Jennifer Lopez attends the Tribeca Festival Opening Night & World Premiere of Netflix’s ‘Halftime’ on June 08, 2022 in New York City. Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images.
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Jennifer Lopez has boarded a musical movie adaptation of ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’
‘Dreamgirls’ Bill Condon will direct.
The film’s producers are looking for an unknown to play the other lead role.
Given the rapidly expanding universe of Marvel-based Spider-people that Sony has been bringing to the screen, news of Jennifer Lopez starring in a project called ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ might make you think she’ll be next to play a super-powered arachnid-influenced character.
Instead, she’s boarded a new movie musical, which adapts both the1976 novel by Argentine writer Manuel Puig and the 1993 Broadway musical that it spawned.
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What’s the story of ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’?
William Hurt in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman.’ Photo: FilmDallas Pictures.
The musical is set in an Argentinian prison in 1981. Lopez would play the titular role, a fantasy woman named Aurora created by Luis Molina, a gay hairdresser serving an eight-year sentence for allegedly corrupting a minor.
To escape the horrors of his imprisonment, Molina imagines movies starring Aurora as a classic silver screen diva, including a role of the spider woman, who kills her prey with a kiss. Molina’s life is upended when a Marxist, Valentin Arregui Paz, is brought into his cell, and the two form an unlikely bond.
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Who else appears in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’?
(L to R) William Hurt and Raul Julia in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman.’ Photo: FilmDallas Pictures.
As of right now, there is no other cast attached. According to Variety’s sources, the filmmaking team is currently searching for an unknown to play Molina. In a casting breakdown obtained by the trade magazine, the role “presents as an openly queer and effeminate gay man but may be on the non-binary/trans femme spectrum.”
Rehearsals would start in February with a plan to begin filming in April in New Jersey.
The role has some storied history –– in the 1985 non-musical movie adaptation, William Hurt took the Molina part and won the Best Actor Oscar.
And the musical won seven Tony Awards, including for best musical and for all three performers: Chita Rivera, Brent Carver and Anthony Crivello. So there’s certainly scope for trophy time here if the movie turns out well.
(L to R) Actor Ian McKellen, actress Laura Linney (center) and director Bill Condon attend the Academy’s 7th Annual Governors Awards in The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, CA, on Saturday, November 14, 2015.
Director Bill Condon, who has plenty of form making musical movies, is at the helm of this one.
He’ll be working with music by legends John Kander and Fred Ebb, and the book of the musical by Terrence McNally.
Lopez, who has a new album due next year, is aboard to produce the film via her Nuyorican Productions company.
When will ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ be in theaters?
Given the filming plan, we wouldn’t expect this one before 2025 at the earliest. And since it’s an independent movie, it’ll also likely need to lock down distribution.
William Hurt in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman.’ Photo: FilmDallas Pictures.
On Netflix beginning May 12, ‘The Mother’ is the streaming service’s latest attempt to add to the action thriller genre, though even the mother-daughter relationship at its core and some other tweaks aren’t quite enough to overcome a rote, bland script and uninspired direction.
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What’s the story of ‘The Mother’?
12 years ago, an unnamed woman (Jennifer Lopez) is being questioned by the FBI in a safe house that soon becomes anything but.
She’s been brought in because she has connections to a couple of violent arms dealers –– Joseph Fiennes’ Adrian and Gael García Bernal’s Hector –– whose trade she helped facilitate but got out when she discovered they were also trafficking children.
Oh, and she’s pregnant with a daughter by one of them. But when the attempt to protect her goes violently wrong, she’s left with little choice but to give the newborn up to foster care and relocate to the wilds of Alaska, lest her old suitors track her or the child down and finish their vengeful mission.
But wouldn’t you know it? 12 years later, Hector does end up finding the kid (Zoe, played by Lucy Paez) and The Mother will have to employ all the sniper and other skills she picked up in the military and working with the two baddies in order to save the girl –– and herself.
Cue a cat-and-mouse chase that stretches from suburban Ohio to the harsh wilderness up north (where The Mother has something of a home field advantage despite the resources of her enemies).
Since breaking into acting back in 1986 (and breaking out thanks to the likes of ‘Selena’ and ‘Out of Sight’), Jennifer Lopez has consistently proved to be one of the more chameleonic of music performers-turned-actors. She’s switched between frothy rom-coms (‘Maid in Manhattan’, ‘The Wedding Planner’, ‘Monster-in-Law’) and drama (‘Enough’, ‘The Boy Next Door’) and more knockabout romps such as this year’s ‘Shotgun Wedding’. And there have been the prestige stops along the way, including the well-received ‘Hustlers’ and ‘Shall We Dance’.
‘The Mother’, though, finds her looking to get into more of an action sphere (a territory she’s only occasionally trodden before), and unfortunately the results feel like a watered-down version of something like ‘Taken’.
While the idea of a tough mother taking down the villains threatening her and her child is certainly a compelling one, what actually unspools falls far short of truly entertaining.
Lopez certainly throws herself into the role, making for a convincing former military sniper and all-round bad ass who is suddenly in a situation she always wanted but never got the chance to train for: motherhood.
Similarly, Paez manages to have Zoe evolve from whiny teen to something more like the birth mother she’s never met until she gets kidnapped by one of the villains.
That’s a road the movie keeps taking, almost the distraction: how many times can it put Zoe in trouble, requiring The Mother (she really is never properly named) to step in and do her thing. Hardwick, as her main FBI contact, at least has a few scenes that offer him more than just grunting broad, heard-it-before dialogue.
The actual villain characters –– especially poor old Bernal –– are completely underserved, stock characters who see little in terms of development. Bernal’s role (which feels like it was sliced down) amounts to a brief moment at the start and then one scene in the middle of the movie. Filmmakers like to argue that they cast great actors to bring life to small roles, but with a part as tiny as Bernal’s, it would take a miracle to resuscitate it at all .
Likewise, Edie Falco, who shows up at the start to deliver some exposition and look haughty, then is never seen again. That’s not “bringing to life” a small role, that’s a giant waste of her time, and the sort of character that even back in the 1990s, ‘Austin Powers’ was making fun of.
Fiennes has a little more to chew on, Adrian handed some bigger scenes up front then treated as the main villain through the final act. He also has much more motivation for his vengeful feelings towards The Mother.
A knocked-off, less-than-thrilling impact effects the rest of the movie almost to the same degree, despite a script credited to three experienced writers (Misha Green of ‘Lovecraft Country’, ‘The Town’s Peter Craig and ‘Blood Father’s Andrea Berloff).
Aside from a couple of effective set-pieces (Lopez stalking through a darkened compound, taking out henchmen with silenced weapons, and a few moments from the big finale in Alaska), the action is largely on the average scale, lacking the sort of truly dynamic, inventive stunt work of, say, ‘Atomic Blonde’ or anything from the ‘John Wick’ series.
And indeed, with tracks from Massive Attack, Portishead and Kate Bush, the movie itself feels like a throwback to 1980s and 1990s action thrillers, for good and ill.
Given director Niki Caro’s background in indie movies, the new effort doesn’t exactly boast much of a creative sensibility that stamps it with much of an identity. It could be a hundred other movies –– Netflix itself produced ‘Lou’, which starred Allison Janney as a former CIA/military type with a particular set of skills who has to help a mother/daughter duo when they’re targeted by someone violent. That at least had the benefit of more time and effort taken with both the lead character and the others.
Final Thoughts
‘The Mother’ is being pitched as a Mother’s Day release, but unless you know that many mothers and daughters who bond over watching Liam Neeson movies or the ‘Wick’ films, this seems unlikely to have wide appeal. And even if they do, there are other, better examples out there.
The artist also known as J.Lo can sing, dance, act in comedies like ‘Monster-in-Law,’ dramas like ‘Hustlers,’ or action movies like ‘Money Train,’ and is a fashion icon and a living legend!
Lopez’ latest movie, which is a romantic action comedy called ‘Shotgun Wedding’ also starring Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Coolidge, will debut on Prime Video beginning January 27th.
In honor of the new film’s release, Moviefone is counting down the 25 best movies of Jennifer Lopez’s career, including ‘Shotgun Wedding.”
Jack Powell (Robin Williams) suffers from an affliction that makes him grow four times faster than normal, so the 10-year-old looks like a 40-year-old man. After years of being tutored at home, Jack convinces his overprotective parents (Diane Lane and Brian Kerwin) to send him to public school. The children don’t know what to make of Jack, but with the help of his fifth-grade teacher (Lopez), he makes an effort to win them over.
Maya (Lopez) is a 40-year-old woman struggling with frustrations from unfulfilled dreams. Until that is, she gets the chance to prove to Madison Avenue that street smarts are as valuable as book smarts, and that it is never too late for a second act.
When Zoe (Lopez) tires of looking for Mr. Right, she decides to have a baby on her own. But on the day she’s artificially inseminated, she meets Stan (Alex O’Loughlin), who seems to be just who she’s been searching for all her life. Now, Zoe has to figure out how to make her two life’s dreams fit with each other.
Challenges of impending parenthood turn the lives of five couples upside down. Two celebrities (Cameron Diaz and Matthew Morrison) are unprepared for the surprise demands of pregnancy; hormones wreak havoc on a baby-crazy author (Elizabeth Banks), while her husband (Ben Falcone) tries not to be outdone by his father (Dennis Quaid), who’s expecting twins with his young trophy wife (Brooklyn Decker); a photographer’s husband (Rodrigo Santoro) isn’t sure about his wife’s (Lopez) adoption plans; a one-time hook-up results in a surprise pregnancy for rival food-truck owners.
A recently cheated on married woman (Lopez) falls for a younger man (Ryan Guzman) who has moved in next door, but their torrid affair soon takes a dangerous turn.
A neurotic worker ant (Woody Allen) in love with a rebellious princess (Sharon Stone) rises to unlikely stardom when he switches places with a soldier (Sylvester Stallone). Signing up to march in a parade, he ends up under the command of a bloodthirsty general (Gene Hackman). But he’s actually been enlisted to fight against a termite army.
Lila (Viola Davis), a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s (Aml Ameen) murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve (Lopez), who urges her to take matters into her own hands to track down her son’s killers.
When Bobby’s (Sean Penn) car breaks down in the desert while on the run from some of the bookies who have already taken two of his fingers, he becomes trapped in the nearby small town where the people are stranger than anyone he’s encountered. After becoming involved with a young married woman (Lopez), her husband (Nick Nolte) hires Bobby to kill her. Later, she hires Bobby to kill the husband.
Working-class waitress Slim (Lopez) thought she was entering a life of domestic bliss when she married Mitch (Billy Campbell), the man of her dreams. After the arrival of their first child, her picture perfect life is shattered when she discovers Mitch’s hidden possessive dark side, a controlling and abusive alter ego that can turn trust, love and tranquility into terror. Terrified for her child’s safety, Slim flees with her daughter. Relentless in his pursuit and enlisting the aid of lethal henchmen, Mitch continually stalks the prey that was once his family.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
Music superstars Kat Valdez (Lopez) and Bastian (Maluma) are getting married before a global audience of fans. But when Kat learns, seconds before her vows, that Bastian has been unfaithful, she decides to marry Charlie (Owen Wilson), a stranger in the crowd, instead.
Traces over three generations an immigrant family’s trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria (Lopez) and Jose (Jacob Vargas), the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho (Esai Morales), Paco (Edward James Olmos), Memo (Enrique Castillo), Irene (Lupe Ontiveros), Toni (Constance Marie), and Jimmy (Jimmy Smits) deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the ’50s. As the second generation become adults in the ’60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Salvadorian refugee Isabel (Elpidia Carrillo), their son, and Jimmy’s journey to becoming a responsible parent.
When a vengeful New York transit cop (Woody Harrelson) decides to steal a trainload of subway fares, his foster brother—a fellow cop (Wesley Snipes) tries to protect him.
Office temp Charlotte Cantilini (Lopez) thinks she’s found Mr. Right when she starts dating gorgeous surgeon Dr. Kevin Fields (Michael Vartan). But there’s a problem standing in the way of everlasting bliss: Kevin’s overbearing and controlling mother, Viola (Jane Fonda). Fearing she’ll lose her son’s affections forever, Viola decides to break up the happy couple by becoming the world’s worst mother-in-law.
A thief (Jason Statham) with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman (Lopez) on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew’s latest heist.
San Francisco’s premiere wedding planner, Mary Fiore (Lopez) is rescued from an accident by the man of her dreams, paediatrician Steve Edison (Matthew McConaughey), only to find he is the fiancé of her latest client (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras). As Mary continues making the wedding arrangements, she and Steve are put into a string of uncomfortable situations that force them to face their mutual attraction.
A “National Geographic” film crew (Lopez, Ice Cube and Owen Wilson) are taken hostage by an insane hunter (Jon Voight), who takes them along on his quest to capture the world’s largest – and deadliest – snake.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez as Darcy Rivera and Josh Duhamel as Tom Fowler in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
In Shotgun Wedding, Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel) gather their lovable but very opinionated families for the ultimate destination wedding, just as the couple begin to get cold feet. And if that wasn’t enough of a threat to the celebration, suddenly everyone’s lives are in danger when the entire party is taken hostage. “Til Death Do Us Part” takes on a whole new meaning in this hilarious, adrenaline-fueled adventure as Darcy and Tom must save their loved ones—if they don’t kill each other first.
A man (Jack Nicholson) who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife (Judy Davis) interferes. Also starring Lopez, Michael Caine, and Stephen Dorff.
Marisa Ventura (Lopez) is a struggling single mom who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and dreams of a better life for her and her young son. One fateful day, hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes) meets Marisa and mistakes her for a wealthy socialite. After an enchanting evening together, the two fall madly in love. But when Marisa’s true identity is revealed, issues of class and social status threaten to separate them. Can two people from very different worlds overcome their differences and live happily ever after?
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla (Lopez) is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham (Edward James Olmos), realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez (Jon Seda), who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
Meet Jack Foley (George Clooney), a smooth criminal who bends the law and is determined to make one last heist. Karen Sisco (Lopez) is a federal marshal who chooses all the right moves … and all the wrong guys. Now they’re willing to risk it all to find out if there’s more between them than just the law.
The new movie stars Jennifer Lopez (‘Hustlers’) and Josh Duhamel (‘Bandit’) as Darcy and Tom, respectively, who decide to have a destination wedding on a small island. As their family and friends arrive, including Darcy’s Ex-boyfriend Sean (Lenny Kravitz), the couple get cold feet and begin to argue. But they soon must come together to save the wedding guest’s when they are all taken hostage by Pirates.
The result is an entertaining and funny romantic action comedy, which features strong performances from the cast but is also very predictable.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez as Darcy Rivera and Josh Duhamel as Tom Fowler in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
I’m a sucker for any movie with a ‘Die Hard’ theme. It doesn’t matter if it is ‘Die Hard’ on a plane (‘Passenger 57’) or ‘Die Hard’ in the White House (‘Olympus Has Fallen’), I’ll watch it! Which is probably why I enjoyed ‘Shotgun Wedding’ because it’s basically just ‘Die Hard’ at a wedding. With all the ‘Die Hard’ clones that have been made over the years, I was surprised to realize that no one had thought of setting it at a wedding until now.
Originally conceived as a vehicle for Ryan Reynolds, who still serves as executive producer, the film was clearly retooled for Jennifer Lopez’s strengths once she came on board the project. And Lopez is uniquely qualified to star in this particular film as she is both believable in romantic comedies like ‘The Wedding Planner’ and ‘Maid in Manhattan,’ as well as action movies like ‘Out of Sight’ and ‘Parker.’ Lopez is in complete command in the romantic scenes with Duhamel, but she can also hold her own in the comedic scenes with Jennifer Coolidge, and looks completely believable firing a giant gun at the bad guys.
