Constance Wu said she worked at a strip club to prepare for her role in “Hustlers,” in which she played a stripper alongside Jennifer Lopez, and made $600 on her first night.
“I did work at a strip club to get ready for ‘Hustlers,’” Wu told Kelly Clarkson on her talk show on Monday. “I went undercover. I gave lap dances to strangers.”
After Clarkson said she didn’t believe Wu, Wu added: “I’m not lying! I made $600 my first night. I am not being funny, and it was not funny. I put fake tattoos on my neck, I changed my hair… You can’t duplicate the first time you walk into a club and say, ‘Hey, I’d like to have a job here,’ and then you go work that night.”
Previously, Wu had said that she went to a lot of strip clubs in San Francisco to do research, and also installed a stripper pole in her living room, took pole-dancing classes and took private coaching lessons.
In “Hustlers,” Wu plays single mom Destiny, who bands together with former strip club employees to scam their rich Wall Street clients. The film, written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, was inspired by a viral New York Magazine article.
Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart and Cardi B also star. The film grossed $157.5 million worldwide.
Watch Wu’s interview above.