A video shared by The Hollywood Reporter showed Jennifer Lopez at the premiere of her new film "Kiss of the Spider Woman" at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Lopez was joined by the musical's director Bill Condon and her colleague Tonatiu for a Q&A after the screening. In the video, Lopez is seen visibly excited and explains, "I've waited my whole life for this moment."
"The truth is, when we talk about the importance of musicals, the reason I wanted to get into this business in the first place was because my mom used to put me in front of the TV when West Side Story aired once a year, on Thanksgiving. I was just mesmerized," she says. "And I said to myself, 'This is what I want to do. This is what I want to do. This has always been my goal, and now for the first time I've been able to do it."
Argentine writer Manuel Puig's 1976 novel was later adapted into a 1985 film starring William Hurt, Raúl Julia and Sonia Braga, and in 1993 became a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.
The plot of the new film follows the original, as it centers on a political prisoner (played by Diego Luna) in Argentina who shares a cell with a homosexual showman (Tonatiu), where the two talk about the plot of a Hollywood musical starring a talented actress (Lopez).
Condon said that during his remarks prior to the screening, he addressed the project's relevance in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's recent declaration that the federal government would only recognize two genders - male and female.
"One of the things the film is about is trying to bridge the incredible, difficult divides that so often separate us. In that spirit, I'm going to read a line from a speech earlier this week: From this day forward, the official policy of the United States government will be that there are only two sexes, male and female," the director said.
Some members of the audience hissed their displeasure at this before he continued.
"It's a view on which the film has a different point of view," Condon said. "Personally, I think the most important thing is that somehow we have to bridge those differences, and there's a sense in this film - I hope you feel it - that the only way is going to be through kindness and love." | BGNES
