Opening this week from STX is Hustlers, starring Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians), Jennifer Lopez (Second Act), Julia Stiles (Silver Linings Playbook), Keke Palmer (Scream Queens), Lili Reinhart (Riverdale), singer Lizzo, and Cardi B., making her film debut.
Written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, The story centers around a group of strippers, led by an aging and ambitious single mother, as they lie, steal, and hustle dozens of wealthy men when the sex industry bottoms out during the late-2000s financial crisis. A journalist covering the story for a magazine interviews one of the ringleaders and tries to figure out where it all went wrong. The film is inspired by the article published by New York Magazine entitled “The Hustlers at Scores” written by Jessica Pressler.
The film will also feature Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King), Trace Lysette (Transparent), Mette Towley (Cats), and Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale).
For Palmer, it’s another opportunity to flex her dramatic chops. Recently she starred in ‘Pimp,’ which won Best Film at the 2018 Urbanworld Film Festival and she had a recurring role on the Fox series ‘Star.’ Palmer was just co-host with Michael Strahan and Sarah Haines for the third hour of Good Morning America, which will now be known as Strahan, Sara, & Keke.
What attracted you to the film?
Keke Palmer: It was the fact that this was a project that was real. But it was definitely intense in moments, but also had humor and lightness to it because I think that’s really how life can be no matter what you’re going through and how the moment may be, there’s always a little bit of lightness that brings us through life. I thought the character of Mercedes could be that in the movie, and that’s something I really wanted to explore. Just to give you the backstory of how it came to me, very normally, “Hey, want you to meet the director. She’s interested in you for this role. This is the synopsis. Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu.” We meet and I’m just immediately in love with her, because I love that she was so specific on who she wanted to be a part of this movie. And that, of course, made me feel great, because she recognized all the elements about me that, I’ve kind of evolved more into to know my career, and she wanted all that to be a part of the movie and the character. So I want to jump on.
Can you describe Mercedes?
Keke Palmer: She’s a young girl, just trying to make it. I know that pretty much everybody in life, somebody tried to make it and she was trying to get her man out of jail. She’s she has her own struggles. Every girl has her own struggles, forcing her to be in these pressure cooker positions of how do I make money fast? Just trying to deal with her circumstances and not really having all the options or the resources to know the best way to go about that. But she’s a good person at the end of the day.
What part of the character is you?
Keke Palmer: I’ll say she has an innocence to her. Though she’s a stripper. You should not maybe as innocent as Lily’s character but she has a sweetness to her that is a very young and dumb. You know that’s what I like about her. It. I think I have a little bit of myself in that the belief that I have in people and situations. I think we all need to try to maintain that into and to see the kind of life that Mercedes has lived. There’s not a bitterness or jadedness to her, she still has that lightness and that useless to her. And so I feel like that’s similar to me.
Lately, you’ve been taking these dark roles. Why say yes?
Keke Palmer: Garnering that attention oR that early success, all you have as a kid actor is kid stuff. I mean, of course, I played a little bit, you know, during the war cat, me and my mom was on drugs or Akeelah and the Bee story, a drama but children. There’s only so many type of stories or ideas that are out there for kids. And they’re usually very light. So as you get older, there’s nothing you can do. First of all, you mature and there are other things that interest you. And then there’s more out there for you. It’s a bigger audience, when you’re an adult. And so you dive into it as a as an actor, it’s a very interesting, it’s fun, especially when you’re playing a character, so outside of yourself, but even to your point, when you see a character that you know, you get opportunity to do a little bit what you haven’t done, like, you know, I never really played a something that was seen as sexy, and I don’t really consider myself as that. So to get the opportunity to play in that and to try to feel what that might be. It’s it’s a fun experience and intriguing.
Can you talk about working with the cast?
Keke Palmer: For me, working with Jennifer, Constance, and Lili was amazing. Lily and I were closer in age but I felt like we all were the same. I grew up watching Jennifer and of course, I’ve seen Constance’s work. But to be that close to somebody that I was a fan of before I even thought of entering the industry, it was very special to me. And just see how she was able to work on that I’m a very much of an observer, she was able to maintain I think all the important parts of life. She’s able to be a boss, and where her boss hat is an integral part, in her creativity, she’s able to be in the creativity as the character. She’s also able to be a real person and be kind and nurturing to others. All those things, I think we’re it was, it’s awesome for anybody to see, Constance, just to see how deeply invested she is in her craft, I relate totally to that. And her daringness is to take on this role. Anytime you’re playing a stripper, or something, that scene or being too sexy, is very intimidating. Because it’s somebody else’s perception of what that is or looks like. We all were trying to make sure okay, what does that look like for us and our characters, and just to be in that with them, it creates a scenario or bonding.
With this film being the first for Cardi B. and Lizzo, was there a point where you or any of the cast talked to them about the craft?
Keke Palmer: I wouldn’t say that they needed any help. I think we had the most scenes between the two with Cardi. Lizzo has a very just big personality and not in a sense of like of obnoxious, but she’s kind of the person that just jumps in in any situation. She was just excited and enjoying it and it was great to see her in that vibe. I just got to be around her. She’s a great energy. With Cardi, I think people often see her as just this animated personality and though that is an aspect of her, she also has a serious respect for other people and what they do. To see her she come on the set, she was here, “Hi, everybody,” but she also was kind of shy and wanted to make sure that she was doing her part. We had conversations on set and she was like, “Man, this is how long it takes. And this how y’all do this? This is really some acting stuff.” She has success in her own right. I thought it was very awesome to see that she took it so seriously. She didn’t feel like,” Oh, this is another opportunity.”She really felt honored to be part of it.
Did you have to get in shape physically for this role?
Keke Palmer: I’m one of those people where I go through those periods in my life where I’m very, very, like working out and then other periods that I’m not and this was right when I got this part right, in a period where I wasn’t really focused on how was looking. Luckily, your muscle memory is there. So I definitely did get very anxious of making sure that I didn’t eat anything crazy, before I had a big scene of a specific look or attire. I definitely was more conscious, just because this is, and you got to be real with yourself, the part where I’m gonna be showing a lot of skin. If I unless my character is meant to be out of shape, I got to look somewhat in shape.
Did you do research?
Keke Palmer: I didn’t need to do research because I’ve been to many strip clubs in my adult life. IN the music industry, it’s not much different; especially if you in the hip hop, r&b world. The strip club is a part of the life, it’s a part of that lifestyle. So for me, I’ve been in all types of strip clubs. I’ve been to the fancy ones. I’ve been to those more hood ones. I’ve been in the ones that look like you had a damn Cirque du Soleil show. I’ve been to the ones where they wouldn’t barely moving. So I really have a lot of understanding of that whole strip world.
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