Jennifer Lopez worked very hard to land a role in the 1990s only to be told it was not even on the table, Daily Mail has learned.
When doing a question and answer session after a Los Angeles screening of Kiss Of The Spider Woman on Wednesday evening, which Daily Mail attended, the superstar shared that she worked for weeks to nail an audition for the musical Evita.
After singing her heart out, the Bronx native was told Madonna had already been given the role of the Argentine politician Eva Peron for the 1996 film.
The 56-year-old shared, ‘I went to audition for Evita for [director] Alan Parker,’ Lopez told the packed audience.
‘I had been practicing for weeks and I sing my heart out and [Parker] goes, “You’re amazing. You know Madonna has the part, right?”‘ said the actress.
Jennifer Lopez worked hard to land a role in the 1990s only to be told it was not even on the table, Daily Mail has learned. When doing a question and answer session after a Los Angeles screening of Kiss Of The Spider Woman on Wednesday, which Daily Mail attended, the superstar said the role went to Madonna
The movie was Evita, about the life of First Lady of Argentina Eva Peron; seen with director Alan Parker
She closed with, ‘I said, “Okay, bye-bye. Nice to meet you.”‘
Lopez is 56 and Madonna is 67.
In January, Lopez said she also lost roles for the musicals Chicago, which starred Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger, and Nine, which included Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman.
‘I remember auditioning for Evita, I remember auditioning for Chicago and for Nine — getting very close on Nine,’ she 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.’
In 2016, she was announced to star in an NBC live production of Bye Bye Birdie, but the project was canceled.
Now she is in Kiss of the Spider-Woman, an adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical. She is producing along with her ex-husband Ben Affleck.
She said on Thursday that the movie was shot in one take.
‘I was like, “We’ll do some coverage?”‘ she said. ‘[The director] was like, “Nope, no coverage.”
‘I was like, ‘F*** me! I better get it right then.” Like halfway through the take it’s going perfectly and then you trip on your dress or whatever so it’s like, maybe we start over. It was challenging. It was challenging in that way, time wise, as independent films can be, right? It’s the time, it’s the prep, it’s the, you know, budget. All of it were constraints for us.’
Now she is in Kiss of the Spider-Woman, an adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical. She is producing along with her ex-husband Ben Affleck
At the Q&A event she wore a beige robe over a beige dress
Lopez was seen that same day in a brown suit with a beige blouse and heels
She continued, ‘But we put our heart and soul into it and we rehearsed like crazy for the time that we had and it was a beautiful thing and again, I’m living my childhood dreams.’
Lopez also said that she was offered the role right away.
‘As soon as I got the script I read it in bed that night. I was laughing and smiling and thinking… wait a minute, I’m going to dance, do 12 musical numbers and I get to play three different characters?’ she said.
‘And I’m working with Bill Condon, the writer/director of the film? Are you sure you’re offering this to me? It’s not a meeting?’ she said.
‘They told me that it was an offer and it’s mine if I want it. It was like a dream. I’ve been waiting for this since I’m eight years old when I first saw West Side Story with my mom in front of the TV in my little house in the Bronx.
‘It was really something I had always dreamt of and here it was, right in front of me. I couldn’t believe it. I called right away and I said yes, I want to do to it. I’ve never been offered a musical which is crazy I think… I’m so happy and honored to step into Chita Rivera’s shoes.’
