Jennifer Lopez is getting the best reviews of her career for Hustlers, which is saying something because she’s been in some very good movies (Selena, Out of Sight, that scene in Anaconda where the titular snake pukes out Jon Voight, who then winks). There’s even talk of an Oscar nomination. The response to her performance in the strip club-set drama, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival over the weekend, has been so overwhelming positive that it brought “tears” to her eyes.
“To wake up to that today was like, ‘OK!’ Obviously, I’m flattered. You work so hard your whole career,” Lopez told the Los Angeles Times following Hustlers‘ debut screening. “I’ve done so many movies and I’ve done so many roles that I’ve learned to not do them for anything except that I love doing them… It brings tears to your eyes. It’s like, ‘Oh! Somebody liked what I did!’ I love doing this and it doesn’t matter, but it does matter — it does make you feel like all my hard work is being recognized, and that’s nice.”
There’s one scene in particular that everyone in attendance for the TIFF premiere can’t stop talking about. It involves Jennifer Lopez, stripping, Fiona Apple’s 1997 hit “Criminal,” and… honestly, what else do you need. (That is not a question.)
What it feels like to watch Jennifer Lopez strip to Fiona Apple in #Hustlers https://t.co/RQZLieEYKd
— Joey Nolfi (@joeynolfi) September 8, 2019
and, YES, jennifer lopez dancing to fiona apple WILL come up in every conversation i have for at least the next 6 months. lorene scafaria knew what the girls wanted and deserved. #hustlers
— Chanelle Berlin (@chanelleberlin) September 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/BogartingMars/status/1170827373391925248
Jennifer Lopez strips to Fiona Apple in HUSTLERS and if you came of age in the 1990s you *will* explode
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) September 8, 2019
Just found out there’s a scene in Hustlers where Jennifer Lopez strips to Criminal by Fiona Apple. Taking a moment to be thankful
— Local Problematic Fave (@butchprivilege) September 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/4thgradenothing/status/1169344229916545024
Jennifer Lopez stripping to Fiona Apple is going to be the Halloween costume of 2019
— ilana kaplan (@lanikaps) September 8, 2019
It was Lopez’s decision to strip to the Tidal single. “One of Jennifer’s ideas was to dance to Fiona Apple’s ‘Criminal,’ but that had never been licensed for a film. And Fiona said yes. She’s probably a fan of Jen’s,” music supervisor Jason Markey told Vulture. Best of all, Apple pledged to donate all royalties from “Criminal” to the While They Wait fund, which helps “pay for necessities, cover immigration fees, and secure legal services for those who risked everything to be here while they wait to find out if they can stay.”
Lopez is helping to make the world a less-awful place, one strip dance at a time.
For more on Hustlers, read our interview with director Lorene Scafaria.
(Via the Los Angeles and Vulture)
