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Just a few years after the release of her critically acclaimed Hustlers, Jennifer Lopez returns to the big screen with two new rom-coms. First, there was Marry Me where she plays a singer who marries a total stranger (Owen Wilson) in front of her fans. And more recently, there’s Shotgun Wedding where she and her groom (Josh Duhamel) have their island wedding crashed by pirates.
And while the actress/singer did recently tie the knot with actor Ben Affleck, Lopez insists that she didn’t plan on also having two wedding movies released in a row.
After Years Of Focusing On Music, Jennifer Lopez Has Been Acting More In Recent Years
Sure, Lopez had been working on the crime drama Shades of Blue at one point. But around this time, she hadn’t been working on films, with the exception of Ice Age: Collision Course where Lopez voiced the role of Shira.
In 2018 though (the same year that NBC canceled Shades of Blue after three seasons), Lopez returned to the big screen with Second Act.
And while the reception was lukewarm on that one, many believe that the actress delivered a career-best performance in Hustlers. Lopez also received her second Golden Globe nod for her work in the film.
On Having Two Wedding Movies Come Out Back-To-Back: ‘I Didn’t Plan Any Of It This Way’
And while Lopez did intend to make a return to rom-coms after Hustlers, releasing Marry Me and Hustlers back-to-back wasn’t part of the original plan.
“I didn’t plan any of it this way,” she remarked. “I mean, Marry Me… we wound up filming it like, right before the pandemic happened and then they held onto that for a year and a half… and Shotgun Wedding, that was the first one I did when people started filming again.”
The truth is Lopez had been trying to get Marry Me made for a long time. “Elaine [Goldsmith-Thomas], who is Jennifer’s partner and producer, and Jennifer had optioned the graphic novel years ago, and they had tried to get it to the screen for a while,” Kat Coiro, the film’s director said.
They also had issues finding the right co-lead for Lopez. “Jennifer’s part was always crystal-clear, written for Jennifer,” Coiro continued.
“But the male lead was a little bit murky. We hired a writer that I’d worked with before, Harper Dill, and we crafted it so that it was a true two-hander, and they were both very fully realized characters who both had a lot of confidence, even though their lives and their experiences are so different. Once we did that path, to me, Owen was the only person who could play that role opposite Jennifer. And then, two years ago, we shot it! So we are so excited to finally have it see the light of day.”
As for Shotgun Wedding, filming commenced in the Dominican Republic after Duhamel took over the co-lead role for Armie Hammer. Hammer exited the project after several shocking allegations against the actor came to light.
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“I’m not responding to these b******* claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for 4 months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic,” Hammer said in a statement, according to Variety.
And while Shotgun Wedding was originally intended for theatrical release in 2022, those plans changed when Lionsgate, which produced Lopez’s latest rom-com, sold the film’s US rights to Amazon Prime Video. Prime Video had previously acquired the rights to Shotgun Wedding in other territories.
In between the two rom-coms, Lopez had also been working on her upcoming Netflix action film, The Mother. But in the end, Lopez ended up releasing one rom-com after another.
Jennifer Lopez Is Prepared To Defend Rom-Coms Too
And while rom-coms have been taking a lot of criticism lately, Lopez insists there is nothing wrong with the genre.
“First of all, romantic comedies are not light movies,” the actress said.
“They’re necessary, beautiful movies, and I don’t know why people feel like they have to put them down when everybody enjoys them so much. It’s like chick flicks. I don’t know guys who don’t love to go to the movies and watch a rom-com with me.”
It’s also worth noting that Lopez found a lot of success in rom-coms in the past. Years after her breakout role in Selena, the actress/singer fought to get cast in The Wedding Planner opposite Matthew McConaughey after being typecast as the “dishwasher” or “maid.”
“I was like, ‘I don’t want to do that,’” Lopez recalled during an interview for Variety’s Power of Women series.
“I had to kind of break out of that and convince somebody to put me in the first romantic comedy, which I think was The Wedding Planner. [Director] Adam Shankman put me in that movie.”
Meanwhile, after Shotgun Wedding, it looks like Lopez will be taking a little break from rom-coms for a bit.
Aside from The Mother, the actress also stars in two other upcoming films: the action-adventure Atlas and the crime drama The Godmother. Netflix is scheduled to release The Mother on May 12, 2023.
