Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Hustlers" (2019)

Scene from Hustlers (2019)

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Hustlers (2019)

Directed By: Lorene Scafaria

Written By: Jessica Pressler (Magazine Article), Lorene Scafaria (Screenplay)

Starring: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama

Running Time: 110 minutes

Summary: Inspired by the viral New York Magazine article, Hustlers follows a crew of savvy former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.

The Movie

As is a tradition for every Oscar season, there are those glorified films that were considered to be "snubbed." Next to Eddie Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name or Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems, nobody has taken that title for 2020 and ran with it quite like Jennifer Lopez. Director Lorene Scafaria's Hustlers was a film many projected to not only earn Lopez her first Oscar-nomination but possibly even a win. The 50-year-old actress has been a consummate professional, entertaining the masses for close to 30 years. Her narrative feels almost set in stone, especially given that Hustlers embodies everything about what has made Lopez a mainstay in pop culture for so long. She is charismatic in every decision she makes, knowing how to light up a room with her boisterous energy. And yet, it was the same energy that some would argue cost her a nomination.

Though really, why was Hustlers both the phenomenon that broke barriers and still failed to cross over to the Oscar circles in a glorious, sexy fashion? Many have speculated in the near-month since the nominations were announced. Was it that Lopez was seen more as a diva than a virtuoso, was it the idea of rewarding stripper movies (mind you Marissa Tomei got a nomination before for playing a stripper in The Wrestler), or was it even more basic than that? While a lot of credit could go to the success, having it released by STX set up hurdles that other studios didn't have when it came to marketing. Even then, it's a mix of factors that help to comment on why the failure wasn't entirely misogynistic, though it doesn't help. Even the recent backlash to the Super Bowl LIV halftime show with Lopez and Shakira being too erotic kind of explains why Hustlers makes some uncomfortable. More than anything, it's a sex-positive film in an industry dominated by safe bets where strippers are better off being abused martyrs.

Whatever the case may be, Scafaria's film has proven to have some wiggle room in the zeitgeist beyond its missed Oscars. The film earned rave reviews, restoring many's faith in Lopez as a more interesting actress with one of her most acclaimed roles in over 20 years. The very virtue of the film earning over $100 million at the American box office alone shows that the world isn't as unwilling to hear women's stories as some would think. It's just a matter of changing the perspective for the better, and Hustlers got so far with that goodwill. With all of this said, it already feels destined to be one of the most memorable Oscar snubs in history not necessarily because of the film itself, but what it represented to the industry and where things could've gone massively different had Lopez (and maybe more) made it into the circles. 

The Campaign

The story begins with the expose written by Jessica Pressler called "The Hustlers at Scores." In the magazine article, Pressler explored the life of a strip club where the dancers were known for stealing money from their male clients through seductive means. While this sounds devious, it slowly became a story about overcoming economic strife, where women found a way to take advantage and earn the wealth that their Wall Street bros were often stealing from. Why did they get to be celebrated while the exotic dancers lived in a lower wealth bracket? It was the crime story straight out of a Martin Scorsese film like Casino. That's likely why the story was originally pitched to, among others, Scorsese who passed on it. Scafaria originally found interest in the story when it went viral for these reasons. Having written the first draft around 2016, she sought to make it happen with Annapurna Pictures. Once they announced financial issues, the rights were handed over to STX. Scafaria helped cast the film after, including her belief that Lopez was right for the role of Ramona: a confident and seasoned vet in the world of strip clubs. Distributors were on board with Scafaria's vision, though some men were hesitant to make the story without the women only attacking men who "deserved it."

The film made its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2019, which was roughly a week before its theatrical release. Along with a trailer that proudly displayed Lopez teaching co-star Constance Wu how to pole-dance there was a focus on Pressler's article as well, proving just how popular it ended up being. The reviews out of TIFF were mostly positive and gave credit especially to Lopez. It was a surprise to many with some calling it her best role since Out of Sight. Of course, the Oscar campaign happened immediately, which seemed to coincide with the more successful star to Rennee Zellwegger's Judy Garland biopic Judy. Both were September releases, which remain iffy ground for any Oscar nomination. However, Zellwegger weathered on. As for Lopez, she was humbled by the news and even commented that:

"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], you know what I mean?"

