After negotiating the perils of notoriety, the actress is counting on "Marry Me," a film that sounds eerily similar to her actual life.
In some ways, the new film is about what it's like to live in Jennifer Lopez's limelight, which she describes as "a very unique life."
Which makes you wonder if anything in Jennifer Lopez's life happens by chance. It's a valid question, especially after her newish boyfriend, Ben Affleck, drops in for a kiss and a whispered talk beside a large gingerbread house with the words "Affleck Lopez Family" frosted on it.
After all, she is a lady who has successfully navigated the perilous waters of celebrity for nearly three decades, enduring round after round of humiliation, She refashioned herself from dancer to singer to actor to producer, enduring round after round of public relationships and breakups. She seemed to be more relevant than ever at 52, a period when female stars frequently find themselves in an ageist and sexist Hollywood purgatory.
On Valentine's Day weekend, her new film, the glittering romantic comedy "Marry Me," which has been delayed by the pandemic, will be released in theaters and on Peacock. Lopez plays a J.Lo-like superstar navigating a love life amidst the trappings of uber-fame in the film. (Does this sound familiar?) She'll play another bride in this summer's "Shotgun Wedding," before switching to a role as a lethal assassin in Netflix's upcoming feature "The Mother," which she expected to finish filming in the Canary Islands after the Christmas holiday.
The streaming service, which signed a multiyear deal with Lopez's company, Nuyorican Productions, last year, will also release a documentary about the year she turned 50, when all of her disparate worlds came together: legitimate recognition for her acting in "Hustlers" (she received her second Golden Globe nomination and a SAG Award nomination), her 2019 international concert tour, and the halftime show at the 2020 Super Bowl. "Everything I had strived for in film, music, and fashion just started occurring," she remarked of the year.
In some ways, Lopez's film "Marry Me," which she began working on with Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, her former agency turned producing partner, years ago, offers an answer It's also a high-wire act, a bet that Lopez can revive a genre that's been left for dead by both the studio system and the rom-com stars of the past. is in some ways an explanation of what it's like to exist under Lopez's spotlight, something she calls "a very specific life,"
Lopez's decision to switch from "Hustlers," which cemented her reputation as a serious performer, to "Marry Me," which is more in line with her earlier rom-com success ("Maid in Manhattan," "The Wedding Planner"), makes perfect sense to Goldsmith-Thomas. "We had a lot of fun making 'Hustlers,' but that doesn't mean we should limit ourselves to that," she remarked. "She had the chance to pull back the curtain and produce a film about it." "She had the chance to rip back the curtain and produce a film about what it was like to live and love in a glass bowl, to have your faults amplified and crucified across all platforms, and to eventually find your way despite it all." We'd be fools not to make it if we didn't have the ability to create and execute a soundtrack for that voyage."
Lopez portrays Kat Valdez, a global pop diva who plans to marry her fiancé, also a global sensation (played by Colombian singer-songwriter Maluma), in front of millions of fans in "Marry Me." Valdez realizes he has been cheating on her moments before the big "I do," and cancels the event .
