Kiss of the Spider Woman is a few weeks away from being released on the 2025 movies schedule, with this being the second film adaptation of the same-named Manuel Puig novel following the 1985 movie, this new version finally allowed Jennifer Lopez to fulfill her dream of starring in a musical. However, the actress initially wasn’t feeling one aspect of her leading role, though she ultimately she ultimately went “fuck it” and went along with the creative choice.
JLo attended an Academy screening of Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills with director Bill Condon. While speaking to the audience (via jlo.uniquelove), Lopez recalled how she first reacted when the filmmaker brought up the hair color he wanted her to rock for the movie:
He wanted me to be a platinum blonde and I was like, 'You know Puerto Ricans really don't do platinum blonde. I do blonde, I can do caramel, I can do honey, but I can't do platinum blonde because the skin doesn't allow for it.
With this adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman being based off the stage musical by Terry McNally that launched in 1992, Jennifer Lopez plays the role of Aurora, a Hollywood actress known professionally as Ingrid Luna. JLo goes through multiple hair transformations in the movie, including platinum blonde. Had she had her way, that hair color would have been set aside, as she felt her Puerto Rican background meant she couldn’t pull it off.
However, Bill Condon was insistent that Lopez have platinum blonde hair during portions of Kiss of the Spider Woman (which got a standing ovation at Sundance in January), so she agreed to do it and ended up, to paraphrase those old Men’s Warehouse ads, liking the way she looked. As JLo put it:
He was like, 'No, no, no, you're gonna be a platinum blonde,' and I was like, 'Well, fuck it, let's do it.' And we got the wig, and then it was just trying to find the right skin tone and be more pale and all that.
Of course, when we see Aurora/Ingrid Luna portraying the Spider Woman, who can kill with a kiss, her hair is jet black, and it shouldn’t be any other way. Still, I’m glad the platinum blonde hair worked out for Jennifer Lopez. That said, something tells me she still won’t necessarily jazzed if a future role requires her to go with that color.
Jennifer Lopez is joined in Kiss of the Spider Woman by Diego Luna as Valentin Arregui and Tonatiuh as Luis Molina. Ingrid is the latter man’s favorite actress, and he retreats into fantasies revolving around her movies to escape from his nightmarish life in prison. In addition to his directing duties, Bill Condon also wrote the Kiss of the Spider Woman screenplay. We’ll see how this musical turned out when it arrives to the silver screen on October 10.
