Courtney Love has backed Jennifer Lopez to win an Oscar for her performance in Hustlers, Lorene Scafaria’s film following a group of former strippers who scam wealthy Wall Street bros out of millions of dollars as revenge for the 2008 financial crash.

Hustlers was expected to be a crowd pleaser since it was announced – who doesn’t want to see the architects of global financial ruin getting rinsed? – but the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last week created a buzz around Lopez’s turn as the savvy Ramona in particular, and talk of top awards gained more traction. 

Love spoke enthusiastically about Lopez after a screening in Hollywood, backing her for an Academy award: “You blew everyone’s minds tonight at @arclightcinemas Hollywood,” she said in an Instagram post, adding: “Diva, true movie star! Hope you win the Oscar. You were … oh.. my.. god. got no words... ”

In an interview earlier this week on American radio station SiriusXM, Lopez began tearing up at the host’s suggestions that she might be nominated for an Oscar for the first time in her career. “You work hard your whole life and you wonder if anybody notices, in a sense, on that level, to be in that conversation,” she said.

Lopez added: “You have dreams as a little girl of being there. Just to even talk about it – we’re not even there – but just to talk about it is amazing.” The singer stars alongside Constance Wu, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart and Cardi B in Hustlers which is tipped to perform well at the box office this weekend.

Catch a clip from Jennifer Lopez’s interview on SiriusXM below: