-
Immersed in Movies: Craft-Talking David Fincher's ... -
Cannes Review and Roundup: James Gray's 'The ... -
'All is Lost': Chandor Talks Directing Silent ... -
'Before Midnight' Interview with Ethan Hawke, ... -
The Coens, Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan ...
-
Interview: Brit Marling Writes and Toplines ... -
Cannes Film Festival Diary: Le Dernier J ... -
Cannes Review Roundup: Alexander Payne's ... -
Cannes: James Toback Talks 'Seduced and Abandoned,' ... -
Critics’ Choice Television Award Nominations ...
'Only God Forgives': Gosling No-Show at Cannes, ...
Cannes Review Roundup: Robert Redford Keeps ...
Now and Then: Obituary for 'The Big C,' Starring ...
Boston's Best Dennis Lehane Adapts Beach-Bum ...
Review: Rama Burshtein's Luminous 'Fill the ...
Cannes Review: Douglas and Damon Shine in ...
Three Weddings Before a Bunch of Funerals: ...
Talking 'Star Trek Into Darkness' VFX
Bradley Cooper Is New Model Smart Star
Q & A: How Willimon Runs Fincher's 'House ...Career Watch: Jennifer Lopez - Still Real?
What's next? She has opted out of returning to "American Idol" for a third season. She stars with Jason Statham and Nick Nolte in Taylor Hackford's "Parker" (scheduled for a January 2013 release through FilmDistrict), is attached to Sony's rom-com "Overboard" and had "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" in the works as a producer with Walden Media last fall.
SIGNATURE QUOTE: "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got, I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block."
BIGGEST ASSET: Aside from being the triple threat that has earned her an empire, she somehow retains "I'm Real" relatability.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 1998 was a great year for Lopez the actress; she starred in Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight" across from George Clooney, and -- according to Roger Ebert -- the pair "have the kind of unforced fun in their scenes together that reminds you of Bogart and Bacall." The film earned her another ALMA award and made her the highest paid Latina actress. But 1999 proved mightier, making Lopez a music superstar with the arrival of her debut album, "On the 6." The album launched a robustly profitable music career with several albums and hit songs following -- she's sold upwards of 55 milliion records and was one of the top recording artists of 2000s. All this, eighteen personal frangranes and a lifestyle brand at Kohl's turned her into the kind of icon-brand that American Idol has reportedly paid $12 million and $20 million for two consecutive years as a judge. She may have proved too expensive. It's no surprise Lopez is #1 on Forbes Celebrity 100 list, 2012.
And the formula has worked: "The Wedding Planner" (2001) and "Maid in Manhattan" (2002) are the 30th and 61st top-grossing romantic comedies since 1978. The wannabe-feminist melodrama "Enough" (2002) was fun because we watched her kick ass, and "Gigli" was fun because it was such a disaster (and a historical record of her relationship with Ben Affleck; ditto her music video "Jenny From The Block.") "El cantante," about the beginning of the Salsa dance movement, in which she starred with then-husband Marc Anthony, was more of a passion project, but earned under $8 million in a niche market. She stands out in "What To Expect When You're Expecting," but mostly because the rest of the cast is so numb in the paint-by-numbers celebrity look-book.
BIGGEST PROBLEM: Her persona is bigger than her talent.
CAREER ADVICE: Serious acting kudos will never be viable unless you completely reinvent your approach -- and that would take a series of impeccable project selections in which you relinquish the persona you've spent almost two decades building. But why give up the empire?
Revisit Lopez's career in music videos and trailers below:
4 Comments
LeonRaymond | May 26, 2012 10:18 AM
It's that damn Monotone voice, there is never any emotion in it, all ways trying to sell her sexual image in her acting. Out of Sight and another one titled Blood and Wine is when she took acting seriously. Right now her acting is horrible. Acting classes would solve that. She is not good enough to stand next to all or most or any other Latino actress!
bob hawk | May 23, 2012 12:19 AM
My mantra re my fondness for J-Lo (paraphrasing CASABLANCA): "We'll always have OUT OF SIGHT . . . " (w/ a big nod to Clooney and Soderbergh as well).
Brian | May 22, 2012 12:01 PM
I used to spend a lot of time predicting J-Lo's quick drop into obscurity. I confess that I'm happy to have been proven wrong. As she's gotten older, she's gotten more attractive (to me) and more interesting. For the last few years, I've felt her true calling is as a glamour queen, just like the ones we used to have (think Joan Collins). I wish she'd done more movies/TV shows that exploit that aspect of her. I'd like to see her in a high-glamour "Dynasty"-type soap/melodrama movie or TV show.