Writer-director Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman marks a bold new vision for a story that has been told across novel, stage, and screen. For Condon, this reimagining is about returning to the source. “It was my love of the novel,” he explained in a recent press conference. “Even though all previous versions had been groundbreaking in their time, Puig was way ahead of all of them. We just caught up to everything he was writing about, specifically gender fluidity and the fact that it’s a love story. It’s a full love story, not a transactional one.”
Jennifer Lopez, who stars as Ingrid Luna and serves as executive producer, said she was instantly drawn to the script. “I’ve always wanted to do a musical,” she said. “When Bill sent me the script, I was blown away that all of the things I imagined when I was a little girl: singing, dancing, acting, playing a big Hollywood movie star, were in this. It was the stuff that dreams are made of.”
Lopez described the film as “a beautiful homage to how important movies and cinema are in our lives,” at once romantic and reflective.
Exploring Dualities and Humanity
Lopez’s performance demanded she balance three distinct personas, each revealing a different layer of desire and self-discovery. “There’s Ingrid Luna, the actress that Molina idolizes, then Aurora, and then the Spider Woman,” she said. “It’s like the dark and the light of the same person. At the end of the day, you look at it and realize Molina is Aurora, they’re the same. They’re all searching for love.”
Her co-star Tonatiuh, who plays Molina, described the process as both physical and spiritual. “The world Bill wrote was poetic,” he said. “I felt like I was getting invited to the Olympics, getting to work with everyone here. I lost about 45 pounds in 50 days to live that reality of being in a dictatorship inside a prison cell. I got to play the totality of the gender spectrum in one film, and that was such a gift.”
For inspiration, he looked to the closeted stars of Hollywood’s golden age. “I instantly thought of Montgomery Clift,” he shared, adding with a laugh, “I tried to steal Errol Flynn’s hair because that hairline was iconic.”
Diego Luna, who portrays the grizzled revolutionary Valentin, drew inspiration from his upbringing in Mexico during a politically charged era. “Growing up in Mexico and learning about Latin America’s recent history, this film means a lot,” he said. “There are so many brutal examples of dictatorships. But for me, this is also an homage to the theatre, to how film was once shot and performed, it’s all very theatrical.”
Love, Liberation, and Relevance
The film balances two worlds: the harsh reality of political imprisonment and the vibrant fantasy of the musical within the movie. Condon said this juxtaposition was key to his vision for the constant world-hopping within the film. “I was always worried that audiences would feel interrupted by the musical numbers,” he said. “But the story of what’s happening in the cell continues through the movie within the movie. You realize you’re actually learning more about Molina through the story he’s telling.”
For Lopez, the message of love and empathy resonates now more than ever. “It’s not done,” she said. “The story and message needed to be told again for this generation. We need to remind people of the humanity of these communities, that love is love. It’s a story that will keep being told until everybody gets on board with the fact that we’re all just people and we should all be loving each other.”
Tonatiuh added, “There’s a certain level for all of us where we’re championing communities with this story, reminding people of the dignity and values of both the LGBTQ and Latino communities.”
Vulnerability in Performance
The emotional core of the story, Molina and Valentin’s evolving relationship, challenged both Luna and Tonatiuh to approach their craft with vulnerability. “You can’t think of worse conditions to meet anyone important in your life,” Luna said. “Opening up sounds crazy, but the film tells you that the solution is the opposite: to be vulnerable, to open up.”
Tonatiuh recalled that they filmed the prison scenes in sequence, building a genuine connection. “The first time Molina walks into the cell and sees Valentin was the first time I got to see Diego in full character,” he said. “We built that relationship moment by moment. When we wrapped, the tears just flowed because I didn’t want it to end.”
The Dance of Collaboration
The film’s musical numbers, choreographed by Tony winner Sergio Trujillo, 3-time Emmy nominee Christopher Scott, and Broadway triple threat Brandon Bieber, bring the story’s fantasy sequences to dazzling life. “It was amazing,” said Lopez. “I hadn’t done that style of musical theater, jazz, Broadway-style dancing for years, so it was challenging but so much fun.”
Tonatiuh described the preparation as “Broadway boot camp,” joking, “You get the offer, and it’s like, now you’re going to sing and dance next to Jennifer Lopez. It’s the Olympics. Time for training.”
Lopez praised the collaborative environment. “The choreographers were great,” she said. “They let me input what I could and couldn’t do. Bill wanted to shoot everything in one take, and we did. It was a lot on our plate, but we pulled it off.”
Kiss of the Spiderwoman hits theatres October 10.