In some ways, this is really the complete Jennifer Lopez performance as you get a little bit of everything she’s good at, including singing, as there is one musical number at the end of the movie.
Veteran actor Josh Duhamel is probably best known from his appearances in the ‘Transformers’ movies, but has never really been given the opportunity to shine until now. Not unlike Lopez, ‘Shotgun Wedding’ gives Duhamel an opportunity to combine his comedic skills with his ability to be believable in an action role. The actor has some very funny moments in the movie, as well as sweet romantic scenes with Lopez, but also excels as an action-hero, along with J. Lo.
Jennifer Coolidge as Carol Fowler in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
Jennifer Coolidge, finally a household name for her work on ‘The White Lotus’ and her award season acceptance speeches, plays Tom’s overprotective mother and is hilarious as always in the part. She essentially plays the same basic character she always plays, but it works perfectly for this project. She has great chemistry with Lopez, and even gets to shoot a gun herself in one scene.
Cheech Marin and Sonia Braga were also nice to see playing Darcy’s estranged parents, and Marin has some fun scenes with D’Arcy Carden, who plays his new girlfriend. Marin also has a funny storyline with Lenny Kravitz’s Sean, Darcy’s ex-boyfriend who her father is still in touch with and invites to the wedding. Kravitz probably gives the weakest performance in the movie, and is basically just playing a version of himself. The character might have worked better if he actually played himself, and if Darcy’s ex was the real Lenny Kravitz! Unfortunately, as it is in the movie, the thrill of seeing Kravitz on screen wears off quick and you are left with a lackluster performance.
(L to R) Cheech Marin as Robert Rivera and Lenny Kravitz as Sean Hawkins in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
In fact, the biggest problem with the film is its predictability. Obviously, we know that Tom and Darcy will survive, they will save the guests, and get married by the end of the movie, but we get there without any real surprises, which makes the movie drag at times. Even the reveal of the “true villain” in the third act was no real surprise, and could have been more of a mystery.
While the romantic comedy elements are baked into the premise of the film, it’s the action sequences directed by Jason Moore that really make the film work. There is a thrilling zipline scene with Duhamel, and Lopez has some great moments with a hand grenade. But one of the best action scenes in the movie involves a helicopter/boat chase at the end of the film.
At the end of the day, ‘Shotgun Wedding’ is a satisfying and entertaining romantic action comedy because of the strong performances from Lopez and Duhamel, who excel in this specific genre. It works as a cute rom-com, but also as a big budget action movie, and the supporting cast, especially Coolidge help fill out the film, even if it is predictable at times.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez as Darcy Rivera and Josh Duhamel as Tom Fowler in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
Lopez and Duhamel star as Darcy and Tom, a couple that are having their wedding on a remote tropical island. Trouble begins when Darcy’s ex-boyfriend (Lenny Kravitz) arrives uninvited, and the wedding guests, including their parents, are taken hostage by Pirates. Now, Tom and Darcy must work together to save their guests as well as their wedding day.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jennifer Coolidge and Cheech Marin about their work on ‘Shotgun Wedding,’ their outragous characters, Coolidge’s gun training, and working with Jennifer Lopez.
Jennifer Coolidge as Carol Fowler in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Coolidge, Marin, D’Arcy Carden, Steve Coulter, Selena Tan, and Callie Hernandez.
Moviefone: To begin with, Jennifer, can you talk about Carol’s overprotective relationship with her son, Tom, and how she feels about his marriage to Darcy?
Jennifer Coolidge: Because Carol has only had sex twice in her life, I think she’s very worried about her son being seduced by a very sexy Darcy. She’s especially blowing it before the wedding. Someone like Carol can’t relate to her sexy in-law, for sure. She can’t relate, so she’s got to shut it down. Pull out the garden hose and get off my lawn!
MF: You really get involved in the action sequences and have a scene where you are firing a machine gun. Was that fun for you to do and what kind of training did you have for that scene?
JC: They were very worried about me with the gun, the production, I think, so I had more gun classes than I could handle. I had many gun classes, so I was ready. I got a gun diploma and everything. I love that they took that much time to make sure that I wouldn’t be dangerous to anybody. How cool is it to be a little James Bond, or some Michelle Yeoh moment, or whatever.
Cheech Marin stars in Prime Video’s ‘Shotgun Wedding.’
MF: Cheech, can you talk about Robert’s relationship with his girlfriend Harriet, and the drama that it causes when he brings her to his daughter’s wedding?
Cheech Marin: Well, there’s a lot of drama because I play Darcy’s father and I invite her ex-boyfriend, played by Lenny Kravitz, to the ceremony. So, you know stuff’s going to happen right away like, “What the hell did you do that for?” So, it was interesting, but this was a great cast of characters. We all got along really well, and each of us was very different than the other. But to bring your girlfriend to your daughter’s wedding, you know hijinks ensue and you’re going to be surprised.
MF: Finally, what was it like for you working with Jennifer Lopez and playing her dad?
CM: It was wonderful. I mean, she’s a really good actress to work with, and a good producer to work with, who’s acting at the same time. I’ve done both, and it’s a handful, but she was always on her marks and ready to go. She set the mark, and she sang at the Presidential inauguration right before we started. She had legit chops. Because I’m a musician myself, I asked her about that, “What was the makeup of the orchestra?” She said it was very minimal so you could really hear her voice, and she belted it out.
