Jennifer Lopez Reveals the Secrets to Her Hustlers Striptease

How did Jennifer Lopez mentally and physically prepare to shoot the sexiest film scene of the year—a dazzling striptease set to Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” in Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers? With about two and a half months’ worth of pole training, ample hydration (via a bejeweled cup Lopez custom ordered), and, as the superstar tells Condé Nast in a new video below, a professional athlete’s discipline.

On the day she filmed the grueling pole sequence, Lopez woke up even earlier than usual to hit the gym. “I wanted my body to be warmed up and loose,” Lopez says, explaining that the trip preceded her hour-long hair and makeup routine, which involved the application of a fake tattoo and piercing. The actress—who is receiving awards buzz—warmed up even more on location, before choreographing the tricky onstage camera blocking with Scafaria. Given the strenuousness of the dance—which culminates with Lopez inverting her body on the pole—Lopez said she and the filmmaker “talked about shooting it like a stunt.”


Lopez recalls that she performed the dance—in front of a room full of background actors, wearing a G-string that had to be sewn onto her—“many, many times…. At one point I was like, Okay, I can’t do that part anymore.” Before wrapping the scene, Lopez took a look at the playback to make sure she was satisfied with the result. “Then I went into the trailer and put ice on my shoulder.”
After shooting the sequence, Lopez wasn’t finished for the day. Given the movie’s 29-day filming schedule, the striptease overlapped with large locker-room scenes involving Cardi B. and Lizzo. “I was exhausted after doing the dance, but I was energized,” Lopez says of feeling revived by her costars’ excitement. “We finished around, I’d say, three in the morning.”
In between shots, Lopez reveals that her trick to staying in character as Ramona—a savvy stripper based on a real-life New Yorker—was one particular prop: “There was a blinged-out lighter that I would hold every day,” Lopez explains. “Sometimes I would smoke one of the cigarettes or something and just kind of stay in the mind-set of Ramona.”
Given how long Lopez was away from home each day to film Hustlers, Lopez made special on-set allowances to stay connected with her fiancé, Alex Rodriguez, and children. “My family—Alex and the kids—know they can call me anytime,” Lopez says, adding that there is only one time she won’t pick up the phone. “If I am literally in front of the cameras that is the only time I don’t take the call. And then the minute they yell cut, someone tells me, The kids called, Alex called. And I call them right back. That never goes away. You’re a mom no matter what.”
Watch the above video to learn more about Lopez’s daily rituals, and the sweet way she stays close with her children—even if they’re already asleep when she gets home.

At the Toronto International Film Festival this month, Scafaria told Vanity Fair which films she watched as inspiration for this particular Hustlers sequence. “We loved the idea that Ramona is a fighter entering the ring,” the filmmaker explained. “We didn’t watch any stripper movies. We watched sports movies, friendship movies—like Clueless, A League of Their Own. Gangster films…movies about individuals’ relationships with their bodies and being a physical force—like Creed, Raging Bull, Flash Dance, Dirty Dancing. We were trying to get into these women’s heads and tell the story from their perspective as much as possible. I think there are obviously sexier moments, but I still feel the characters are responsible for those moments. They’re in control.” Source: vanityfair