social worker in the Hindi-language drama Love Sonia (2018), and an unethical CEO in the black comedy Corporate Animals (2019).
  
  Moore's memoir, Inside Out, in which she discusses her childhood, relationships and personal struggles, was published in September 2019, by HarperCollins. The book reached number one on The New York Times ' combined print & e-book nonfiction best-sellers list and the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.
  
  In 2020, Moore played a protective matriarch in the thriller Songbird, recurred as the mother of a subversive outsider in three episodes of Brave New World, and was among the celebrities who made cameo appearances modeling lingerie at Rihanna 's Savage x Fenty Vol. 2 fashion show. That year, she served as a producer and played the title role in the podcast Dirty Diana. Moore recorded the project from her bathroom and saw it as an opportunity to explore sexuality through a sex positive message.
  
  Moore's supporting turn as an eccentric neighbor in the musical drama Please Baby Please (2022) earned her positive notices. Tara Bradly of Irish Times found her to be a "marvel" in her role. Writing for Variety, Manuel Betancourt felt that the film "understands one should always give Demi Moore a movie star entrance we’re encouraged to get lost in the fantasy Moore creates for us." She played a cameo as Nicolas Cage 's in-movie fictional ex-wife in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022).
  
  Moore made her directorial debut with the coming-of-age short film Streak (2008), which starred her daughter Rumer and screened at the Nashville Film Festival. In 2009, Moore played a daughter helping her father deal with age-related health problems in the dramedy Happy Tears, as well as a stealth marketer in the comedy The Joneses. The latter film was largely highlighted, with critics concluding that it "benefits from its timely satire of consumer culture" as well as a "strong" performance from Moore. That year, she acted in the 9th edition of 24 Hour Plays on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre. In Bunraku (2010), a film Moore described as a "big action adventure," she starred as a courtesan and a femme fatale with a secret past.
  
  Moore portrayed a chief risk management officer at a large Wall Street investment bank during the initial stages of the 2008 financial crisis in the corporate drama Margin Call (2011), in which she was part of an ensemble cast that included Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker, and Paul Bettany. The film was favourably received, and earned the cast nominations for Best Ensemble from the Gotham Awards, the Phoenix Film Critics Society and the Central Ohio Film Critics Association. She was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award in the category of Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film for her work as a director in a segment of the Lifetime anthology film Five (2011).
  
  During this period, Moore's career was noted to have shifted into "smaller movies and smaller roles". She played a "brash and overtly sexual second wife" in the black comedy Another Happy Day (2011), mothers in the coming-of-age films LOL (2012) and Very Good Girls (2013), an old flame of a quick-draw killer in the Western drama Forsaken (2015), the daughter of a retired high school teacher in the road comedy Wild Oats (2016), and the neglected wife of an indicted businessman in the drama Blind (2017). David Fear of Rolling Stone described her as "someone who, despite the fact that she still graces screens, makes you feel as if they’ve gone into self-exile in order to survive."
  
  Between 2017 and 2018, Moore had a recurring arc as a mysterious take-charge nurse on Empire. The comedy Rough Night (2017) featured her as one half of a swinger couple seducing a member of a bachelorette party. Alonso Duralde for The Wrap called her "wonderfully skeevy", but Tim Grierson for Screen Daily considered her part to be a "wobbly subplot" of the film. Her only wide theatrical release of the decade, Rough Night made $47.3 million globally. She played a social worker in the Hindi-language drama Love Sonia (2018), and an unethical CEO in the black comedy Corporate Animals (2019).
  
  Moore's memoir, Inside Out, in which she discusses her childhood, relationships and personal struggles, was published in September 2019, by HarperCollins. The book reached number one on The New York Times ' combined print & e-book nonfiction best-sellers list and the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.
  
  In 2020, Moore played a protective matriarch in the thriller Songbird, recurred as the mother of a subversive outsider in three episodes of Brave New World, and was among the celebrities who made cameo appearances modeling lingerie at Rihanna 's Savage x Fenty Vol. 2 fashion show. That year, she served as a producer and played the title role in the podcast Dirty Diana. Moore recorded the project from her bathroom and saw it as an opportunity to explore sexuality through a sex positive message.
  
  Moore's supporting turn as an eccentric neighbor in the musical drama Please Baby Please (2022) earned her positive notices. Tara Bradly of Irish Times found her to be a "marvel" in her role. Writing for Variety, Manuel Betancourt felt that the film "understands one should always give Demi Moore a movie star entrance we’re encouraged to get lost in the fantasy Moore creates for us." She played a cameo as Nicolas Cage 's in-movie fictional ex-wife in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022).