Jennifer Coolidge stars in Prime Video’s ‘Shotgun Wedding.’
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It’s already difficult to organize a wedding – especially one that features squabbling families, a bride and groom who are starting to wonder whether they really want to get hitched, and all the little extra details that go into the day.
And it’s even tougher when the glitzy affair is crashed by pirates, who proceed to take the various relatives and other guests hostage, leaving the couple to save the day.
The mix of romance, comedy and action comes courtesy of Jason Moore, who made the first ‘Pitch Perfect’ and here is working from a script by Mark Hammer.
‘Shotgun Wedding’s story follows Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel), who gather their lovable but very opinionated families for the ultimate destination wedding, just as the couple begin to get cold feet.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez as Darcy Rivera and Josh Duhamel as Tom Fowler in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
And if that wasn’t enough of a threat to the celebration, suddenly everyone’s lives are in danger when the entire party is held at gunpoint.
“’Til Death Do Us Part” takes on a whole new meaning in this hilarious, adrenaline-fueled adventure as Darcy and Tom must save their loved ones — if they don’t kill each other first.
On its way through development to the altar, the movie itself also has been through some wobbles. It was announced back in 2019 as a project to star Ryan Reynolds.
“I haven’t done a romantic comedy since ‘The Proposal’ but I just fell in love with Shotgun Wedding,” said Reynolds at the time. “It’s so refreshing and surprising. I can’t wait to bring it to life with Jason, Todd, Dave and the great team at Lionsgate.”
Yeah… except he did wait and then dropped it altogether (though remains attached as a producer).
(L to R) Josh Duhamel as Tom Fowler and Jennifer Lopez as Darcy Rivera in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
Still, the filmmakers pushed onwards and ended up with the seemingly perfect combo of Lopez and Armie Hammer. Who, if anyone has ready anything about him in the intervening years knows, didn’t stick around.
It all appears to be a fun comedy/action/romance romp, full of J.Lo taking charge and the supporting cast helping the lead pair bring the funny. Plus the movie doesn’t slack on the action quotient either.
And who knows? Maybe Reynolds pops up for a tiny cameo, dropping some Aviation Gin off at the ceremony for the guests to enjoy.
RSVP with your choice of chicken, fish or a hand grenade sandwich to Prime Video, where the movie will launch on January 27th.
(L to R) Cheech Marin as Robert Rivera and Lenny Kravitz as Sean Hawkins in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.Jennifer Coolidge as Carol Fowler in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.(L to R) D’Arcy Carden as Harriet and Cheech Marin as Robert Rivera in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel star in ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Photo Credit: Ana Carballosa.
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(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
‘Marry Me’ is looking to capture some love this coming Friday as Valentine’s weekend kicks off, pairing Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson as a seemingly mismatched couple who meet under unusual circumstances.
The movie, directed by Kat Coiro, opens as Kat Valdez (Lopez) is half of the sexiest celebrity power couple on Earth with hot new music supernova Bastian (Colombian singer Maluma). As Kat and Bastian’s inescapable hit single, ‘Marry Me’ climbs the charts, they are about to be wed before a global audience of their fans.
Divorced high-school math teacher Charlie Gilbert (Wilson) has been dragged to the concert by his daughter Lou. When Kat learns, seconds before the ceremony, that Bastian has cheated on her with her assistant, her life turns left as she has a meltdown on stage, questioning love, truth, and loyalty. As her gossamer world falls away, she locks eyes with a stranger, a face in the crowd: Charlie, awkwardly holding a sign reading “Marry Me”. In a moment of inspired insanity, Kat chooses to marry Charlie. What begins as an impulsive reaction evolves into an unexpected romance…
Lopez needs little introduction, given that she’s a musical superstar and actress who has appeared in movies including ‘Out Of Sight, ‘Hustlers’ and ‘Monster-in-Law’.
Wilson, meanwhile, has long established his comedic and dramatic credentials, working regularly alongside old friend Wes Anderson as both writer and actor, and has a lengthy resume including ‘Wedding Crashers’, ‘The Royal Tennenbaums’, all three ‘Meet the Parents’ movies and as the voice of Lightning McQueen in Pixar’s ‘Cars’ movies.
Lopez first crossed paths with her ‘Marry Me’ co-star Wilson in 1997 creature feature ‘Anaconda.’ ‘Marry Me’ promises to be a very different experience.
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The two popular actors recently spoke at a virtual press conference about the new film, here is what they had to say.
Jennifer, you play musical superstar, Kat Valdez in ‘Marry Me.’ Who is she in your eyes? How does her life change from the moment she decides to follow the impulse to marry a stranger?
Jennifer Lopez: In my eyes, Kat Valdez is a very kind of self-assured, recording artist veteran in the industry who has built herself and her life into something that she’s proud of, but it also, in a way, because of her personal life has become a bit unsatisfying. I think for her there’s a beautiful journey here. Once the character that Owen plays, Charlie, comes into her life, it really changes it forever. Changes her perspective, changes her ideas of being caught.
Sometimes you feel you are kind of caught like, “Okay, I’m trapped in this fame. I’m trapped in this life. This is all I can do. I really don’t get to have a life like everybody else or love like everybody else.” I think what Owen’s character teaches her is that she can and that it is possible and that there is hope for her. She could have a real love and a real home, which she’s never had.
How much of Kat is in you and how much of you is in Kat, Jennifer?
