Ben Affleck Felt Jennifer Lopez Deserved an Oscar Nomination for This Film
Ben Affleck knew what it was like to be nominated and win Oscars. But he felt that his wife Jennifer Lopez warranted some Oscar recognition as well for this critical and commercial hit.
Ben Affleck felt Jennifer Lopez was snubbed for this movie
Lopez has had a few movies in her career that garnered critical praise. But perhaps Hustlers was her most lauded film to date. Lopez played a veteran stripper in the acclaimed hit feature taking another stripper under her wing. Both the movie and Lopez herself received glowing reviews. So much so that many felt confident she’d be nominated for an Oscar.
Soon, even Lopez began to believe this would be the case. But when the time came, she was off the list of potential Oscar nominees.
“I was a little sad because there was a lot of buildup to it,” Lopez once told Oprah (via Variety). There were so many articles. I got so many good notices — more than ever in my career — and there was a lot of ‘She’s going to get nominated for an Oscar. It’s going to happen; if she doesn’t, you’re crazy.’ I’m reading all the articles going, ‘Oh my god, could this happen?’ And then it didn’t and I was like, ‘Ouch.’ It was a little bit of a letdown.”
Many felt the same way, including Ben Affleck. Affleck and Lopez weren’t together at the time when he expressed his own feelings on the matter. Just as a fan, the Argo filmmaker thought Lopez was being overlooked by the academy.
“She should have been nominated. She’s the real thing. I keep in touch periodically with her and have a lot of respect for her. How awesome is it that she had her biggest hit movie at 50? That’s f***ing baller,” Affleck once said according to Yahoo.
What Jennifer Lopez realized after not being nominated for an Oscar
Lopez faced a very slight crisis after not being nominated. She questioned the overall meaning of Oscar nominations, which led to an epiphany about her career.
“I was like, ‘Okay, when you’re supposedly in everybody else’s mind supposed to be nominated and you’re not, what does that mean? Is it really real? Are the other ones real and this one isn’t?’ It came to a point where I was like, ‘This is not why I do this. I don’t do this to have 10 Oscars sitting on my mantel or 20 Grammys,'” she once told Allure. “The point is creating and the joy that I get from the things I get to put out in the world that entertain and inspire and empower people. I think my life is about more than awards.”
The American Idol host noted that she won other awards for her Hustlers performance. But it was hard to shrug off the missing Oscar nomination at the time.
“[My production partner] Elaine [Goldsmith-Thomas] made a post where she listed all the things I had been nominated for and won that season. And when it came to the Oscars, it was so obviously absent. It was a sting,” she said.
‘Hustlers’ wasn’t the only time Jennifer Lopez thought she’d be nominated for an Oscar
Lopez faced a similar situation years before her Hustlers success. In 2006, she starred in the feature El Cantante alongside her ex-husband Marc Anthony. The film didn’t receive the same amount of praise that Hustlers did. Still, there was a lot of attention being paid to Lopez’s performance. It was the first time Lopez felt the sting of losing out on an Oscar nomination.
“I feel like I had that [Oscar worthy role] in El Cantante, but I don’t think the academy members saw it,” Lopez once told Daily News. “It is a little bit frustrating. When the Oscars were on, I had just given birth on the 22nd, and the Oscars I think were a day or two later. I was sitting there with my twins — and I couldn’t have been happier — but I was like ‘How dope would it have been if I would’ve won the Oscar and been here in my hospital bed accepting the award?'”
