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Jennifer Lopez pulls off some dazzling footwork in this scene from the musical drama “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” the latest adaptation of the work, this time by the screenwriter and director Bill Condon.
The film is set partly in 1983 Argentina and tells the story of Luis Molina (Tonatiuh), who is incarcerated and shares a cell with Valentín Arregui (Diego Luna). Luis has a passion for a Rita Hayworth-style movie star, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez) and, to pass the time, tells Valentín the narrative of one Ingrid’s movies, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”
This scene is set in the movie within the movie, and has Diego Luna and Tonatiuh playing characters alongside Lopez. In the sequence, Ingrid’s character dances with a mobster played by Tony Dovolani. In the sequence, Lopez pulls off some high-energy choreography, including a moment when she is spun on the ground while holding a glass of champagne.
“When we were building the number,” Condon said in his narration, “Jennifer’s credo here was, ‘Don’t make it easy on me. I want to do things that are difficult.’” So, he continued, when it came to the impressive movies she pulls off in this scene, “that was all at her instigation.”
Read the “Kiss of the Spider Woman” review.
Read an interview with the film’s co-star, Tonatiuh.
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Mekado Murphy writes about the world of movies and produces the Anatomy of a Scene video series.
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