JL: I think there’s a lot of us in each other. This wasn’t a role where I had to research what it was like to be a famous recording artist who does branding and who has all of that. I understand what all of that is already. I think the difficult part was the meta part, which was the idea of showing what it’s really like inside my bedroom. When something goes wrong and you suffer a heartbreak like this in front of the whole world, and the media goes to town on you to kind of unearth the story and understand it and poke fun at it.
In some of those moments, even with scenes with me and Owen, where he’s asking, “Don’t, you want to just give up on the whole love thing?” It was just that philosophy that she has. I understand it’s like, “No, if there’s a one in a billion chance, no matter what the numbers are, you’re a math teacher, that’s worth it,” because I think what she has craving is that love and that home. So, there was a lot of moments there where I was able to bring a truth to the character in the emotional life that was authentic and real.
Owen, How do you see the character of Charlie?
Owen Wilson: Charlie’s sort of ordinary, I guess that would be sort of a man of the people. Then Bastian is this singing sensation and engaged to Kat Valdez. Through circumstance somehow, I wind up there at the concert. The next thing you know I’m on stage getting married. It’s such a leap of faith that when you read it, you are kind of, “Oh, I wonder how that’s going to work?” Yet, in the movie, sort of everything that leads up to it, I think you kind of go along with it. I felt it was kind of believable.
Music of course is a key element of the movie, Jennifer. Can you talk about the experience of making an album and a movie at the same time?
JL: That was a first for me, which was such a pleasure. It’s like my two worlds coming together, but making the album, it was great because they really allowed me to input into where and when and what these musical moments would be for this character. They really looked to me to be like, okay, how would this be? How could we make this feel real? Picking the music for the arc of the characters says, nobody understood the character more than I did. Nobody understood what it was to be a musical art artist and be this person within this movie.
Owen, how was your experience with Jennifer this time around?
OW: For me, it was very relaxing. It was nice because Jen assumed so many responsibilities, I didn’t have to worry about anything. She and Elaine (producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas) had to bear the brunt of the stress of everything. A lot of times when you work on a movie, you kind of hear it in your head or you have casting ideas. With this, everybody was just spot on. I wasn’t worried about anything. I felt that it was working while we were doing it.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
You were mentioning before how Charlie’s this normal guy, and the movie really plays into the idea that opposites attract. Do you believe that in real life?
OW: Well, to an extent. I think opposites attract in a sense from different backgrounds and seemingly very different. But I think in terms of your spirit, I think there must be some sort of overlap either in humor, or the way you look at the world, or what you’re curious about, or sense of adventure. So, in those ways I think sometimes it helps to have a little bit of overlap for that attraction to work.
Jennifer, you’ve starred in some memorable romantic comedies. Is this a homecoming of sorts for you and do you have a special place in your heart for that genre?
JL: Yes, I do. I think that’s why I’ve done so many throughout my career. It’s because I, as a moviegoer, love romantic comedies. Those are some of my favorite movies of all time, whether it’s ‘When Harry met Sally’ or ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ or any of these types of movies, the Meg Ryan era, and the Julia Roberts era, all those movies is what I grew up on. I love them so much.
So, it is kind of a homecoming for me because I haven’t done one in a few years and now I have two coming out. I have this one, ‘Marry Me’ and then ‘Shotgun Wedding’ will be out at some point, which I did with Josh Duhamel. So, I’m excited to be able to do a couple.
Is there a certain element in a romantic comedy script that makes you want to say yes to it, Jennifer?
JL: I think it’s hard to reinvent it every time. How do you make it different than the last one? Because we kind of always know that two people are going to wind up together and that’s going to be the end. So, it’s about how interesting the journey is and the interaction between the two characters and how interesting that is. If that’s written well, that’s what makes me want to do it.
Jennifer, Marry Me has some unforgettable songs. Do you have a favorite one?
JL: It’s hard. I mean, off the top of my head, I love ‘Nobody’s Watching Us.’ I love it so much because I really relate to it. ‘On My Way’, for me is such a life song. It’s one of those perfect sentiments in a song. Yes, it fit well in the movie, but I just thought it was a song that everybody could relate to because we all feel like the mistakes we make are so tragic in our lives.
This is so hopeful because it says that every single mistake that I made was leading me down a yellow brick road to exactly where I needed to be and where I wanted to be, and I do believe in that in life. So, I would have to say, if I had to pick a favorite child, which I would never do, it would be, ‘On My Way.’
Owen, Kat obviously takes a big leap of faith when she marries Charlie. What’s the biggest leap of faith you’ve taken?
OW: I think, for me, I did not study acting. I was an English major, but I always loved movies and I liked writing. So, when my friend and I started writing a movie together, believing that I could act in it, I don’t know that I did necessarily. It was more my friend’s belief that I could do it. Because growing up in Dallas, if you had said, ‘Oh, I want to be in movies,’ I think people would’ve almost laughed at you like, “Yeah, who doesn’t want to be in movies?” But I think that believing that I could maybe have a career doing something creative, that’s not the life that most people lead. So that was a leap of faith.
‘Marry Me’ debuts in theaters and streaming on Peacock February 11, 2022.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bobby Crosby, ‘Marry Me’ sees star and producer Jennifer Lopez back in her element. Featuring nearly a dozen original songs – mostly performed in their entirety – Lopez stars as lovestruck superstar Kat Valdez.
