Jennifer Lopez wanted more strip scenes in Hustlers

Jennifer Lopez promoting Hustlers. Photo: Getty

Jennifer Lopez has revealed she wanted to do more strip scenes in Hustlers, her raunchy true crime movie about a group of strippers who con their Wall Street clientele.

Lopez told The Sun newspaper that it was "important" to show that her character Ramona was not just the leader of the pack but also the star of the club.

"Initially my big strip routine was not in the movie, but I thought it was important to show," Lopez said. "You had to see she was the star of the club. I just had to be a big girl about it. The first time in the full costume — calling it that is a stretch — was very nerve-racking."

Lopez, who is expected to receive a Golden Globe nomination for the role, said filming the strip routines made her feel "total terror" and "total happiness."

"It's the first time I really got the vulnerability, the feeling of being exposed," she said. "But I pulled my G-string up and did what I had to do as an actress. This is my job, what I signed up for. I felt the empowerment and being in control of the room. There was a before and after that was drastic, from total terror to total happiness. It was hard, scary – but awesome."

She also revealed that during shooting she thought, " 'F*** it. I'm gonna be uninhibited and unafraid every day'."

To this end the 50-year-old mum of two made sure audiences were aware that she was actually doing the routines and not using a body double.

"When I went upside down (on the pole) I said, 'Please get my face, I don't care if I look like a bat hanging upside down, I want people to know there's no doubles in this movie'."

Lopez also dismissed rumours that she did and co-star Constance Wu did not get along.

"I love her. It was a special movie. I felt like there was a matchmaker at play. It was a safe place because we kind of let the love happen to us. We have to get pretty close (in the movie) so we had lots of conversations about butt-grabbing, asking 'Are you OK?' We had to get in a teasing mentality with each other."