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Jennifer Lopez gave a moving speech while talking about her new film at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Sunday, January 26, even tearing up as she told fans how much it meant to her to star in her first movie musical.
Lopez, 55, was taking part in a Q&A session to promote Kiss of the Spider Woman, a musical adaptation of Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel and Tony-winning Broadway musical about two Argentinian cellmates — a political prisoner and a queer window dresser convicted of public indecency — who bond over a beloved musical theater star, Ingrid Luna (Lopez).
Speaking at Park City’s Eccles Theatre as her performance got a standing ovation from fans, Lopez said starring in a full-fledged musical film was a lifelong dream of hers. (She previously played Selena Quintanilla in a 1997 biopic.)
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” she said at the screening, which was attended by Us Weekly. “The reason I even wanted to be in this business is because my mom would sit me in front of the TV and [West Side Story] would come on once a year. I remember I was mesmerized and was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ That was always my goal.”
Lopez got choked up as she said, “This is the first time I actually got to do it. This man made my dream come true!”
The man in question is director Bill Condon, known for hits like Chicago, Dreamgirls and The Greatest Showman — and his movie with Lopez is garnering huge buzz at the prestigious film festival. “It’s just an honor to be able to be part of this movie and I thank you guys so much for this moment,” Lopez told her director and costars.
In a nod to the movie’s spidery title, Lopez wore a striking, bodycon webbed dress and coordinating necklace to the event, along with sky-high heels and a black clutch.
The actress and singer’s devoted fan base were out in force at the screening, shouting, “I love you, J. Lo!” as she gave her emotional speech. (Of course, she responded, “I love you too!”)
Condon said that Kiss of the Spider Woman was “a movie I’ve wanted to make my entire life” and spoke about its significance among the queer and trans communities, half a century on from the original novel.
“Crucially, the most important thing is that we have to bridge these differences,” he said. “There’s a sense in this movie that the only way through is love and kindness. It became clear that for years, trans people were being used as the latest victims of the culture war. It did feel as if no matter what happened, this is something we have to live with and it’s not going to go away. And again, to me, the promise of the movie is that somehow people can go beyond that and see each other as individuals.”
Lopez’s Kiss of the Spider Woman costar Tonatiuh added: “Growing up as a femme, queer Latin kid in a culture that doesn’t necessarily praise these things, I remember when I was really young, I fought tooth and nail to be super feminine and put it in people’s faces. But I was told my career would never achieve the lengths I wanted it to because of it. So the thing I fought so much to love about myself got stamped out of me in an industry that they didn’t know how to handle duality.”
He explained that the script resonated with him on a deep level. “When I got this material, I knew this person, spiritually. I understood someone who felt like a loser in their own life and who found out how to be the hero of their own story by falling in love,” Tonatiuh shared. “And one spirit got to show the entire spectrum from feminine to masculine and everything in between. And I think what I took away from it was no one can tell you who you are. You get to decide that gender is simply a construct, and it is something that we play with and have fun with and get to explore. And at a time that people tell us that things are inherently binary, in a time where violence out of that binary exists, I hope that people might solace and know that they are not alone.”
With reporting by Mara Reinstein
