The child actress turned film star and social media diva tells Pride about new film Hustlers
Keke Palmer is a woman of many talents – a professional actress since the age of nine, she’s no stranger to the camera. As well as being a recording artist, and a social media sensation with 8 million followers on Instagram alone, she’s bursting with creativity and has a sparkling personality to match.
Now, she’s turning her energy to Hustlers, the highly anticipated new film based on the true story of strip club workers who stole from dozens of wealthy men after the sex industry went flat during the late-2000s financial crisis. Led by ringleader Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), the girls of the strip club rack up their prey by luring them in with flirts and giggles, before ‘helping’ them spend their money in creative ways – while starting to build mountains of wealth for themselves and their families. It’s a Robin Hood story for the ages, if you will – just with more thongs, and a better musical soundtrack.
Directed and written by Lorene Scafaria, with the large majority of speaking parts going to women, it’s near impossible not to feel an electric sense of girl power all the way through the film. Palmer plays Mercedes, a brash but loving dancer at the club who becomes embroiled in Ramona’s master plan. We spoke to her about getting into the mindset to play an adult entertainer, bonding with Cardi B on set, and her own journey in the film and music business.
Keke, congratulations on Hustlers! It’s such a fun watch, with such an incredible story behind it. What was it that attracted you to the project?
Keke Palmer: Thank you! Well, it was a bunch of women trying to come together to figure out how to pretty much find financial freedom and some type of strength and commodity within each other. I like that – and then of course, I liked the different characters; we have one character who’s a little more innocent [Lili Reinhart], we have my character who says things how they are, Constance’s [Wu] character and J-Lo’s. They all have different colours to them and I just thought it was exciting and very fun. The story’s told in a way that seemed like a female Goodfellas.
Your character, Mercedes, is quite frank; she says things how it is, but has a real heart of gold. Did you find it easy to relate to her on a personal level?
KP: I definitely did, especially in terms of the more extra side of myself – because I feel like we all live in different spaces, depending on who we are with. Mercedes represents my wilder side; I guess we were exploring that. I love that she really loved her girls and you could tell that she was very loyal – but at the same time, she knew how to have fun.
Of course, Mercedes is a stripper in the film. What was it like taking on a role that was so sex-appeal driven?
KP: The main thing I had to tell myself was to own it. In your mind, you create whatever you want; my thought process was to say, ‘I’ve been dancing since high school, I’ve been doing this kind of thing for a long time’. Her ability to charm men and be seductive, those are things that come very natural to her – more than they would to me! It’s so exciting, but I had to just step outside of Keke and really just own who I thought the identity of Mercedes was. I had to push myself to really not be shy – because none of these girls, coming from where they come from, knowing what they know, are shy at all!
There’s an amazing ensemble cast in the film – including fellow social media personality, Cardi B! Did you guys get the chance to bond on set?
KP: Yes we did, and it was cool – her first scene was a big group scene with all of us. They put us next to one another, and I know a lot of the people she knows so once she came in it was like, ‘Hey girl!’ – even though we hadn’t spent a lot of time together before. It was just fun. I think people look at her like a big personality but when she came to the set, she was getting into the vibe of it and really thinking about getting things right, because it’s her first big film role. She was amazing – I was happy for her to have this first experience and to really nail it like that.
As someone who started in the business as a child actress, you’ve literally grown up on camera. Like the women in Hustlers, who take back control, have you had a similar experience in taking control over your own career and decisions?
KP: Many, many times. It has to happen throughout your career, especially when you start off as a kid. As I grew up on screen, I was literally growing up as a person – so the things that I wanted as a kid were no longer the same things I want as an adult. So there comes a shift of what you have to express through your team, what you have to express to the world through your art. So yeah, there have been many moments in my career where I’d re-establish my understanding of myself, and the art I want to make. The fear of being trapped, or being stagnant and not growing; I think that’s scarier to me than anything. So, it pushes me often to make sure I’m being true to my voice and at all times being true to myself, because I just couldn’t be anything else.
And finally, you’re about to turn 26 – what’s something you’d tell 16-year-old Keke if you could?
KP: (She thinks for a moment.) Everything is gonna be okay. At 16, those teenage years, everything feels like the end of the world. Everything felt really intense for me – it was like, ‘oh my God!’ I wish I could hug myself and say: ‘Everything is going to be okay! This is just a moment in time, it’ll pass, and there’s good to come.’
Hustlers is out in cinemas on 13th September
