Jennifer Lopez stars in the upcoming musical film Kiss of the Spiderwoman with co-star Tonatiuh. Tonatiuh, who uses both he/him and they/them pronouns, has had acting roles before, but the film could be his star turn. Lopez realized this and offered him words of encouragement on set. Tonatiuh said they made him burst into tears.

Lopez has been a star for nearly three decades, whereas Tonatiuh is still relatively new to the industry. In 1997, Lopez played singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in the film Selena. The role turbocharged her career, something she believes could happen to Tonatiuh with Kiss of the Spiderwoman. She told him this on set.

“I remember sitting there with him … I was in my blond wig and smoking my cigarette, and he was sitting there kind of playing with his cigarette,” she told Out Magazine. “And I said, ‘This is your Selena moment … It’s a blessing in your career. And it’s just beautiful to watch you doing it.’”

Lopez made the remark just before they filmed a big number. Tonatiuh felt “overcome with so much gratitude” that when the scene ended, “they call ‘cut!’ and I burst into tears,” he said.

Jennifer Lopez’s co-star said shooting one scene with her was ‘magical’

Tonatiuh experienced grateful disbelief several times while shooting the film. 

“There was a moment in the number ‘Where You Are,’ where Molina asks Ingrid to take him away, to take him to a movie,” he said. “And she does and sings a song essentially saying, ‘Why do you have to be where you are? Come with me to be a movie star.’”

He was so excited about this scene that he flew his family out to watch it.

“I just remember, I flew my mom and my stepdad out to see [the scene],” he said. “And here I was dancing with Jennifer Lopez and 70 Broadway dancers. Hearing those words, it was just so magical.”

She spoke about preparing for her role in ‘Selena’

Selena was a star-maker for Lopez. She worked hard to accurately and respectfully portray the slain singer.

“I was young, I was 26 when I played Selena,” she said on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio show (per ABC). “I didn’t realize, at the time, the responsibility that I had, all I wanted to do was do her memory and that moment justice.”

She threw herself into preparations for the role, even sleeping in Quintanilla-Pérez’s home.

“I soaked up everything, I watched every interview that I could,” she said. “I slept in her bed at home. I talked to the whole family. I spent time with them. It can be melancholy and beautiful at the same time.”

She also took lessons from the way Quintanilla-Pérez navigated her own career. At this point, she was still in the early stages of fame.

“She taught me so much on how to navigate this business, because I played it in the movie.”

Lopez said the role was a “beautiful blessing for my life on so many levels.”