It’s the juiciest role Lopez has had in two decades, and one as complicated as her own star persona: Ramona is soft but steely, a careerist yet a caretaker, maternal but forever young. It would be easy to make her the film’s adversary, but “Hustlers” doesn’t quite do that: Ramona bails her girls out of trouble just as often as she leads them into it, and though she’s utterly shameless, she’s still motivated by a sincere desire to make things better for her fellow dancers. It’s as if Gina Gershon from “Showgirls” believed in Shine Theory.

At the film’s after-party in Toronto, Scafaria told me that Lopez was always her No. 1 pick to play Ramona. “I think people forget what an incredible actress she is and what chops she has just because she’s a triple threat and a brand,” Scafaria said. “They forget what Jennifer is capable of in a close-up, and that she can play someone complex and dangerous.”

So will “Hustlers” serve as a reminder? And will Oscar voters be willing to think of the film, and Lopez’s performance in it, as something more than just a mainstream entertainment?

I’m optimistic. It hasn’t yet been decided whether Lopez will campaign as a lead or a supporting actress, but since she’s second-billed after Wu, the latter category seems like a better bet. Certainly, Lopez would be this season’s flashiest supporting-actress contender,: other viable nominees include Laura Dern in “Marriage Story,” Margot Robbie in “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” and whoever pops in Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women.”

I suspect critics’ groups could get behind Lopez, too, especially the influential New York Film Critics Circle, which has a habit of rewarding stars the rest of the cognoscenti might be tempted to dismiss, like Cameron Diaz (for “There’s Something About Mary”) and Tiffany Haddish (for “Girls Trip”).