Set to marry her fiance Bastian (Maluma) in front of 40M people on live television, her world comes crashing down when a video surfaces of him cheating on her. Caught up in the moment, she proposes to a stranger in the crowd holding a marry me sign. Is her whirlwind marriage to hapless math teacher Charlie (Owen Wilson) just a publicity stunt, or did she accidentally find something real?
Director Kat Coiro is no stranger to the romantic comedy genre. Born to bohemian parents in a third floor Manhattan walk-up, Coiro spent much of her childhood living a nomadic existence around the globe. She studied theater and Russian literature at Carnegie Mellon University, and briefly enrolled in the American Film Institute’s MFA program before dropping out to film her first feature ‘L!fe Happens’.
Co-written by Coiro and star Krysten Ritter, the rom-com was partially inspired by their own friendship, as well as Coiro’s experience as a first time mother. She quickly directed two more romances: ‘And While We Were Here’ and ‘A Case of You’ before pivoting to television. Her TV credits include the pilots for comedies’Girls5Eva’ and ‘Florida Girls,’ and the upcoming Disney+ show ‘She Hulk’.
After nearly a decade working solely in television, ‘Marry Me’ is not only a delightful return to the romantic comedy genre for the director, but also a showcase for Coiro’s vivid visual flare and skill at capturing the essence of entertainers at their most spectacular.
Jennifer Lopez at 2015 American Music Awards. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Moviefone: What do you look for in the films that you direct in general, and how did you get involved with ‘Marry Me’ in particular?
Kat Coiro: It’s funny because I never really subscribed to a specific genre. I just look for a mix of humor and heart and humanity. I had actually moved into the television space. I’d kind of said I’m not going to do features for a while. But when I read this script, it just really spoke to me in terms of its humanity. Even though it’s this larger than life story about a celebrity, there is something so elementally vulnerable and human and interesting in the heart of the story.
That’s really what drew me to it. Also having Jennifer Lopez play this role that feels like she was born to play. It’s the combination of all of her talents: acting and singing and fashion. She brought so much to it. She was attached when I read the script, so that was really an exciting element, obviously.
MF: I read that she listened to a hundred songs to narrow down the ones featured in the film.
KC: More than that! We listened to probably 400 songs. Our partners at Universal, and then Jennifer’s music team, they inundated us with songs that had been banked songs that were originally written for the film. There were a lot of different songs entitled ‘Marry Me’ that we went through. That was a huge process. It was me and Jennifer and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, who’s the producing partner, and then also Mike Knobloch, and Rachel Levy over at Universal and Benny Medina.
We would all get these files, and say here are the top ten from that batch. One of the great parts of the process is that we would all hear the same song and go, this is the one! It was so important that the songs not just be good in and of themselves, but that they tie into the emotional arc of the story. Because while it is a rom com, and it is about a relationship, it’s also about the growth and the progression of an artist.
She starts in this very big, larger than life, spectacle, pop world with songs like “Church’. Slowly as the film goes on, she breaks down to a very simple unproduced version of herself with ‘On My Way’, which ends up being the song that kind of puts her on the map in a new way.
MF: How did you select which songs to present as a spectacle, via social media, in a recording studio, etc?
KC: That ties into the selection of the songs. Where she is at the top of the film, she is this big, famous pop star who’s marrying another big famous pop star, and they’re known for this very flashy kind of radio hit, which is ‘Marry Me’, and then when her world explodes, she has to build back up. It was about finding each song in the sequence that went along with that emotional journey.
One of the most exciting moments for me was during my first time meeting Jennifer. She started singing a song that’s not actually in the movie, but a song called ‘Unlove You’ that had originally been scripted in the film. She was singing along to a Bluetooth and the Bluetooth dropped out and she kept singing and I was four feet away from her. I’ve always known how talented she is and what a good singer she is, but seeing it like that, an acapella Jennifer Lopez in a room singing. It brought tears to my eyes. I got chills. I thought oh my god, if we can bring even a tiny bit of that into the film I think we will have succeeded.
So I always knew that we were working towards this moment where she sits and sings unaccompanied, and she sings for real in the room and we don’t mess with it. It was all moving towards that point of just stripped down and raw Jennifer Lopez.
MF: Earlier you mentioned fashion. Her character has a lot of looks, from the stage spectacle to the wedding dress to her casual walking around New York City style. How did you develop them?
KC: One of the most important things to me was that these concerts feel 100% real. So, to that end, from a lighting standpoint, from a set design standpoint, from a costume standpoint, we actually brought in her concert team for those sequences.
So when she performs ‘Church,’ that was a collaboration between me and the costume designer, Caroline Duncan, but also Rob Zangardi, who does all her costumes for her shows. It was a real collaboration. When you have Jennifer Lopez and her music team, part of your job is to get out of the way and let them do their thing. Where I would weigh in is when it affected the story emotionally.
When you look at ‘Church,’ that is when she’s at the height of this very spectacle driven kind of flashy persona. It was really important to capture the authenticity of the concerts. In terms of her fashion throughout, she obviously has such a great sense of what looks good on her, so it was conversations about where she is in the story. How do these costumes reflect the emotional trajectory? Then let her and her team do their thing.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
MF: There’s a stark difference visually between her world and Charlie (Owen Wilson)’s world. Can you talk about that?