Among the things that stood out for Lopez was her physical commitment to the role. She learned to pole dance for the movie. In fact, she has videos on YouTube for those who want to learn. But beyond this, what made the film stand out in a field that was likely to be crowded? The most praise was thrown to Scafaria for subverting the type of film that would be associated with the male gaze. As a film about the sex industry, it had the chance to get leering and even vilify its characters. Instead, it showed the power of female friendship, focusing on the act of pole dancing from the women's perspectives, where any erotic act was done in a grand act to rob from their male clients. Most of all, with the flamboyant outfits that were some of the best designed of 2019, it was a sex-positive film that chose to focus more on the act of female friendship, and how they bonded in an economy that wants to pit them against each other.

The endorsements kept coming alongside the glowing reviews. Artists like Mindy Kaling and Courtney Love spoke of how great Lopez was in the film. The film was considered to be one of the best times at the movies around that time, which may emphasize that it was different from what many were expecting. With comparisons to Scorsese coming from places like The Next Picture Show podcast, it was already being legitimized as a film that was more than cheap exploitation. It was a crime thriller for the post-recession era, where economics did impact people's lives in similar ways. It wasn't just a story about robbing from Wall Street but finding comfort in a support group. It's what made Wu and Lopez's chemistry so memorable. 

It also leads to some of STX's biggest numbers up to this point. The opening day gross for the film at $15 million was already the highest in the studio's short history. With the film debuting with numbers above expectations, there was a hope that its success would continue. In fact, it did, earning over $100 million at the box office. It should also be noted that criticism lobbied at films in 2019 attacked original properties not being as successful as franchise films. This was especially true from Disney's glut of releases, including Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King as top money earners. Hustlers was one of very few original properties alongside Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood and Knives Out to earn over $100 million. Considering that the final total was $157.6 million worldwide, it was one of the year's biggest success stories. Prognosticators, however, will quickly suggest that one of the campaign's biggest flaws came when Hustlers broke that rare achievement. It wasn't as celebrated as Hollywood or Knives Out despite being a greater achievement given that it was a sex-positive film and more importantly one of the even fewer films written and/or directed by a woman to earn said profit.

Luckily the good buzz lasted until the end of 2019 with groups like NPR and Time Magazine naming it one of the 10 best movies of the year. The praise for Lopez's film continued to skyrocket, even earning her a Golden Globe nomination. In a weird coincidence, Lopez boarded a flight shortly after and had a pilot clearly enraptured by the news. When suggesting that Lopez was on the flight, he encouraged everyone to watch it as part of their in-flight entertainment. Between interviews and various press moments, Lopez rode the campaign as far as it would go. In fact, many predicted that her upcoming performance as part of the Super Bowl LIV halftime show would be a victory lap, given that her Oscar nomination was considered all but a done deal.

With exception to a $40 million defamation lawsuit, the film was sliding into Oscar season with a bit of a victory. It is true that with limited exceptions Lopez's acting nominations were few and far between. Still, it had everything going for it. She was a celebrity with a good narrative: talented performer finally getting a role worthy of her talents. It was a film that felt innovative and expressed something more positive about a subculture of humanity. Most of all, it was just a fun movie made by women. In fact, 2019 had a ton of those to offer and made the results a bit of a jumbled mess. By this point, everything else had come along and proven itself. What exactly did Hustlers have as its final move?

The Payoff

Before getting to Lopez, there's a need to focus on how the Oscar nominations shaped out in 2020 in two ways. The first was in Best Director, which received criticism for being entirely male. Despite having Korean director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) on the list, it was a predominantly male list, with many considering Todd Phillips (Joker) to have knocked off Greta Gerwig (Little Women) from a perceived more deserved nomination. However, that wasn't the end of criticism regarding women in Best Director. Along with Scafaria, other noteworthy absences included director Lulu Wang and The Farewell, which had felt like an underdog whose slow build of success was just as important to the conversation as Lopez and Hustlers. Already there were three films that felt ignored, and all from very different perspectives with Scafaria being the longest shot of them all. Still, when Gerwig failed to make the cut, Little Women stars Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh announced their disappointment (many more opinion pieces have been written since regarding Gerwig's absence).

