Jennifer Lopez, the multifaceted singer and actor, has described her role in Kiss of the Spider Woman as a "dream come true" moment in her career. The musical drama, directed by Bill Condon of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1 and Beauty and the Beast fame, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday.
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Lopez shared the deep personal connection she feels to the project, crediting her love for musicals to her upbringing. “This was meant for me,” Lopez said. “I have been waiting for this my whole life. I grew up on movie musicals; my mother was a huge fan of Barbara Streisand and Rita Moreno. I just thought it was in my bones. It’s what I thought I was going to do with my life. I thought I was going to do Broadway, and then my life took other turns. I thank God for it—it’s been amazing—and to do this at this time is just like a dream come true.”
Lopez recalled the moment she learnt she was being considered for the lead role, an opportunity she initially couldn’t believe was real. “My agent, Kevin Huvane, sent me the script and said, ‘I have something that I think you will like.’ I was like, Alright, send it to me. Sometimes it’s no, and yes, but mostly it’s no,” Lopez revealed.
However, the script captivated her from the very start. “After reading 30 pages or so, I called him up, and I was like, ‘Is this mine, or is this something I’m gonna have to meet with or audition for?’ He said Bill Condon wants you to do it. I was ecstatic. I’ve been waiting for this. There was never a feeling like this in my life. I think maybe the closest thing was Selena, but I was too young to understand it then. Beyond that, there’s never been a time where I felt like I sat down, read something, and thought, I was born to play this.”
Kiss of the Spider Woman is set during Argentina’s Dirty War and takes place primarily in a prison. The story follows Luis Molina, a queer window dresser played by Tonatiuh, who is imprisoned for having sex with a man. To escape the grim realities of incarceration, Molina narrates vivid stories of his favourite screen diva, Ingrid Luna, to his cellmate, a political prisoner named Valentin Arregui, portrayed by Diego Luna.