Jennifer Lopez sat down with The Breakfast Club crew to talk about her upcoming film Hustlers, which will star a dream cast of Lopez, Constance Wu, and Cardi B as New York strippers who steal from male clients. In addition to talking about how A-Rod used to have her in his phone as just “The Bronx” and whether or not she’ll ever make a movie about her life (“I still have to do a lot more before my story is told,” she says), Lopez also talked about why her Hustlers role is so different for her. Spoiler, it’s because she’s playing a bad person!
You know I get a lot of script submissions and different things and I just felt like the role was a gritty, good role for me. I thought, oh, I’ve never done anything like this and it’s scary to me, I’ll tell you the truth, it’s a scary role for me to take on because I’ve never really exposed myself in this way. I’ve always played, in my romantic comedies, the good person, the person on the good side of the law… This character that I’m playing is a little bit more on the bad side of things.
She also talks about her relationship with Cardi B, who will act in the movie in her first acting role and was also her pole-dancing guardian angel of sorts when Lopez had to learn pole work for her role.
We’re both from the Bronx, we’re both Latina, we both had to find our way. I started as a dancer, she started as a dancer, maybe in different ways. I used to watch her on Instagram before she had music out and she was just like how the girls I grew up with talked.
As for her and A-Rod, Lopez also explained what makes their relationship tick (and it’s not the fact tat they’re both Leos.)
It’s hard when the Leos come out. We’re both so bossy, strong, alpha, so the combining of that…I think we have so much respect for each other because of that because we just love each other more. I’m like, you’re a beast. He’s like, YOU’RE a beast… I have never been with somebody who grinds in the way I do on that level, where I’m like you’re driving me crazy. You need to slow down. Never have I said that to anybody because I work on a level that’s fueled by such passion that it’s never enough for me. But he’s like that too, that’s why he’s one of the greatest.
Frankly they both sound like workaholics but I’m glad they have each other.
And of course Charlamagne Tha God also couldn’t resist asking Lopez about Jose Canseco recently alleging that A-Rod had cheated on her, to which she responded gracefully that she doesn’t really care.
It doesn’t matter. I know what the truth is. I know who he is, he knows who I am. We’re just happy. We’re not going to let other people come out and tell us what our relationship is. I know what our relationship is.
Before she left, she also addressed her widely criticized Motown tribute at the 2019 Grammys, which was ridiculed for not including black singers (and, at least to my ears, the fact that whatever vocal track she was performing to barely sounded like her voice.)
No, it was the right thing to do. It’s funny because it’s surprised me but at the same time it didn’t. I was like, okay, so what do you do in this? Do you back down and just let people who are bullying you online not make you do something you were gonna do and that you want to do and that you love? My kids were in the car when we got the call and they were like mommy, why don’t they want you to do it? For a minute I was going to drop out and I spoke to the producers and I spoke to Barry Gordy and spoke to Stevie Wonder [and they said] please do it. Motown music was for everybody, we made music for everybody, and you were inspired by it and you know all these songs.
Barry’s been to all my shows and he said I can’t think of anybody I’d want to have do it. I love the way you perform, this is amazing… I had a great time doing it and we celebrated afterwards and we brought down the house that night…Part of the fear of going out there was overcome but also validated by people just enjoying music and dancing and performing.