Jennifer Lopez is opening up in a way she hasn’t really done before in her new Netflix documentary Halftime. The doc was shot during a period in Lopez’s career that saw it reaching new heights of resurgence. The actress was riding high on some of the best reviews of her career for 2019’s Hustlers, which generated huge Oscar buzz for her performance as Ramona. Following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Lopez became a part of the awards season conversation, even securing a Golden Globe and SAG Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress along the way. Jennifer Lopez’s name for her Hustlers work was expected to be uttered on the morning of the Oscar nominations but Lopez was snubbed and she’s admitting that the snub did hurt in her new documentary, via TooFab.
The documentary chronicles all of the positive Oscar buzz surrounding Lopez’s performance as the film was coming out of the Toronto Film Festival. By December 2019, she scored a Golden Globe nomination for the performance but she lost out to Laura Dern, who was an even bigger frontrunner for her performance in Marriage Story. Following the Golden Globe loss, the actress looked disappointed as she reunited with her team because she felt like she let everyone down:
“I really thought I had a chance. I felt like I let everybody down. They wanted it so bad, for me, for them, it’s validation of all the work they do too. Most of them have been with me for 20 years, since Selena.”
As Oscar nominations got closer, Lopez gets visibly emotional after reading a piece that said the “criminally underrated performer” was finally getting “her due from the film outlets” thanks to her role in Hustlers. Alas, despite most of the trades expecting to hear her name come Oscar morning, Lopez came up empty-handed. The actress said that she had rehearsals for the Super Bowl the day before the nominations and explained that she got very little sleep because she was anxious about the nominations. That night, Lopez says, “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, and the first thing I saw was from [her sister Linda] and she was like, ‘I hate these f***ing people’ and I was like, ‘Oh s***.” During the confessional on the documentary, she admits to being hurt because, as she admits, “the truth is I really started to think I was going to get nominated.” Here is more of what she had to say:
“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 in my own little way.”
It appears that Lopez found some positivity after it was all said and done. She got caught up in all the Oscar hype and deservedly so. I still maintain that was probably the biggest snub that year and I think the Academy ultimately didn’t nominate her because some felt the subject matter was not worthy of the prestige of the Oscars. In fact, a male producer and a member of the Academy said anonymously in The Hollywood Reporter’s Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot that year, “fk J.Lo. I’m allergic to that movie. It isn’t a movie about ’empowering’ women; it’s a movie about slipping ahole men roofies and f**king jacking them. Roger Corman made better stripper films – they had some meaning.” I thought the purpose was to acknowledge the performance and not the film’s subject matter? It’s still easily one of the best performances of her career and made me wish she’d lean in more of movies like this rather than the romantic comedies that tend to be her bread and butter.
What are YOUR thoughts on Jennifer Lopez’s reflection on her Oscar snub for Hustlers?