Deadline reported that Liotta was set to star in the film in February of 2022, and in an interview with Variety in 2024, Fargeat confirmed that she ended up recasting the role with Quaid. While Quaid is honestly pretty fantastic in the part, Liotta would have been even better. Playing a certain kind of loud-mouthed, sleazy scumbag was right up Liotta’s alley; there’s a reason why the clip of him laughing in “Goodfellas” has become such a popular reaction gif. He’s good at brash and obnoxious, and he would have been absolutely incredible as Harvey. Just imagining him chowing down on seafood while talking a mile-a-minute gives me the creeps, without any of Quaid’s real-life menace peeking through. It’s really a shame that we didn’t get to see Liotta in the role, though at least Fargeat and Quaid managed to make it work.
Thankfully for everyone involved, the performances that matter most in “The Substance” are those of Moore and Qualley, both of whom put in some of the best work of their careers so any other bits of good acting are just icing on the cake. We can always dream about the movie that might have been, just like we can always dream about “Lethal Weapon” starring Bruce Willis or “Collateral” starring Adam Sandler (yes, really), but in the end, we get the versions we get. Until someone figures out how to hop timelines like “Doctor Strange” or “Rick and Morty,” that’s all we’re going to get, and that’s okay.