The lack of nominations for Jennifer Lopez’s performance in Hustlers at this year’s Oscars was regarded by many as a blatant snub, and the director Lorene Scafaria was also among those who were deemed deserving of a place among the nominees but ultimately missed out.
In a recent interview, though, it’s Constance Wu (also lauded for her performance) who has revealed her dedication to her role in the stripper crime film.
Specifically, Wu went “undercover” to perform as a stripper for a night, she tells Kelly Clarkson on her show.
“I gave lap dances to strangers,” she adds. “I’m not lying! I made $600 my first night.”
“I am not being funny, and it was not funny. I put, like, fake tattoos on my neck, I changed my hair…”
Wu also installed a stripper pole in her living room for a few months and took private pole-dancing lessons in preparation for the role, but doing the real thing, in the real setting, apparently helped her to understand the atmosphere for her performance.
“The stripping helped me to know… that feeling,” she says. “You can’t duplicate it, the first time you walk into a club and say, ‘Hey, I would like to have a job here,’ and then you go work that night.”
Watch the interview clip below, or read Dazed’s interview with Lorene Scafaria on how she helped prepare the cast and subvert the male gaze.