Starring J.Lo, Lizzo, and Constance Wu, the new film reassesses the agency of sex workers.

One of the fall&rsquo;s most buzzed-about attractions, writer-director Lorene Scafaria&rsquo;s Hustlers, is based on the true-life tale of a New York City-run ring of strippers who swindled wealthy clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, a story first reported in New York Magazine by Jessica Pressler. The juicy story and all-star cast has created hype among mainstream circles and New York insiders alike, and with surging box office numbers and a lot of headline-worthy debate&mdash;think sex workers weighing in on the film&#39;s portrayal and PETA sending a faux fur coat to Jennifer Lopez after seeing her wear a real one&mdash;the film is bound to remain a prominent cultural fixture this weekend and throughout this fall.

With a cast that includes the likes of Lopez&mdash;who is also one of the film&rsquo;s producers&mdash;as well as Cardi B, Lizzo, and Constance Wu, the film has all the right ingredients for&nbsp;a blockbuster. But Showgirls&nbsp;this is not. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the strip club in every single TV show and movie, but everyone is so far from their perspective,&rdquo; Scafaria notes, speaking of the film&rsquo;s subjects.

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At its heart, Hustlers is, for Scafaria, &ldquo;a stripper movie about capitalism, a movie about single moms trying to survive.&rdquo; She goes on to note, &ldquo;It felt like a movie about gender roles and how they relate to the economy, and more.&rdquo; When it came to casting the film, Scafaria&rsquo;s choices are part of what makes Hustlers so buzzworthy, but they are also very true to life. Lopez&mdash;playing the films de facto stripper matriarch, Ramona&mdash;hails from the Bronx. And fellow Bronx native, Cardi B, who also stars in the film, has been very vocal about her time as a stripper before becoming the reigning Queen of Rap. As Scafaria tells it, &ldquo;I had been chasing Cardi for the role for two years.&rdquo; To be sure, Hustlers is a film that explores a very complex, highly charged subject matter, but as Scafaria observes, alongside the important conversations it&rsquo;s sure to spark, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s also a really entertaining ride.&rdquo;

Everyone is Talking About 'Hustlers' Thanks to Lorene Scafaria's Buzzworthy Choices

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Everyone is Talking About 'Hustlers' Thanks to Lorene Scafaria's Buzzworthy Choices

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