Close call! Jennifer Lopez almost broke Constance Wu’s nose while filming their new movie, Hustlers, in which the actresses play strippers who steal from dozens of wealthy men.
In an interview with castmates Cardi B, Keke Palmer and Lili Reinhart, the “Jenny From the Block” singer, 50, told Access about the moment that she made the Crazy Rich Asians star, 37, bleed during an intense fight scene.
“I knew [Wu] was a gangster the day we were doing the scene where I tell her to hang up the phone … and she won’t hang it up,” Lopez said.
Before the scene, the World of Dance judge, who was skeptical of Wu’s fighting skills, made sure that her costar knew how fierce the brawl would be. To Lopez’s surprise, Wu ended up becoming more violent than her.
“In the first take, I say to her, ‘We’re going to fight it out.’ And she goes, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah. You’re good.’ I was like, ‘Are you sure? OK,’” Lopez recalled. “I did it, and I was like, ‘Pow!’ And she started fighting more than me even. Then the phone smacks her in the nose and cuts her nose open.”
The Fresh Off the Boat star then interjected to say that her nose wasn’t cut open but she had a “big, big bump” to which Lopez responded, “You were bleeding.”
After the on-set accident, the Selena actor worried that she had broken Wu’s nose and filming would be canceled. Those fears were calmed, however, when the Golden Globe nominee was ready for round two so soon after the blow to the face.
“I got so nervous! I was like, ‘I broke her nose!’ And she was like, ‘It’s totally fine,” Lopez recalled. “I feel like we bonded in that moment. I had a respect for you after that. I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do this movie.’”
After Lopez’s story, the “Bodak Yellow” rapper, 26, interrupted to ask a question about acting: “So wait a minute, actresses. When y’all be acting like y’all be fighting, y’all be really fighting?”
The Monster-in-Law actress explained that there’s a fine line between real fighting and on-screen fighting.
“There’s a way to do it. But you have to do it real. But you also have to be careful,” Lopez said. “And so we were doing it real, but some people don’t even like to be roughed up. They want to do it real fake.”
In July, Wu denied Page Six’s claim that she was involved in offscreen drama on the set of Hustlers and demanded top billing.
“Constance had no knowledge or awareness of acts on her behalf of Hustlers to have reporting mirror that of the film’s castings or contractual billings,” a rep for Wu told Us Weekly at the time. “Representatives associated with her and the film did engage media outlets to correct misrepresentations of the film’s characters and castings in the spirit of calibrating credits to accurately reflect the guidelines set forth in standard legal contracts.”
The rep continued, “While Constance’s character in Hustlers is the key protagonist, any reporting that implies or indicates that she demanded or directed this recently reported initiative is patently untrue and a clear manipulation of facts. She has always been and remains a proud supporter of all her fellow castmates inclusion in the celebration of this film and telling of this story.”
Hustlers hits theatres nationwide on Friday, September 13.
