Preparing for a role in a film or movie requires much more than just memorizing the script, especially when the film is about a group of NYC strippers banding together to exact revenge on their Wall Street clients. Jennifer Lopez, who stars in the upcoming Hustlers film, did some research to prepare for her role. She decided to get inspiration directly from the source, and took Alex Rodriguez along for the ride.

In a new interview with Vulture, Hustlers director Lorene Scafaria revealed that J. Lo took her role so seriously that she not only physically trained but decided to take field trips to strip clubs to get "insight" as well.

“She’s obviously such an unbelievable dancer, but she trained so hard-core for this. Pole dancing is not like anything else. It required muscles you don’t know you have. So we did treat it a little bit like a sports movie in that way," Scafaria told Vulture. "She and Alex went and visited a strip club, and she was able to give me some … insights."

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J. Lo plays Ramona, the strip club matriarch and the criminal mastermind in the crew, a role Scafaria knew would be a perfect fit for J.Lo when she finished writing the script.

"Jennifer Lopez is Ramona. The two of them are the same; they have all of these similar qualities. It has to be her," the director continued. And everyone on the cast agreed. "Everybody really, really, really wanted to work with Jennifer. That was the beauty of making this movie, too: casting what felt like the right people for each part, and watching them interact the way that they should with each other.”

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Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu on the set of Hustlers.

In addition to J. Lo, Hustlers also stars former stripper-turned-rap-superstar Cardi B, Constance Wu, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Julia Stiles, and Madeline Brewer. Hustlers will hit theaters on September 13.