The world already knows that Jennifer Lopez is a triple threat, and she further proves her acting, dancing and singing bona fides in a high-profile new role: The titular lady of Kiss of the Spider Woman.
JLo's character is a glamorous movie star whose most famous role is that of a spider woman, capable of killing her lovers with a kiss. In fact, the 54-year-old actress plays three different versions of the same woman.
"They're the same person, but they're three very different iterations of this woman and they're all very different characters and they have very different looks as well," Lopez told CBS Mornings co-anchor Gayle King. Speaking of, Lopez already got folks talking with her newly platinum blonde 'do for the Bill Condon-directed project, which premiered in theaters stateside on Friday, Oct. 10.
Equally jaw-dropping was Lopez's red-carpet cameowith her ex-husbandBen Affleck, who is an executive producer on the movie alongside famous BFF Matt Damon through their Artists Equity banner, at the film's Oct. 6 premiere in New York City.
“Jennifer is incredible in this movie,” Affleck gushed to E! News at the event. “She's fabulous. And it's an enormously difficult — it's all these masters, so it's not edited in such a way where you can make a little mistake here and there in the dance. It’s singing and dancing and acting and also trying to hold together these multiple tones in the movie. That's just probably the maximum level of difficulty for a performer ... This role, she was just clearly born to play.”
Here's everything to know about Kiss of the Spider Woman and whether or not it's based on a true story.
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Is Kiss of the Spider Woman based on a true story?
While it certainly takes inspiration from some real-world realities, including the repressiveness of the military dictatorship and political climate of Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s, Kiss of the Spider Woman is not based on a true story.
Rather, the plot explores themes of sexuality, freedom and more with a fictional narrative centered on a political prisoner Valentin Arregui Paz (Andor star Diego Luna) and gay hairstylist Luis Molina (Tonatiuh), who share a cell in 1980s Argentina. The two men form an unlikely bond as one recounts the story of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite screen siren, Ingrid Luna, played by Lopez.
Jennifer Lopez as Ingrid Luna in Kiss of the Spider WomanLionsgate
Is Kiss of the Spider Woman a remake?
Yes, the upcoming film Kiss of the Spider Woman is a remake.
The story originated in the 1976 novel by Argentine author Manuel Puig. It was adapted to film in 1985, starring William Hurt, Raul Julia and Sônia Braga. A Tony Award-winning 1993 Broadway musical followed.
However, the 2025 remake is more faithful to the original novel than its predecessors. Condon’s adaptation will be split between scenes set in an Argentine prison and fantastical sequences featuring a fictional movie-within-a-movie.
"I wrote it as two movies, and we made it as two movies," Condon told Vanity Fair. "That left us the means to make a lavish Hollywood movie musical—because it was only 35 minutes."
The latter is where J.Lo comes in, but the prison narrative will see a stronger focus on the “heated and romantic” queer connection between two Argentine cellmates, Valentin and Molina. “[The 1985] film was so meaningful to me as a younger gay man, to see the movie star of the time playing this gay character and the kind of attention that movie got,” Condon shared with Vanity Fair. “Similarly, to place this story on a Broadway stage, even in the ’90s — not only the gay parts of it, but also the brutality of it — was a difficult proposition, and again broke some real ground there.”
Related: Jennifer Lopez Says Kiss of the Spider Woman Is 'Very Different' and 'More Indie' Than Wicked (Exclusive)
Jennifer Lopez as Ingrid Luna in Kiss of the Spider WomanLionsgate
Is Kiss of the Spider Woman a musical?
Yes, the Kiss of the Spider Woman movie is based on a Broadway musical (which won seven Tony Awards, including for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score) and contains musical elements throughout.
The song-and-dance sequences mostly manifest in Lopez's fantastical storylines, which play out as a Technicolor movie-within-a-movie. She performs songs including "Her Name Is Aurora," "I Will Dance Along," "Gimme Love," "Never You" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman," among others.
Related: We Ranked the 69 Best Movie Musicals of All Time, From West Side Story to The Color Purple
Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh in Kiss of the Spider WomanLionsgate
Who does Jennifer Lopez play in Kiss of the Spider Woman?
Lopez plays three distinct characters in Molina's mind: the Hollywood starlet Ingrid Luna, the vampy diva Aurora and her most famous role, the Spider Woman.
The performer told USA Today how her IRL break-up from Ben Affleck helped her tap into playing all three women.
"You cannot separate who you are from what your performances become in that moment. It’s really about being in the present, and when I was filming Kiss of the Spider Woman – Aurora, that woman who was feeling like she was cursed in love; the Spider Woman, who just wanted a kiss; and Ingrid Luna, who was this powerhouse of an entertainer – all of them were living very largely in my life," she explained. "I was very lucky, because it does come out in the performance. I don't know that I would be able to play the characters in the same way today that I played them during that time."
Related: This Is Me … Rich! Inside Jennifer Lopez's Net Worth in 2025 and How She Made It
Tonatiuh and Diego Luna in Kiss of the Spider WomanLionsgate
In Kiss of the Spider Woman, Molina is portrayed by Tonatiuh, a Mexican-American actor known for his recurring role as Marcos in Vida on Starz as well as his series-regular work on TikTok's Hidden Canyons and ABC's Promised Land.
Tonatiuh received early acclaim for his role in Kiss of the Spider Woman, with David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter writing, "In a head-turning breakout performance, [Tonatiuh] can flip from proud to humiliated, self-dramatizing to selfless, often within a single line reading."
Who plays Valentin in Kiss of the Spider Woman?
Valentin is played by actor-director Diego Luna, who is arguably best known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in 2016's Rogue One and its prequel series Andor, the latter of whim scored him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.
Luna's decade-spanning career includes films like Y tu mamá también, The Terminal, Milk, The Book of Life and If Beale Street Could Talk, and TV series such as Narcos: Mexico, Everything Will Be Fine (of which he's also the creator), Maya and the Three and La Máquina, among others.
Related: How Cynthia Erivo Prepared for Filming Her 'Wicked: For Good' Scenes (Exclusive)
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