Jennifer Lopez tears up at “Kiss of the Spider Woman ”premiere, calls starring in a musical a 'dream come true'

Sooner or later, Jennifer Lopez was certain to get the chance to star in a movie musical.

At last, she has, starring as the titular Spider Woman (and Ingrid Luna/Aurora) in Bill Condon's new film adaptation of the Tony-winning musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman. For Lopez, who takes on the role originated by Chita Rivera, it's a dream come true.

"I've been waiting for this moment my whole life," Lopez said at the film's premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. "The truth is, when you talk about being in musicals the reason that I even wanted to be in this business was because my mom would sit me in front of the TV, [West Side Story] would come on once a year, on Thanksgiving, I remember. And I was just mesmerized, and I was like, 'That's what I want to do.'"

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"That was always my goal," she continued, fighting back tears. "And this is the first time I actually got to do it, so it's a big deal. [Bill Condon] made my dream come true. I think of Chita Rivera, I think of Fred Ebb, I think of Terrence McNally and all of the love that they poured into this, and it's just an honor to be able to be part of this movie."

Directed by Bill Condon, the new film is based on the 1992 stage musical from Terrence McNally, which was itself based on the 1985 film by Héctor Babenco, which was again based on the 1976 novel by the Argentine author Manuel Puig. Condon adapted the Tony-winning musical, which features a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the team who wrote Chicago and Cabaret.

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Set in 1983 during Argentina's Dirty War, Kiss of the Spider Woman tells the story of Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay window dresser who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for indecency after being caught with another man. During the third year of his sentence, he's placed in a cell with Valentin (Diego Luna), a revolutionary who is vital to the fight against Argentina's military dictatorship. Molina copes with prison by imagining the plot of his favorite film, Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring Old Hollywood actress Ingrid Luna (Lopez). Eventually, Valentin also finds escape in Molina's description of the fictional classic musical, which comes to life on screen in vivid Technicolor musical numbers.

Lopez said she sees the film as both a fantastical musical and a potent message for our times. "The aspect of doing that '50s musical is a fantasy, it's the escapism," she noted. "The thing I love about the movie the most is it tells of the importance of storytelling and how it can help you get through the day. And how it helps all of us. Films help all of us get through the hardest times in our lives just likes music. That's why movies are so important."

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Condon also spoke to the film's relevance, even reading a piece of Donald Trump's inauguration speech stating that the U.S. government only recognizes two genders in his introduction prior to the film. "It had been clear already that for years that trans people were being used as the latest victims of the culture war," he reflected later during the post-screening Q&A. "It feels as if no matter what happened [with the election], this is something that we have to live with, and it's not going to go away. To me, the promise of the movie is that somehow people can grow beyond that and see each other as individuals."

Earlier on Sunday, at the Los Angeles Times Talks @ Sundance Film Festival, Lopez explained that her first introduction to the story was via Condon's script. "I was like, 'Oh my God,'" she said. "I remember sitting in bed and reading it and going, 'Oh my God, is this real?' And I remember calling my agent back and I was going, 'This is mine.'"

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She added that she had never before "felt in my life that I was born to play a part ever."

The Bronx-born singer and actress, 55, has been touring the world performing her pop hits like "Jenny From the Block" and "Waiting for Tonight" for the better part of three decades. She's been acting even longer, making her big screen debut in 1993 and starring in action, romance, and comedy classics including Maid in Manhattan and Out of Sight.

But she noted that Spider Woman represents the first time she's ever been approached to star in a movie musical. "I did Selena years ago, but it was not my voice," she said of the 1997 biopic of slain Tejano sensation Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, which turned her into a star. "They wanted to use her voice. I did dance a little, but there wasn't much choreography. So this was my first musical."

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She also enthused about Condon's direction of the theatrical aspects of the film. "You were also very upfront about the fact that you wanted to do it like a traditional musical from the '40s and '50s, where they would do the whole number in one shot, sing it and dance it all the way through," she said. "He was like, 'One of the reasons I want to do is I know you can do that.' And I was like, 'Well, there's 10 numbers in the movie that we're going to do in three weeks. He was like, 'I think you can do it.' It's like, 'Okay, well then how can I let him down?'"

Lopez added that she was "so moved by the story between Valentin and Molina in it, and I just felt it was so relevant today for this generation."

Condon also spoke about changes he made in the story and why he felt them necessary. "In this version [we are] going to tell it as a love story," he said at the LA Times Talks. "So he, from the first scene is layering in things that allow the audience to believe that this character takes a journey toward love."

Lopez concurred, adding, "There's so much adversity in the community that it was important to show that love is just love and people are just people."

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After the premiere, Tonatiuh echoed these sentiments, noting the effect the role had on his own life. "Growing up, [I was] a femme queer Latin kid in a culture that doesn't necessarily praise those things," he said. "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 to the lengths that I wanted to because of it."

"The thing I fought so much to love about myself got stamped out of me in an industry that didn't know how to handle duality," he concluded. "When I got this material, I knew this person, spiritually. I understood as someone who felt like the loser of their own life who found themselves to be the hero of their own story by falling in love. No one can tell you who you are, you get to decide that. In a time when people tell us things are inherently binary, I hope people might see this and know that they are not alone.

Kiss of the Spider Woman does not yet have a distributor or release date.

—With reporting from Jack Smart

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