Meanwhile, there were the even more problematic acting categories. In what almost became another round of Oscars So White (a controversy in which The Academy failed to nominated non-white actors between 2014 and 2015), there was a Best Actress nomination for Cynthia Erivo (Harriet). The buzzwords coming out of this was that The Academy only liked black actors when they played submissive roles. That wasn't hard to suggest given Harriet's context, but it didn't bode well for the Oscars in general, which had four films earn over 10 nominations and hog the boards. Four films (The Two Popes, Little Women, Marriage Story, The Irishman) had multiple acting nominations with The Irishman earning two for Best Supporting Actor. Even looking at Best Picture, the field was focused on masculine films obsessed with the past. 

Pieces came out quickly after this suggesting that "The Oscars didn't need to look like this." It was a fair point and one that felt especially jarring when looking at performances like Lopez, which had a cultural cache to them that many of the others lacked. Of course, if one was to look at STX's track record leading up to this, they have a 0% in Oscar nominations, making Hustlers logically a long shot by existing. Many would suggest that Oscar voters weren't looking hard enough or, more likely, not watching all of the nominees. In a move that now plays like irony, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti announced the same morning as the Oscar nominations the program LA Collab, which would help raise Latinx representation in Hollywood. All things considered, it felt like a pointed attack even if it wasn't.

Among the backlash was Terry Moore, who wrote who said in a New Yorker piece why he didn't believe that Lopez, Sandler, or Murphy stood any chance at nominations. The reasons were all similar, but he especially went after Lopez by suggesting that she wasn't "Oscar material." It was hard to take her seriously as an actress, making her seem like she'll never get nominated ever simply by her past. Meanwhile, he praised Sandler but felt like he needed to stop making dumb Netflix comedies to get the respect and that his next good movie might do the trick. Basically, without saying it Moore claimed misogyny towards Lopez even in why three potential Oscar nominees failed to make the cut. The reasons only piled on with many just outright not liking her and a voter being profiled in The Hollywood Reporter as saying "F--k J.Lo." Suddenly discussion turned towards the idea that the sex-positivity was too much for older, more conservative voters and seeing women celebrate an attack on men was too much for fragile egos.

In what was more of an irony, the month following the Oscar snub has been more eventful for Hustlers' stars than the ceremony ever could be. During the Grammy Awards, co-star Lizzo opened up the show with her song "Truth Hurts." Also in attendance was Cardi B. Lizzo would go on to win Grammys throughout the night. Meanwhile, Lopez was to be the main attraction of the Super Bowl LIV performance alongside Shakira (who many would argue was snubbed a few years back for Best Original Song contender "Try Everything" from Zootopia). With over 100 million views on YouTube, it became one of the most viewed halftime shows in many years, even outpacing Lady Gaga and Katy Perry by dozens of millions. Many saw Lopez's incorporation of poles that she danced around and climbed while wearing backless chaps as an homage to Hustlers. In fact, a pastor is planning on suing the NFL because "pornography was pumped into the homes of God-fearing people." No conclusion on the said lawsuit has been established at the point of publication. Even if this has nothing to do with Hustlers, it still feels like it has everything to do with why Hustlers didn't get nominated.

There is still some hope for Hustlers, though it is growing scant. While it has done well with nominations from branches recognizing cultural diversity and women in film, it hasn't won too many from other prize groups. One of its last shots will be tonight's Independent Spirit Awards, where Lopez is nominated for Best Supporting Actress alongside two other nominations. Ther's also still chances that fan awards like MTV Movie Awards or People's Choice Awards will give her a shoutout given her popularity, but the big prize is gone. As the queen of Oscar snubs for 2020, Lopez has proven her versatility and ability to throw a celebration even if she's not nominated. Nothing keeps her down, and hopefully, the news of more than one female-driven film getting Oscar contention in a given year will soon become a thing of the past. For now, it's important to look at Hustlers as a film that showed that there was more to erotic stories than male gazing. It's about friendship and economic struggles of women as well, which are things often ignored at The Academy based on this year's nominees.