by Paul Fischer
Jennifer
Lopez
Exclusive CrankyCritic.com Interview by Paul Fischer
The
first thing one thinks of when referring to actress/singer Jennifer Lopez, is
how gorgeous she is. Of course you would be right. Alluring, glamorous and sexy
are three apt adjectives one can use in describing this Latina superstar, the
first non-Caucasian to be paid over $9m for a movie. But beyond the physical,
Lopez is far more than meets the proverbial eye. Gifted actress and popular singer,
she is also very funny, pokes fun at herself with delightful unpretentiousness
and laughs at all those media stories. Lopez talked to Paul Fischer in New York.
Jennifer Lopez walks into a room and heads turn. Not surprisingly. Elegantly donned in white, Lopez is hardly the image exemplified by the American press. that her 'entourage' is the group from hell. "It seems that to me, the same article has been written about me for the past 6 years, and they keep recycling stuff and adding to it, and a lot of that crap is a lot of made up stuff." Such as the recent Premier Magazine article, that devoted much space to her various assistants and those infamous six breakfasts that were ordered. "Ok, let me just break it down for you. I was taking a shower at that time and ordering my breakfast. As usual, room service forgets to bring something, like my steamed milk on the side, because that's how I like to drink my coffee, God forbid. So she goes and orders this steamed milk and the reporter from Premier decides to devote a column and a half about that incident. Therefore it adds to her story and the spin she wants to put on who I am." Yet the smart 29-year old actress/singer deals with those perceptions, she says, as best she can. "There's nothing I can do, accept when I'm asked about it, explain it to you as I'm doing. What else can I do?"
Not much, but like
her character in her latest film, The Cell, Lopez is a risk taker, a fiery
independent and passionate young woman who enjoys defying convention. No wonder
she 
relished
taking on this latest screen character. "In my own life, I've always gone
with my instincts, whether it seems like a risk to other people or not. I think
that's why, on a subconscious level, one of the reasons I related to this character."
Lopez recalls that from the beginning of her career, she has always considered
herself a risk taker. "When I was doing television (In Living Colour),
I had the option to sign to a series for a certain amount of time or go film this
movie, Mi Familia, in Mexico. So I go to the producers and I ask them,
can I do this, it's a Coppola movie, etc, and they were like: Oh yeah, sure, but
they didn't make time for it in the schedule. So comes the day, right and they
tell me: If you leave town, we're going to do this, and sue you, and all that.
Somehow it all worked out and I was like: I think I gotta go, I went and everybody
thought it was a huge risk. Mi Familia turned out very well, it got my
next movie (Money Train), and then one thing led to another while that
TV series ultimately got cancelled. So you see, the risk paid off. You've gotta
go with what's inside."
The
Cell is one of the most visually exciting and intoxicating movies of the year
(Cranky's review here), affording Lopez
a chance to do something she has never done on screen. Here she plays an obsessive
child psychologist, who has helped perfect the means to literally enter one's
subconscious, in order to unravel the mysteries of the mind, and to help awaken
comatose children. When she is persuaded by the FBI to enter the mind of a sadistic
(and comatose) serial killer (effectively played by Vincent D'Onofrio)
in the hoping of finding the whereabouts of his latest victim, she discovers a
nightmarish world in which the line between reality and dreams becomes increasingly
blurred. "I first read this script about seven years ago, when nobody would
make it with me, because I was just starting out doing television. It has evolved
a lot since then, but it reminded me of Silence of the Lambs, that kind
of character, and I had always had it in my mind. When I was making my first album,
I had a meeting with the New Line bosses, and I noticed they had somehow acquired
The Cell. I knew that was what I wanted to do, and it all happened from
there." Lopez had no problem working with a first-time feature director.
"To pull off the dream worlds, could have be really corny and weird or visually
stimulating. When I saw Tarsem's reel and he showed me his ideas, there was no
other choice. It didn't bother me that he was a first time director. He was just
so talented; it was time. He waited 7 years to do a movie. So everything came
and synchronized at the same time. When things are meant to be, they happen."
Lopez reinforces her faith in what her life has in store for her. "I don't
use that word enough, because I really do feel and believe that it's my faith
in things. I remember somebody said to me once: What do you think? You're just
going to put out a record and it's going to be good? You're going to catch a brick,
you know, just trying to bring me down to reality or whatever. And I just went:
You know what? I have faith and it's going to be ok. I don't know, I believe in
things a different way from what you believe. I just know it's going to be ok.
Whether it's successful or not is not the issue."
As
for the concentration of her physical attributes, Lopez laughs it off, even when
FHM Magazine recently labelled her as the sexiest woman alive. "I find it
flattering, as anybody would. If they said that you were the sexiest man alive,
you'd 
be
pretty cool about it, right? But you know what I'm saying? It's a flattering thing,
it's like wow, ok, cool, and the fact that people voted on it made it really flattering.
I think that it's a testament to the fact that people can relate to me on a more
real level is what made me feel nice." Lopez also laughs at the more outlandish
media stories written about her. Take that now infamous billion-dollar insurance
tale. You know the one, right, where the New York Daily News claimed that Ms Lopez
insured her body for a billion dollars? Recalling it, Jennifer laughs. "It
was really funny because I was here in New York that same weekend that the New
York Post came out and it was on the front page. I thought to myself: Oh God,
I've got to save this for my kids; this is going to be great some day.
Of course, the downside is, I've then got to talk about it for the next year,
denying it all the time. But it was definitely funny."
Lopez takes her work very seriously. Pushing aside the media hype, she remains fiercely passionate and committed to her music and acting, and her biggest joys, she says wistfully, "is when people see one of my movies or they hear some of my music, and they relate to it." Not to mention, "being a Latin actress, it's great to be able to help or contribute to, in any way, widening people's views of who we are and what our culture is. That's big and broad, so worrying about tabloid stories is not what my life is about." Asked whether she can achieve that better through music than in film, Lopez pauses. "It's funny, because to me, music is so much more intimate than movies are. Movies are like up there on that big screen, you're far away, you're 30 feet big and people are going: Aagh, you know? But you can still feel things but it's not as personal as music in your house, your bathroom or your bedroom, speaking to you in your car all the time. It's a different way of communicating." Those varied ways of communicating will be prevalent as two other films, and a new album, will all be released imminently. On the movie front, she a romantic comedy, The Wedding Planner, due out at Christmas, and Angel Eyes, due out next year.
As for the album (two songs from which are being produced by beau Puff Daddy) will explore Jennifer's more romantic side. "This next one is more about relationships. I don't have SO much free time, but what I tend to do when I'm with my girlfriends, and we sit down, all we talk about is our relationships. That's what girls do, all the time. You guys out there ought to know that. As for the album, I came up with this sort of concept, which is still being worked out, that the theme of the album should be that of a relationship from beginning to end, how you talk about it and then let the songs reflect that. We'll see how it all shapes up at the end of the day, but that was my initial inspiration." Thew album, like most of her work, also reflects where she in her personal life. "It's like the roles that I choose is the same thing; it's something you're drawn to when it may not be on a conscious level. It's what your drawn to and what you feel and relating to at that time." Lopez has the right to feel secure in all facets of her life, both personal and professional. Her career has never been stronger and she remains committed to her controversial boyfriend. Finally Lopez defines the ideal relationship "as being all about compromise, trust and understanding, from MY experiences and the things I've been through. You have to compromise because you're never going to see eye-to-eye; if there's no trust you have nothing; and you have to understand each other." Perhaps after meeting the beautiful young star, one understands her beyond the media image.