JLo Hustles for Hustlers

Jennifer Lopez has been extremely busy promoting her new movie, Hustlers! Hustlers has been doing extremely well so far. It is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with the following critic’s consensus: “Led by a career-best performance from Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers is a uniquely empowering heist drama with depth and intelligence to match its striking visual appeal.” It is also doing very well at the box office, with projections now calling for a $32 million opening weekend (a record for both Jennifer (in live action films) and STXfilms).

Here are some highlights from Jennifer’s extensive promo tour:

GMA, Fallon Tonight Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3, The History of Music Video Dancing with Jimmy Fallon, Live with Kelly & Ryan Part 1 and Part 2, TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, Strahan Sara & Keke Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4, On Air With Ryan Seacrest,  ETOnline, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, The View, Late Night with Seth Meyers Part 1 & Part 2, NBC6 in Miami, NowThis

Print: The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly (digital cover with Constance Wu), Entertainment Weekly #2, Inquirer Part 1, Inquirer Part 2

Of course, don’t miss her behind the scenes videos on her Youtube channel!

Rave Reviews for JLo in Hustlers!

Jennifer Lopez’s newest film, Hustlers, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday! Hustlers, which will be released in theaters on Friday, opened to rave reviews and awards chatter for Jennifer’s depiction of Ramona! Jennifer spoke about the Oscar talk with the Los Angeles Times and Variety.

Here are some review snapshots:

“That Oscar chatter for Jennifer Lopez’s revelatory, nuanced, and emotional turn as a brilliant con artist and better exotic dancer is no joke.” – IndieWire

“From Lopez, it’s the kind of dynamo movie star performance that gets rarer and rarer, where a character so perfectly fits how we view a performer but still upends every expectation. […] She should be a serious Oscar contender. – The Daily Beast

“But not enough can be written about how stunning Lopez is in perhaps her best performance to date. Playing Ramona with understated confidence, the actress creates a tough cookie who keeps things light; she doesn’t question the rules of the game — she has studied them so she can break them properly. Far from an audacious, real housewife type, she represents a group of hardworking single mothers across America quietly struggling to provide for their children. It’s a nuanced depiction rarely seen in crowd-pleasing films like this.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“A multitalent who has never been less than the most electric entity on screen in anything she’s done, Lopez has more than a decade on her character, and yet the superstar — who got her start dancing as a Fly Girl on “In Living Color” — astonishes, showing Olympic-medal moves in her introductory scene.” – Variety

“Most of the cast, particularly the inimitable Jennifer Lopez, delivers a performance as unapologetically glamorous as it is achingly human. Lopez is the gravitational pull of this movie, with everything else (including an astounding parade of A-list cameos) orbiting around the blinding heat of her glory. If you think equating Lopez to the sun is an exaggeration, then you haven’t seen this movie.” – Mashable

“The film really, truly belongs to J-Lo. Blessed with one of the most memorable entrances in recent cinema history (pole-dancing to Fiona Apple’s Criminal and met with a swarm of money), Lopez slinks through Hustlers with a deceptive ease, as in control of the film as her character is of her situation.”- The Guardian

“You can’t take your eyes off Lopez, not just because she’s beautiful but also because her beauty has so many bittersweet dimensions: This is a part that required a diva, a movie star, but one who’d seen her share of frustration and failure. The role of Ramona especially resonates in the hands of a mega-watt celebrity whose own physical attributes have been mocked and exaggerated in gross disproportion to her talent.” – Los Angeles Times

“Lopez is obviously a multi-hyphenate star but she goes supernova here in her best cinematic showing since 1998’s “Out of Sight.”” – USA Today

“Lopez, who also produced, is particularly fierce, owning the film the way her character owns that stripper pole, strutting into every scene and only leaving once you’re begging her not to.” – ScreenDaily

“Lopez struts away with Lorene Scarfaria’s smart, sexy film about a pack of strippers running a very American scam.” – Vanity Fair

“Jennifer Lopez brings more than body glitter to smart strip-club drama Hustlers” – EW

 

JLo Covers Variety

Jennifer Lopez is on the cover of the latest issue of Variety. Jennifer covered a number of interesting topics in the interview. Here’s a short excerpt:

In fact, Lopez is still looking for ways to expand her reach. She’s thinking about directing her first movie with the upcoming drama “The Godmother,” in which she has the lead role, for STX Entertainment. “To star and direct is going to take a year or two out of my life,” says Lopez with a hint of dread. “I just need to be ready to do that.” And she’s recording new music for her next vehicle, “Marry Me,” a Universal Pictures comedy about a pop star who has to navigate fame in the social-media age.

Read the full interview and watch a behind the scenes video at Variety.com.

JLo & STX Team Up on “The Godmother”

STX announced today that Jennifer Lopez will star in “The Godmother,” a drama that chronicles the rise-and-fall of Griselda “La Madrina” Blanco who outsmarted and out-hustled the men around her to rise from an impoverished childhood in Colombia to become one of the world’s biggest drug lords. Griselda was reportedly worth more than $2 billion and was a key figurehead in Miami’s ruthless and murderous Cocaine Cowboy Wars.

“I’ve been forever fascinated by the story of Griselda Blanco and jumped at the chance to play her on screen,” said Jennifer in a press release. “She is all things we look for in storytelling and dynamic characters – notorious, ambitious, conniving, chilling. In a genre dominated by legendary kingpins, I’m eager to shine a spotlight on this anti-hero and excited to partner with STX for the third time so we can bring this compelling, complicated story to life.”

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Jennifer “could make her directorial debut with “The Godmother”, though she has not yet committed to helming the project”.

The screenplay is written by Regina Corrado and Terence Winter. In addition to starring, Jennifer will produce alongside Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Benny Medina and Julie Yorn.

In somewhat related news, Jennifer’s next film, “Hustlers”, will debut at the Toronto Film Festival in September!