Keke Palmer is stepping out of her ‘girl next door’ image as she falls into the roll of sex siren in Playboy Magazine.
In the interview, titled “20Q: Keke Palmer,” the actress speaks on her new role in “Hustlers” where she portrays a pole dancing scammer alongside Jennifer Lopez. The movie, inspired by a New York Magazine article by Jessica Pressler that went viral, focuses on former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
Palmer also embraces her new role as “sex symbol” as she speaks with Playboy about how she manages her empire—especially when it comes to love, fame and hustling.
Photos + behind the scenes video below…
Palmer explains how she learned the art of exotic dance for the film and reveals she even took pole-dancing classes to improve her craft.
Lily [Reinheart] and I took pole-dancing classes together. We did them just because we’re both Virgos, and we wanted to be able to pull some stuff from our arsenal. But we didn’t have many of those types of scenes. We have scenes in the club but I never had to do any specific pole work.
Whereas Metta [Towley], who did Pharelle’s Lemonade video and is also starring in Cats, had a pole-dancing scene. She had to do a couple of classes for that. I know that Jennifer [Lopez] trained for a while because she had an extensive scene, and she fucking killed that. I’ve been a fan of Jennifer for my whole life. Her character in this movie…the iconic looks. She’s able to give you star, and still give you character, and that’s what I live for.
Joelle Monique of Playboy asked 20 questions to the starlet, who opened up about her latest film. Palmer revealed that while she’s great at PRETENDING to command a pole, she could use a bit more practice.
When asked who among the cast would win in a pole-dancing competition, Keke responds:
Jennifer would win. If Cardi B was there, she would win. She knows what the hell she’s doing. If I had a little bit more time with the pole, I would be neck and neck with the girls. I need to get the upper body strength together because it’s a lot harder than it looks. If I try to lift myself, I’m 140 pounds. That’s not as easy as I would like it to be.
In a behind the scenes video uploaded to Playboy’s Instagram, Keke expresses that “The reality is that the world is changing. Gender roles are blurring. So let’s embrace that by being true to ourselves as individuals.”
Q: What kind of energy is Keke Palmer trying to put out in the world?
Oh my gosh. Be a renaissance woman! You know, that’s what I consider myself. I want everybody to be able to feel like they can do multiple things and feel like they don’t have to be one-note. I think we’re made to feel like we can only have one skill. That’s what holds us back. That feeling that this is our identity, and this is what we have to stick to. For me, I would love to express that my identity is dynamic in everything that I do. It’s not one thing. I’m not one thing. I don’t always know all the answers, but at the same time, I have wisdom. Showing that it’s okay to be multifaceted and to have contradicting character and that you can still be true to who you are.
CLICK HERE to read the full interview on Playboy.