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Jennifer Lopez had multiple roles in “Kiss of the Spider Woman”
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The 2025 version sheds more light on the quirky romance than the 1985 film
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The film is based on the 1993 Broadway musical adaptation of the 1976 novel.
by Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES, — Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez had several roles in the film musical adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and she was determined to make them all her own, following in the footsteps of acclaimed Latina actors Sonia Braga and Chita Rivera.
“You really have to let go of it and make it your own,” Lopez said of her approach to playing Spider-Woman, a Hollywood actress named Aurora, and film star, Ingrid Luna, for the film.
Lopez said, “I really felt like each character had a different voice and singing voice.”
The American Music Award winner said, “A darker tone for the Spider Woman songs, a lighter, more optimistic, more romantic tone for the Aurora parts, and then like Ingrid Luna, the real movie star, a strong, powerful superstar performer as a woman.”
The 2025 adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” directed by “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon and distributed by Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment, hits theaters Friday.
The film is based on the 1976 novel by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig, which was later adapted into a 1985 film directed by Argentinian-Brazilian director Hector Babenko, eventually spawning a 1993 Broadway musical adaptation directed by American director Harold Prince.
The story centers on Valentín Arregui, played by Diego Luna, a political prisoner who shares a cell with Luis Molina, played by Tonatiuh Elizazar, a window dresser convicted of public indecency.
An unexpected romance forms between the two as Molina entertains Valentine with the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite movie star, Ingrid Luna, played by Lopez.
Condon said that while the 2025 version highlights more of the bizarre romance between Molina and Valentin, the 1985 film was the trailblazer that inspired him.
Condon said, “I just want to say that that movie was groundbreaking for its time and it meant a lot to me as a young gay man watching that movie.”
For Tonatiuh, known professionally by his first name, the film is an opportunity to explore both beautiful art and realistic struggles for historically oppressed communities.
“We were doing something that was bigger than us, but it was also making us happy,” he said.
“It reminds us of the power of Latino and queer individuals, the dignity behind our communities and the resiliency behind that,” he said.
However, Tonatiuh wants people to understand that the film also has a “universal message of love”.
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