Vanity Fair: Was there ever a moment where you thought about giving up on acting?
Jennifer Lopez: Once I started, no. I always felt like this is what I wanted to do. It was this or nothing. There was not really an option for me. It’s just what I love.
You’ve accomplished so much, but is there one thing in particular that you think a 10-year-old Jennifer might be surprised to know that you’d ultimately achieve?
Oh, my God. So many things. Wow. When I did my first movie, when I booked my first dance job and went to Europe and nobody in my family had ever been to Europe. The first time I heard my record on the radio. The first time I was in the studio recording a record. The first time I saw myself on screen and I was sitting in the movie theater, and I saw Mi Familia and I started crying. Sometimes I didn’t believe my life. I don’t believe what happens to me and the things that I’m able to experience and the opportunities that I’ve gotten. It’s every single moment, even till this moment, surprises me and touches my heart in a way that I could never really even begin to explain, which is why I’m talking kind of broken right now, because the emotions of it are so kind of overwhelming.
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What’s left on your bucket list?
It’s always a career thing that they ask about, and I think, Oh, yeah. Direct. But if you’re saying bucket list, I would love to live somewhere other than the United States, in a small town in Italy, or on the other side of the world, in Bali. Find another life where it’s a little bit more simple and organic and where I get to ride a bike, and buy bread, and put it in my basket, and then go home and put jelly on it, and just eat and paint, or sit in a rocking chair where there was a beautiful view of an olive tree or an oak tree and I could just smell. I have fantasies like that.
Who are the entertainers that you’ve looked to for inspiration?
Growing up, I was really taken by the Barbra Streisands of the world, the Tina Turners. And I would say Diana Ross, I would say James Brown, I would say Janet Jackson. I loved my mom, who introduced me to musicals and movies and fairy tales and the stories of all these different lives. People who are multifaceted or have an explosive energy onstage or on the screen…I think that’s what I’ve always emulated as a performer.
You move so seamlessly through acting, music, fashion, hosting, and business. We all feel like we know you, yet you’re still able to disappear into your characters. It’s a very delicate balancing act.
Yes, for sure. I would say dancing and music are my first loves, but acting is the love of my life. You have your first love and the love of your life, and acting is the love of my life. I feel like every time I take on a role, it is only about becoming somebody that I’m not. When they go in and see me, they don’t see J. Lo—they see the maid, they see the stripper, they see who they’re supposed to see, because I’m able to still give you the suspension of disbelief. That is the challenge of it for me, but also the thrill of it for me.
How have you dealt with other people’s expectations about what you can or can’t do onscreen?
I don’t deal in that so much.... I really just go by my own barometer, my own gut. My choices are never motivated by ‘People think I shouldn’t do this type of movie next’ or ‘We did that, maybe we shouldn’t do that again.’ It really has to viscerally come from the arc within me.
Have you ever said no to something in your career and regretted it?
Yes. There was a movie called Unfaithful. And it was offered to me and the script, for me, wasn’t all the way there. I should have known that Adrian Lyne was going to kill it, but I didn’t. Diane Lane was so perfect for it, and it was obviously meant to be her, but when I think about that…I want to literally, like, shoot my toe off. I do.
You have said that after Selena your goal was to do romantic comedies because you wanted women that looked like you to see themselves on screen in the mass market. Is there a film genre left that you still think needs this kind of help?
Action and superhero films need to be a little bit more represented at this point.
Is there a rom-com in particular that you put on to unwind?
There’s a few. First, Jerry Maguire.
You’re on our cover with Renée, of course.
I love her! And probably my number one rom-com is When Harry Met Sally. Classic. The perfect movie, period: story, friendship, love, life. I love it so much. I’ve watched it 15,000 times.
How did Hustlers come to you?
