Masked singer
The layers surrounding Jennifer Lopez’s stripper dramedy Hustlers are slowly peeling off.
EW can exclusively reveal the first official poster for the Lorene Scafaria-directed film, which features the cast basking in the soft glow of sensual neon lights.
Among those featured on the poster is Crazy Rich Asians‘ Constance Wu, who leads the film as Destiny, a young woman who turns to stripping to support her grandmother. Lopez anchors the one-sheet as Ramona, a strong-willed veteran dancer who enlists Destiny’s help in concocting a plan to drug and scam their wealthy Wall Street clients out of untold sums of cash, while rising music star Lizzo and real-life ex-stripper-turned-rapper Cardi B appear as well, playing small roles as Ramona’s strip club colleagues named Liz and Diamond, respectively.
The new art also sees supporting actresses Keke Palmer (Scream Queens) and Lili Reinhart (Riverdale) slipping into their roles as Mercedes and Annabelle, two wide-eyed dancers who join Ramona’s plot.
Inspired by journalist Jessica Pressler’s 2015 New York magazine article “The Hustlers at Scores,” the film loosely adapts the true story of several women who, in response to the 2008 financial crisis, resorted to when their customer well dried up.
“I felt a kinship to everyone, and I also felt a responsibility to the characters and sex workers, and wanted to portray something that felt authentic,” Scafaria recently told EW of the project. “When you’re in New York and your clients work on Wall Street, when they were riding high, it was like money was falling from the sky, and then it stopped.”
“Some people might watch the movie and feel that they did what they needed to do to survive,” she continued. “Everybody’s hustling in one way or another.”
Ahead of its late-summer release, Hustlers will hit the prestige cinema circuit when it world-premieres at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival in early September, just ahead of its Sept. 13 theatrical bow. Advance tickets go on sale this Friday, Aug. 16.
For now, check out EW’s exclusive poster for the film above.
Related content:
- Jennifer Lopez scales stripper poles and scams rich men in fierce Hustlers trailer
- Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B, Lizzo, more pole-dance into Hustlers first look footage
- See Jennifer Lopez as a sexy stripper ringleader in Hustlers set photo
