Within the Hollywood landscape, awards season has essentially arrived, and analysts are already predicting which 2025 movie releases will be the top contenders for the big prizes. There are already plenty of films in contention, with one of them being Bill Condon’s take on Kiss of the Spider Woman. Jennifer Lopez leads the musical film and, ahead of its wide theatrical release, she’s already received rave reactions from her performance. Despite already being in the Oscars chatter, Lopez explained why she’s not focusing on it.
Kiss of the Spider Woman premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, and it seemed to be very well received. JLo and co. received a standing ovation after the screening and, since then, there’s been talk of her possibly being in the running for an Academy Award and other honors. The subject came up again when Lopez took part in an in-depth interview with CBS News Sunday Morning (which was shared on YouTube). Lopez explained that she isn’t putting much thought into that due to her past experience:
I don’t [put those expectations anywhere.] I learned my lesson last time. But also, the joy, for me, is in doing it. Every single moment. It's great to be in the conversation, among… like, you're doing work that people recognize, and that they love. That's enough.
When Jennifer Lopez said “last time,” she was referring to the positive buzz that swirled around her performance in 2019’s Hustlers, in which she played a stripper-turned-crime boss. It was widely believed in many circles that Lopez would receive an Oscar nomination. While she did receive Golden Globe and SAG Award noms along with some critic-based award wins, she wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award.
JLo’s fans were not pleased when she was snubbed by the Academy, and the star herself got real about feeling the sting of not being honored. However, based on the comments she shared about Spider Woman, her perspective has changed quite a bit:
It's not that you can't want more, or that you don't wanna stand up there and say thank you. Of course, we all want that. But I realized that I don't need it in the way that maybe I thought when I was younger. Not that I wouldn't love it. I just wanna do that little disclaimer! I'd be very grateful for that, too.
That’s a balanced way to look at awards buzz, in my humble opinion. Basically, on the one hand, the Enough star is cognizant of it, but is choosing to focus on the joys of the experience making her latest film instead. On the other side of the equation, though, the A-lister also wouldn’t turn her nose up at the chance to accept one of those gold statues on Oscars night or pick up any other major awards for that matter. I find this take quite refreshing and think other actors could benefit from such a healthy mindset.
Kiss of the Spider Woman sees Jennifer Lopez playing the titular character and, for the role, she was called upon to sing and dance as well. Lopez and Bill Condon (whose collaboration marks a full-circle moment) worked together closely to develop the latter’s character. Condon has since praised Lopez for being the right kind of “diva” to bring her over-the-top character to life. All the while, Lopez has gushed about having worked on the film alongside co-star Diego Luna and more, and she revealed to CBS that it served as a source of joy given the work coincided with her and Ben Affleck’s marital issues.
It’s certainly possible that Jennifer Lopez could receive some major awards buzz for her performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman. However, it’s cool to know that even if that doesn’t happen, she’s not going to sweat it. On that note, fans will be able to check out Lopez’s latest big-screen work when the aforementioned musical film hits theaters on October 10.
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