During the 2020 awards season, everyone and their mother thought Jennifer Lopez was an Oscars lock for her performance in Hustlers — and J.Lo was apparently no exception!
The superstar’s high hopes were revealed in her new Netflix documentary Halftime, which was filmed while the multi-hyphenate was prepping for her Super Bowl Halftime performance — and expecting a prestigious acting nomination to come to fruition.
Near the start of the doc, the Let’s Get Loud singer spoke about getting cast in Hustlers and explaining why it was such an important role for her. She said, while footage showed her breaking a sweat during rehearsals to play stripper Ramona:
“When I got Hustlers, it was exciting. It was gritty. It had substance. And that’s something that I fought for in my career… As a producer, one of my goals is to make movies that entertain people but that also have something to say.”
After the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2019, people were saying J.Lo was a strong contender to score an Oscar nomination. She went on to earn a Golden Globe nod in December 2019, but lost out to Laura Dern.
In the doc, the Bronx native seemed saddened by the loss as she reunited with her team following the ceremony. She said in a confessional:
“I really thought I had a chance. I felt like I left everybody down. They wanted it so bad, for me, for them, it’s a validation of all the work they do too. Most of them have been with me for 20 years, since Selena.”
Lopez appeared to be getting worked up in the weeks leading up to the Oscar nominations. At one point, she grew misty eyed as she read an article excited that the “criminally underrated performer” was finally getting “her due from prestige film outlets” because of Hustlers.
Sadly, though, things didn’t pan out the way she hoped. At rehearsals for the Super Bowl the day the noms were revealed, Lopez told her music director Kim Burse that she didn’t sleep well the night before because everyone kept talking about the upcoming nominations.
She explained:
“I went back to sleep and I dreamt that it happened and when I woke up I realized it was a dream. I picked up my phone, the first thing I was from [her sister Linda] and she was like, ‘I hate these f**king people’ and I was like, ‘Oh s**t.'”
Oh s**t, indeed.
J.Lo got super candid in a confessional, admitting:
“The truth is I really started to think I was going to get nominated… I got my hopes up because so many people were telling me I would be and then it didn’t happen. I had to ask myself, what does that mean? I do this not for an award or to do my hits up there and seem like I’m the best performer in the world. No, I do this to tell stories and to affect change and to connect with people and make them feel things because I want to feel something, that’s why I do it, because I want to make the world a better place I my own little way.”
Despite the upset, the superstar said she was going to “keep working” and would be “unafraid to get loud and use my voice in the best way that I can.”
An amazing reaction. Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised: gurl didn’t become J.Lo by letting one disappointment stop her from shining!
[Image via STX Films]
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