After a difficult year that saw her finalizing her divorce from her fellow Hollywood star Ben Affleck, things are finally looking up for Jennifer Lopez. Indeed, she’s garnering Oscar buzz for her role in the new movie musical Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Lopez Garners Oscar Buzz For New Movie
Despite some very close calls over the years, Lopez, 56, has never been nominated for an Oscar. It seems that all might be about to change with Kiss of the Spider Woman, which is set to hit theaters on October 10.
According to its official synopsis on IMDB, Kiss of the Spider Woman tells the story of “Valentín, a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina, convicted for public indecency. An unlikely bond forms as Molina recounts a Hollywood musical plot.”
Lopez plays Aurora, an actress who stars in the musical that Molina tells his cellmate about. The two men, who are played by Diego Luna and Tonatiuh, end up developing a deep emotional bond through this fantasy as the movie unfolds.
Critics are already praising Kiss of the Spider Woman, saying that Lopez’s performance is a major highlight of the film. This has meant the world to Lopez as speculation mounts that an Oscar nomination could be heading her way.
Check out a trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman in the video below.
Lopez Has ‘Been Waiting For This’
“I had never seen Kiss of the Spider Woman onstage,” Lopez recently told Extra. “I had never seen the movies from the ’80s… When I read it, I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I was laughing. I was crying, I was reading it out loud, and I knew it was something like I had been waiting for my whole life, a role like this.”
Lopez had to fight back tears when the movie received a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” she explained. “The reason I even wanted to be in this business is because my mom would sit me in front of the TV and [West Side Story] would come on once a year. I was mesmerized and was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ This is the first time I actually got to do it.”
Check out another trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman in the video below.
Lopez Filmed This Movie During A ‘Difficult Time’
This comes after Lopez admitted that she filmed this movie during a “difficult” time in her life.
“It was one of the most beautiful moviemaking experiences I’ve ever had, and also at a difficult time in my life,” Lopez told Out Magazine. “But it … just filled a part of me that was waiting to kind of come alive for so long.”
Indeed, Lopez filmed Kiss of the Spider Woman in the spring of 2024. Though the world didn’t know it at the time, Lopez had already separated from Affleck. She filed for divorce in August of 2024 after just two years of marriage.
In her filing, however, Lopez listed their date of separation as being in April. This confirms that Lopez was already privately dealing with their split while making this movie. It wasn’t until January of 2025 that their divorce was finalized.
Now that this difficult divorce is behind her, Lopez is firmly focused on the future. With a potential Oscar nomination on the horizon, things are finally starting to look up for Lopez. Only time will tell if she finally gets the Oscar love that she’s been craving for years!