My producing partner had read it. She said, “There’s a really interesting role in it for you. It’s about strippers from New York,” and I go, “Okay….” We set up a meeting [with director and screenwriter Lorene Scafaria], and we had similar ideas to what the movie could be, what it was saying about gender roles, friendship, and inequality. We had similar ideas of what these underground, dangerous, sexy worlds should be, and it was obvious that she was going to make the movie that I saw in my head.
I remember when this was being made, you only had 20-something days. Right?
Twenty-nine days of filming.
And four months later, it was at a film festival? Talk to me about that unusually fast turnaround process.
Well, it was so funny: Once the dailies were coming in, about three weeks into the film, STX decided to release this in September. I’ve never been on a movie where we’re still shooting it and they’re putting it out in a couple months. We were all like, “What?” Lorene had to be editing and cutting loose scenes together—for any director that is brutal, and she did an amazing job.
Lorene comes from a music background as well and the Hustlers soundtrack is so fun and cheeky, particularly your now famous pole dance scene to Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.” Was this always the song for that moment?
When I started learning the pole dance I wanted to do it to “Wicked Game.” It was a female version, not the Chris Isaak version, but a slow female version, and I just loved it. And Lorene said, “I like that, but what about ‘Criminal’ by Fiona Apple?” And I thought of the first line: “I’ve been a bad, bad girl. I’ve been careless with a delicate man.” And we just went, “Yeah.”
Hustlers is the first time you’ve played a villain.
It was the first time I got to play a character who was unapologetically out for herself and kind of bad, actually taken over by greed.... She was so many different things. The best mom to this little girl, a best friend, and then a total savage. That was really new for me.
You’ve been directed by mostly men and now you’ve got the luxury of wearing the producer hat. Is it intentional that you’re collaborating with female directors on all your future projects?
Yes, absolutely. It’s about breaking the mold of what people are used to. There are so many great female directors; why aren’t we using them more? It’s hard to break patterns, even in yourself, so we have to make a conscious effort to change the paradigm.
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You broke the internet this September when you walked the runway in the same Versace jungle dress you made famous 20 years ago. How did it feel the first time you wore the dress, versus the second time?
That’s a good question, baby. The first time I wore it, I actually didn’t have another dress. Usually I have choices. It was a last-minute thing that caused a sensation that was unexpected. The second time was very planned-out. It started at the Met ball; Donatella said, “You know, this year is the 20th anniversary of the jungle dress,” and I said no, I didn’t. And she goes, “I think I’m going to do a whole show about it. Would you come?” And I said, “Of course. Just call me.” You know, it’s all timing—schedules and stuff. And then she wound up calling and said, “I want you to walk at the end, and I want you to come out in the dress.” “The same dress?” “The same dress. We’ll make a new one for you.” The second time I wore it and walked out there, it was such an empowering thing. Twenty years had gone by, and I think for women, knowing you can put on a dress 20 years later—it resonated. It was like, “Yes, you know, life is not over at 20!”
How did your collaboration with Donatella start?
I met her when Gianni died. So we’ve had a long journey, and to see her slowly realized from that moment to this moment. There was so much in the moment that you can’t even begin to kind of emotionally understand—for her, from me, for her life, for my life. And I think people felt that.
There are a lot of myths out there about Jennifer Lopez. Let’s play confirm or deny, shall we?
Okay.
You eat an avocado every day.
Deny.
You don’t drink.
Confirm.
You have one cigarette a week.
Deny. No cigarettes.
You leave notes for your children if they’re still asleep every morning before you leave for work.
Not every morning. But yes, I’m known to leave notes for them.
You use La Mer eye cream as body cream.
Deny.
Next month you are performing at the Super Bowl. Why do you think this is the right time for you to be doing the halftime show?
It’s a perfect moment in my life, honestly, but it’s also a great time for a Latina women to take the stage at the biggest all-American event, with everything that’s going on in the country right now. I’m super-happy to represent my community, to represent women, and to represent everybody, you know? It’s a big platform to bring people together.… It gets a lot of eyeballs. So if you can spread a little bit of love and positivity, and make people know that we’re all in this together? I look at it as a blessing.