KC: One of the motifs that we played with throughout is that she lives in a world that is up high, it’s in the clouds. It’s in the sparkly city lights. You look at her apartment, it’s on the 40th floor. She’s on a private jet. Even when she goes to the press conference, her car is parked on the rooftop. That was something that was scripted in an underground garage, and my cinematographer Florian Ballhaus, and I were like no, we always want her to be up high.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Charlie who lives in a ground floor apartment. His classroom is on the ground floor of his Brooklyn school. We were constantly playing with this high-low dynamic. She’s always on a stage and he’s down below. That was a huge part of the visual language of the film, with him always looking up at her and she’s looking down at him.
Then we flip it at the very end of the film. She comes into the theater and he’s up on the stage for the first time. When she holds up the sign, she’s down below. It’s really about them having influenced each other’s worlds, and changed each other.
MF: One moment that really struck me because it’s one of my favorite poets, is when we meet Kat she reads from Keats for possible wedding vows, and then later Charlie also loves Keats. Was that always in the script?
KC: Every film I have made has a sliver of classical poetry because it’s something that I love to sneak in. Especially in popular films, I just like to bring in a little of that poetry and romanticism. Keats was a Romantic poet, so to bring that in was important to me. It wasn’t originally scripted that way. But it was also a way of setting up the difference between Kat Valdez and Bastian (Maluma).
For her this is a really romantic venture. She is pouring her whole heart and soul into it. But for him, he’s very young. He’s very famous. It seems like a great press opportunity. It’s not that he doesn’t love her, and that he’s callous, but they are coming at it from different times in their life and from different points of view. I think poetry is a very simple and straightforward way of showing that difference between where they are in their lives.
MF: Both Kat and Charlie have been divorced before. Marriage and remarriage is a classic trope in screwball romantic comedies. Are there any romantic comedies that inspired you while making this film?
KC: Oh, definitely. You can see throughout the film that instead of shying away from the tropes and the cliches we lean into them. There’s a reason that Michelle Buteau opens and closes the jewelry box when Jennifer reaches for it.
KC: There’s a reason he’s holding up a sign or she’s running through the airport. It’s funny, I keep getting asked, is the rom com dead? I always say the rom com is the most sustaining genre that exists in cinema. When you look back at Charlie Chaplin. Those are rom coms. When you look at the musicals of the 30s and 40s, and 50s. Those are rom coms.
When you look at the 80s and 90s, and 2000s. It is a very enduring genre. We wanted to really play into that and say, yes, we’re coming from a tradition of rom com and we embrace it, and we love it. Some of my favorites are ‘When Harry Met Sally. . .’ and ‘Notting Hill’. I think there’s a lot of comparisons between ‘Notting Hill’ and this movie, and I love that and I welcome that.
MF: Why do you think romantic comedies are so enduring?
KC: I think they’re hopeful. I think that they make people happy. I’m always a little shocked by the way that they’re spoken of like they’re lesser than. Because the truth is they are geared towards women, but I think men also love them. In my experience, it’s a very universal genre. Then you add the music that we have in this film, and it becomes not just a rom com, but also kind of a concert experience. I’m really hoping that’s part of what brings people to the theaters. The combination of the glamour, the style, and the genre. It’s about love and it is about hope. It’s as simple as that.
With ‘Marry Me’ you also get to watch songs performed in their entirety, which is something that was also really important to me. A lot of music movies show a snippet, 15 seconds, you just get the sense of the song. I went into it saying no, we have to play out the entire song every single time that we can, because it’s such a fundamental part of who Kat Valdez is, and wanting to draw the audience in that way and really show full performances is something that I think sets this movie apart.
MF: What do you hope people take away when they’re done watching this film?
KC: One of the things that always struck me about the film is that we live in a society that is very fixated on being famous, and on getting lots of followers. I would say that there is an obsession with it that is probably a little bit unhealthy. There’s something about this film where we’re peeling back the curtain, and we’re saying you do pay a price for living in the spotlight the way that Kat Valdez does. It was very important to me that we ended the film on the simplest scene of them sitting on a couch in sweatpants, watching TV with their family.
Originally in the script, it had ended on another big wedding. I really wanted to strip us away from big romantic gestures. Because the truth is life, in its simplicity, is something that we should and can be striving for. It doesn’t all have to be striving to be in the spotlight. So I hope that people walk away and feel like they had a little bit of an escape, but also that they can be happy with a simpler life.
‘Marry Me’ debuts in theaters and streaming on Peacock February 11, 2022.
Early tracking is looking good for “Hustlers.” The numbers show that the STXFilms comedic thriller could open to $25 million, Variety reports. It looks like moviegoers are just as susceptible to the stars’ charms as their onscreen clients are.
With a cast that boasts Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, and Lizzo, the film follows a group of strippers who team up to gouge their wealthy Wall Street clients. It’s inspired by a true story, too. The script was based on a 2015 New York magazine article by Jessica Pressler.
“Hustlers” is set to open on Sept. 13, the same day that the Warner Bros. drama “The Goldfinch” will debut. “Hustlers” should top it, with “The Goldfinch” bringing in $18 million, per Variety. The latter also has a stellar cast, as Ansel Elgort, Sarah Paulson, Nicole Kidman, and Luke Wilson all star.
That “Hustlers” is poised to do well isn’t a big surprise. There’s been a lot of buzz around the movie, after all. The first official trailer debuted in mid-July, and in less than two weeks, the official Twitter account was celebrating 100 million views.
