Jennifer Lopez Premieres “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in Spiderweb Gown at Sundance as Director Explains Diego Luna’s Absence

Jennifer Lopez premiered her very first movie musical in snowy Utah.

At the Sundance Film Festival in Park City on Sunday, Jan. 26, the actress-singer, 55, walked the red carpet for the world premiere of Kiss of the Spider Woman alongside director Bill Condon, costar Tonatiuh and more.

For the premiere, Lopez wore a black Valdrin Sahiti lace gown completely bedazzled in Hassanzadeh jewelry forming a spiderweb from her neck to her feet. While heading to the event, she stayed warm by wearing a white fur coat over the outfit.

Kiss of the Spider Woman stars Diego Luna, who was noticeably absent from Sundance, as a political prisoner during Argentina's civil war in the 1980s, incarcerated alongside another man portrayed by Tonatiuh.

“[Luna] sends his love. I know he had a family emergency that kept him in Madrid, but he’s heartbroken not to be here,” Condon, 69, said of Luna, 45, earlier in the day during a Los Angeles Times panel about the film.

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Kiss of the Spider Woman is a reimagining of John Kander, Fred Ebb and Terrence McNally's stage adaptation of Argentine writer Manuel Puig's 1976 novel. The Broadway adaptation took home the Tony Award for best musical in 1993. A non-musical 1985 film adapted from the same novel starred William Hurt, Raul Julia and Sônia Braga.

An official Sundance Film Festival synopsis for the new movie describes it as "a textually rich historical and political drama with the flashy technicolor extravagance of an old Hollywood musical.”

“Lopez is an astonishing scene-stealer in a career-highlight performance as Luna/Aurora, with showstopping musical numbers that underscore the exuberant prowess of her dancing and voice,” the synopsis added.

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Lopez revealed at the L.A. Times panel that she prepared for months to play movie-star-within-a-movie Ingrid Luna.

“I would’ve liked to have had a whole year to do a big musical like this, but we didn’t have that — this independent film, and so everything was crunched. We didn't have much time,” Lopez said. “It was challenging. It really was. For me, I was a dancer. But for Diego and Tona, it was very challenging, but we did it and we pulled it through.”

Tonatiuh described Lopez as a force of nature on set.

“It was watching a mastery of work to see you before every single time. There were even times where I wasn't even in the number and I would show up to set just to be like, oh my gosh, she's doing good again. This is incredible,” Tonatiuh said on the panel. “And mind you, we literally were shooting a number a day. ... You are a force of nature, truly.”

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In an interview on Live with Kelly and Mark in May, Lopez described Kiss of the Spider Woman as “all singing and dancing, which was equal parts exhilarating and exhausting as well,” per Entertainment Weekly. “I’m the thinnest I’ve ever been. I’m in fighting shape right now."

Kiss of the Spider Woman does not yet have a distributor or release date. Lopez, as well as Ben Affleck and Matt Damon through their company Artists Equity, are among the movie's producers.

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