Jennifer Lopez is currently promoting her new movie musical Kiss of the Spider-Woman, which is set to hit theaters this month. In a Q&A for the film that took place on Wednesday, Lopez shocked her fans when she revealed that she lost out on a major 1990s movie role to her fellow pop icon Madonna.
Lopez Loses Major Role To Madonna
It turns out that Lopez, 56, also auditioned for the 1996 movie adaptation of Evita. Unfortunately for her, however, the role ultimately went to Madonna, 67.
“I went to audition for Evita for [director] Alan Parker,” Lopez recalled. “I had been practicing for weeks and I sing my heart out and he goes, ‘You’re amazing. You know Madonna has the part, right?’”
“I said, ‘OK, bye-bye. Nice to meet you,'” she added with a laugh.
Madonna won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the former Argentinian First Lady Eva Perón in Evita. The movie was also nominated for five Oscars, winning for Best Original Song at the 1997 Academy Awards.
Watch Lopez’s full account of her Evita audition in the video below.
Lopez had previously referenced her Evita audition in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter back in January. At the time, she was talking about the other movie musicals that she’d auditioned for but lost out on.
“I remember auditioning for Evita. I remember auditioning for Chicago and for Nine — getting very close on Nine,” Lopez said at the time. “There was a lot of things that I had always hoped that I could do and just wasn’t the right time. But this is the right thing.”
Kiss Of The Spider Woman
Nearly 30 years after her failed Evita audition, Lopez is finally starring in her first movie musical in Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Kiss of the Spider Woman was initially a widely acclaimed non-musical drama film that came out in 1985. The movie was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture. William Hurt won the Best Actor Oscar for his work in the film.
Kiss of the Spider Woman was then turned into a Broadway musical that premiered in 1993, with Chita Rivera playing the titular role. It’s that show that the new version of Kiss of the Spider Woman is based on.
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.
Check out a trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman in the video below.
Lopez Garnering Oscar Buzz
Critics are already praising Kiss of the Spider Woman, saying that Lopez’s performance is a major highlight of the film. In fact, Lopez is already garnering Oscar buzz for her work in the movie. This would be huge for Lopez, as she’s surprisingly never been nominated for an Oscar, despite some close calls over the years.
“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.
After losing out the coveted title role in Evita to Madonna, it appears that Lopez has finally found the perfect part for herself to play. Kiss of the Spider Woman hits theaters on October 10. Be sure to check it out if you want to see Lopez in her most critically acclaimed role yet!