Could Jennifer Lopez Win an Oscar for Hustlers ?
Jennifer Lopez is undeniably a star. But she does not even have a Grammy—that’s how woefully underappreciated she is by the awards community. She was nominated twice in the dance recording category, in 2000 for “Waiting for Tonight” and 2001 for ”Let’s Get Loud,” but—and I cannot stress this enough—that’s it. A song like ”Jenny From the Block” can fully saturate pop culture; “If You Had My Love” may forever be the anthem for all high schoolers cheated on by their boyfriends in 1999 (not that I would know). But an intensely famous, enduring triple threat like Lopez can still go unacknowledged by the awards boards—until now, when, at age 50, there is talk that she could become a first-time Oscar nominee for Hustlers, a film one Variety reporter is calling her Erin Brockovich equivalent.
“She should be a serious Oscar contender, if the studio is smart, in the supporting category,” the Daily Beast raved of Lopez’s turn as a mama bear exotic dancer slyly stealing from her Wall Street clients. “When Lopez coos, ‘Doesn’t money make you horny?’ I screamed.” After a string of rom-coms—Second Act, Maid in Manhattan (let’s not talk about Gigli)—and also a stirring turn in Selena, the Hollywood Reporter noted that Lopez is getting awards buzz at the Toronto Film Festival, where Hustlers premiered over the weekend: “A highly skilled actress who has been around the, well, block, for quite some time . . . she clearly poured her heart and soul into this project.” Vulture’s Hunter Harris simply declared on Twitter: “J.Lo will be nominated for an Oscar.”
The long overdue chatter about major awards love is making Lopez incredibly emotional, as heard in a Sirius XM radio interview with Hoda Kotb. “I’ve just been working hard for so long, for my whole life. It’s nice,” she said, tearing up. “I was literally sitting in my bed yesterday and they were sending me all the reviews. I could not believe it. I was crying; me and my girlfriend of 20 years were sitting there and she was trying to film me. I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ You work hard your whole life and you wonder if anybody notices in a sense, on that level, to be in that conversation. You have dreams when you’re a little girl of being [at the Oscars].”
And now we summon all of the cultural excitement once funneled to popular actors like Mickey Rourke and Michael Keaton crossing over into awards territory and project it J.Lo’s way. As the Hollywood Reporter noted, she would be only the fifth Latina actress nominated in the lead actor category (whether she will be promoted as a lead or supporting actress remains to be seen). Which is to say nothing of the couples fashion she and Alex Rodriguez would undoubtedly serve. With T-minus five months to go until Oscar night, “Just to talk about it is amazing,” she told Kotb.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
