Apparently Constance Wu Is A Decent Stripper

We've complained about method acting on this very site our fair share of times, and true to form, we've got lists of reasons why it's ridiculous. But we've marveled at it too, and now it's time to add Constance Wu to the list of actors we respect for what she did. When prepping for the late 2019 hit Hustlers, she went out and got herself a job as a stripper.

The movie is about strippers who do some super sketchy stuff to snag extra cash from rich dudes, but to make herself seem like a real stripper, Wu had to shed the famous actress look and get down and dirty. She installed a pole at her house (and got some lessons on it), put on some fake tattoos, changed her hair, and hopped on over to a strip club. To hear Wu herself tell it, "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."

And she put her money where her mouth was (while presumably a bunch of dudes put their money in other places) -- she worked and made about $600 that night. Some of you who are strippers or know strippers might be thinking, "That's it?" but please bear in mind it was her first night. There are also probably other factors at play that she didn't think to mention to Kelly Clarkson on TV.

So here's where I think this Constance Wu method acting story differs from even the Daniel Day Lewis method acting stories, and certainly the Jared Leto stories. Nobody was hurt or wildly freaked out by Wu working at a strip club for a night. Hustlers already came out, and furthermore, its shot at an Academy Award is past. Wu didn't need to get this story out there in order to sell the movie or bolster her rep prior to the Oscars. It's just a cool thing she did for a movie to help her get into character, like sort of the Platonic ideal of method acting. She also still hasn't watched Hustlers, because she knows what the experience was like making the film. Heart of gold, right there.