Jennifer Lopez has received a big boost to her awards season chances after an audience ovation for her turn in new film Kiss of the Spider Woman.
The 55-year-old star appeared for a Q&A at a special screening of the movie in Los Angeles at the DGA Theatre in WeHo on Wednesday night.
A clip shared on social media showed the actress, clad in a floor-length gown and cashmere wrap coat in complementary neutral tones, welcomed onto the stage with whoops, claps and cheers.
As the applause continued, all audience members in shot jumped to their feet to show their appreciation, with Lopez appearing a little overwhelmed and embarrassed by the reception.
Variety confirmed the standing ovation in its tweet from the event, a signal more commonly found at film festivals that usually suggests Oscar buzz is imminent – and a sign the industry and fans alike often love to analyse.
‘Long overdue! She deserves all the flowers she is getting!’ responded a fan account under the post, while another added: ‘As she should!’
‘She’s so precious,’ wrote Kristen. ‘Awww I can’t wait to see her shine in #KOTSW.’
‘Oh she’s coming for that Oscar,’ chimed in @gabrielbandeir_, while Sergio Melone observed: ‘She is so underrated.’
‘People always dismiss Jennifer Lopez because she’s such a diva in real life but she’s a good actress,’ posted @CelluloidPeter. ‘Her singing isn’t my thing but I’m a fan of her acting work. It’s time she gets some recognition without haters going off on her.’
The Kiss of the Spider Woman an adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical of the same name and has already been met with rave reviews. It currently holds a strong positive rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The On the Floor singer stars as Ingrid Luna, a diva actress dreamed of by gay window dresser Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) while he’s enduring an eight-year jail sentence in In 1981, during Argentina’s Dirty War.
Attempting to escape the horror of prison, he invents a string of movies starring Ingrid, who made her name as a spider woman who kills her lovers with a kiss.
When he is joined in his cell by political prisoner Valentín Arregui Paz (Diego Luna), his time behind bars is transformed as they forge an unlikely bond.
On Wednesday night, Lopez recalled director Bill Condon, who also adapted the script for the film, telling her that all of the major musical numbers in Kiss of the Spider Woman would be filmed in one take.
‘I was like, “We’ll do some coverage?”‘ she said, according to Variety. ‘He was like, “Nope, no coverage.” I was like, “F**k me! I better get it right then”,’ the actress laughed.
‘Like, halfway through the take it’s going perfectly and then you trip on your dress or whatever so it’s like, maybe we start over. It was challenging. It was challenging in that way, time wise, as independent films can be. It’s the time, it’s the prep, it’s the budget. All of it were constraints for us.’
But Lopez insisted: ‘We put our heart and soul into it and we rehearsed like crazy for the time that we had and it was a beautiful thing and again, I’m living my childhood dreams.’
Her co-star, Carry-On actor Tonatiuh, previously praised the chart-topper and actress as ‘breathtaking and transformative in so many different ways’ during their time working together on Kiss of the Spider Woman.
The first teaser for the movie was released in June, showing the singer belting out Where You Are while switching between a series of fabulous costumes – all through the imagination of Luis.
Fans were mesmerised over the footage and flocked to social media to rave about JLo’s efforts, with Oscar talk high on the agenda then too as she was praised as ‘dazzling’ and ‘phenomenal’.
Lopez was previously tipped to take home a coveted trophy for her efforts in 2019 flick Hustlers, but failed to land a nomination, which many saw as a snub for the star.
The 1985 movie adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman – based on Manuel Puig’s novel – previously saw success at the ceremony when William Hurt landed the gong for best actor for his role.
In a new interview, the Love Don’t Cost A Thing musician shared her hopes that Bill’s version gets the same love.
Speaking of the Oscars buzz surrounding her latest role earlier this year, she told Variety that she didn’t ‘even want to begin the conversation’, but insisted: ‘Of course, I would love it to get the recognition that I believe it deserves.
‘Bill wrote a script that for the first time in my life I was in bed reading it and I started saying it out loud. Saying the lines and laughing and crying.
‘This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life. This is all I’ve ever wanted to do.’
Kiss of the Spider Woman will be released in the US on October 10. A UK release date is yet to be announced.
A version of this article was first published on June 6.
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