Jennifer Lopez is set to star in a big-screen adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” to be written and directed by “Dreamgirls” filmmaker Bill Condon, Variety has confirmed with a source close to the production. The score is by legends John Kander and Fred Ebb, based on the novel by Manuel Puig and the book of the musical by Terrence McNally.
The musical is set in an Argentine prison in 1981. Lopez would play the title role, a fantasy woman named Aurora created by Luis Molina, a gay hairdresser serving an eight-year sentence for allegedly corrupting a minor. To escape the horrors of his imprisonment, Molina imagines films in which Aurora is a classic screen diva, including a role as a spider woman who kills her prey with a kiss. Molina’s life is turned upside down when a Marxist, Valentin Arregui Paz, is brought into his cell and the two form an unlikely bond.
The new film, which is being independently financed, is currently looking for an unknown to play Molina. According to a casting breakdown obtained by Variety, the role “presents as an openly queer and effeminate gay man, but may be on the non-binary/trans femme spectrum”. Rehearsals are set to begin in February, with filming scheduled to begin in April in New Jersey.
The two previous adaptations of Kiss of the Spider Woman – the 1993 musical and the 1985 feature film adaptation of Puig’s novel by director Héctor Babenco – both won critical acclaim and major awards. William Hurt won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Molina. And the musical won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and for all three performers: Chita Rivera, Brent Carver and Anthony Crivello.
Condon has become one of the preeminent filmmakers of the movie musical: He wrote the screenplay for 2002’s “Chicago,” wrote and directed 2006’s “Dreamgirls,” directed 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast” and co-wrote 2017’s “The Greatest Showman.” He also directed both parts of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn,” and most recently directed regular collaborator Ian McKellen in the 2019 thriller “The Good Liar.” He won an Oscar for his screenplay for his 1998 film with McKellen, “Gods and Monsters”.
Lopez – whose ninth studio album, ‘This Is Me… Now’, is due out early next year – is one of the industry’s most successful multi-hyphenates, having launched her film career by playing the late Tejano star Selena in 1997’s ‘Selena’. Incredibly, this would be her first role in a full-blown musical.
Barry Josephson, Tom Kirdahy, Greg Yolen and Matt Geller are producing the film, with Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina executive producing on behalf of Nuyorican Productions.
