Jennifer Lopez the new queen of romantic comedies
If before it was Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan who made the big screen fall in love with their romantic comedies, that place is currently being occupied by Jennifer López
If in the past Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan were the queens of romantic comedies in the United States, the throne now belongs to Jennifer López, who has even been considered the savior of that genre.
Of course the fireplace is lit in Jennifer Lopez's house. It's a rainy day, just a week before Christmas, and his Spanish-style estate in Bel-Air is decorated as you'd expect: pine garlands strewn around the fireplace, orange roses on the coffee table, a Christmas tree professionally trimmed in room.
It's like a page from a Restoration Hardware catalog, including our celebrity, dressed in the couture version of a work-from-home uniform: chunky beige sweater, cream joggers, and shiny Timberland boots. She wears her hair in a bun and a touch of makeup highlights her impossibly hydrated skin. The gigantic diamond earrings that she wears in her ears are the only real sign that she is one of the most famous women on the planet.
That leads us to wonder if something happens by chance in the life of Jennifer Lopez. It's a question to ponder, especially after her new boyfriend, Ben Affleck, shows up to kiss her and have a whispered conversation with her near a giant gingerbread house with the words "Affleck Lopez Family."
This is, after all, a woman who has successfully navigated the treacherous waters of fame for nearly three decades, enduring round after round of romances and public breakups, reshaping herself from dancer to singer to actress. to producer. At her 52nd birthday, a time when female stars often find themselves in a sexist, anti-aging Hollywood purgatory, Lopez seems more relevant than ever.
Her new movie, the scintillating romantic comedy “Marry Me,” whose release has been considerably delayed by the pandemic, hits theaters and the Peacock streaming service this Valentine's weekend. In it, Lopez plays a JLo-like superstar trying to lead a love life amidst the trappings of superfame. (Does it ring a bell?). She will play another bride in “Shotgun Wedding”, which will be released this summer, before changing dresses for a role as a deadly assassin in the upcoming Netflix film “The Mother”, which was scheduled to finish shooting in the Canary Islands after Christmas vacations.
At some point, the streaming service, which last year signed a multiyear deal with Lopez's company, Nuyorican Productions, will also release a documentary chronicling the year he turned 50 and all his disparate worlds came together: the Legitimate recognition for her performance in “Wall Street Hustlers” (earning her second Golden Globe nomination and a SAG Award nomination), her 2019 international concert tour, and the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show. year, he said, "in which everything I had worked for in film, music and fashion started to happen."
Marry Me, on which Lopez began working years ago with Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, her former agent-turned-producing partner, is in a way an explanation of what it's like to exist in the Lopez spotlight, something she calls "a life very specific." It's also a tightrope balancing act, a bid to revive a genre that has been left for dead by both the studio system and the rom-com stars of the past.
For Goldsmith-Thomas, Lopez's decision to move from "Wall Street Hustlers," which boosted her reputation as a serious actress, to "Marry Me," which aligns more with her earlier success as a hardcore rom-com actress (" Dream of love”, “Wedding expert”), makes a lot of sense. "We loved doing 'Wall Street Hustlers,' but that doesn't mean it's the only thing we should do," she said. “I had the opportunity to pull back the curtain and make a film about what it's like to live and love in a glass bubble, to have your mistakes amplified and crucified on all platforms and ultimately find your way through it. Add to that the ability to produce and perform a soundtrack to that journey, and we'd be fools not to do it."
In “Marry Me,” López plays Kat Valdez, a global pop star who intends to marry her boyfriend, also a global sensation (played by Colombian singer-songwriter Maluma), before millions of fans in a televised act. Moments before the big "I do," Valdez finds out he's been cheating on her, cancels the ceremony while onstage, and opts to marry a poor devil in the audience (Owen Wilson) holding a sign that reads "Marry Me." ”. It's like a mix of "The Bodyguard" and "A Place Called Notting Hill," with a soundtrack by Lopez.
The film is both a frothy pop fantasy and a glimpse into a life few are lucky enough to lead. Any obsessive Lopez fan will surely examine it closely for clues to Lopez's own psyche, specifically how lonely it can be to be on top, where the refuge of entitlement can be like a cage. And they won't be wrong.
Despite the barriers, public perception is something Lopez continues to struggle to understand.
“I just want to sing and dance and act,” says Ella Lopez. “All this comes with something that you have to learn to manage: have that public life, that artistic life and then your private life. What you want is to have a normal life, like any other person, ”she added, then paused. "Everything is analyzed under the magnifying glass."
Lopez had just told me this when Affleck showed up. “Hello, darling,” she told him. The two set the internet ablaze last year when they rekindled their relationship from 19 years ago, a relationship so extraordinary at the time that it single-handedly fueled tabloid culture with the couple's glamorous -- and highly public -- encounters. (Rewatch Lopez's infamous 2002 video "Jenny from the Block" to see Affleck kissing her butt in a bikini as they sunbathe on a yacht.) With a backpack slung over her shoulder, she interrupted the interview to lead her into the other room. They came back ten minutes later, to hug, kiss and whisper "I love you" in each other's ears. "Very well, my love, I'll see you later," he said before running off.
It was a peculiar moment. It was planned? Spontaneous? My requests to speak to Affleck had been denied, but here he was, the obedient boyfriend sharing words of encouragement with the press.
I asked Lopez about the conversations the two had before rekindling a romance that had previously scuttled two movies and put their respective careers in jeopardy. ("A Dangerous Liaison" and the subsequent "Single Father" crashed in their premiere, in part due to relationship turmoil.) Had they thought about how to handle the media frenzy that would accompany such a union?
"I'd say we learned our lesson the first time," she assured with a sigh.
And what is that lesson?
"That we should keep it as something sacred," she added. “You have to do what makes you feel good at all times. But at the same time, you learn from the past, you do things better the second time. There is a part where, yes, we are together. But there is a part that is about not being as open as when we were so young and in love many years ago.
One thing does seem clear: López is a hopeless romantic who, despite her three marriages and other failed relationships, still believes in her destiny. She is the common thread of her new movie and she also seems to be the common thread of her life, one that she has no intention of changing anytime soon.
“You can't live life and think that things are just mistakes: I screwed up there, I screwed up there. No, it's all lessons,” she stated. “It is really what you can extract from the situation that is going to help you grow and go to the next level to understand yourself, find yourself and be able to be at peace with your life, at peace with who you are.”
