‘Second Act’ gives J. Lo a chance to go home
LOS ANGELES – More than an hour past her scheduled talk time, a gamefaced Jennifer Lopez rolls into a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel with an entourage of 10 portable racks of clothes and a mega-suitcase filled with designer heels.
Showtime kicks into higher gear as Lopez decides the photo-shoot setting calls for a charcoal Stephane Rolland gown with Tom Ford heels as a table for one with a leafy salad, three glasses of ice water and a perfect cut of filet mignon is rolled in. But when the star’s iPhone rings, the world stops. Lopez turns on her speakerphone to take a call from beau Alex Rodriguez, chirping, “Hi, Baby!”
“Are you killing it?” Rodriguez asks. “Yes, we’re killing it,” Lopez says with a smile. “Let me call you back.”
If Rodriguez needs proof, Lopez, 49, turns on the superstar smolder for a photographer to promote her return to the big screen in romantic comedy “Second Act” (in theaters Friday).
“Killing it” also describes Lopez’s unstoppable career in a year when she was named one of Time magazine’s Most Influential People. Her “Second Act” arrives as the star has branched out to every corner of the entertainment world. The one-time “Fly Girl” from Fox’s sketch-comedy series “In Living Color” executive produces and judges NBC competition “World of Dance” (the third season premieres Feb. 26); produced and starred as a single-mom detective in the threeseason NBC drama “Shades of Blue,” which ended in August; and wrapped up a 120-night residency at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood in October.
But now it’s time for a return to a “Maid In Manhattan”-style romantic comedy. At all levels, naturally: Lopez stars, produces and performs “Limitless,” the film’s original song by Sia.
“I’m not going to let anyone put me in a box or define me because I decided to do TV and produce for a few years, or because I decided to do Vegas,” says Lopez, digging into her meal. “I forge my own path. I go where my heart takes me and where I feel like the best, most authentic place for me to be is.”
For the Bronx-born Lopez, that place is this personal story, written for her by producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Justin Zackham. “Second Act” centers on GED-certified, street-smart Maya Vargas, who bluffs her way from assistant manager at her Queens big-box store store to a Madison Avenue consumer-products firm.
Lopez reveled in using her hometown as a backdrop – riding the sub-
way for scenes (“it took me back a little bit”), filming in Central Park and Michael Jordan’s The Steakhouse in Grand Central Station, and busting out in laughter when best friend and co-star Leah Remini got her heel stuck on the wooden planked High Line, an abandoned railroad-turned-park, in front of paparazzi.
Starring with the Brooklyn-born Remini, who plays Maya’s foul-mouthed best friend, not only adds to Lopez’s effort to inspire with an everyday-women story, but rings true to life.
“I have a relationship like this with one person in my life. That’s Leah. We laugh until we pee our pants and we don’t B.S. each other,” Lopez says. ‘We’re solid rock, there for each other in the tough times, and she’s who I can be the most vulnerable with. I wanted to capture what we have in real life onscreen.”
Her home life is also hitting a rocksolid second act with former Yankees star (and now TV baseball analyst) Rodriguez, whom she has dated since February 2017. An Instagram post featuring her 10-year-old twins Max and Emme (with third ex-husband Marc Anthony) decorating the Christmas tree with Rodriguez and his daughters, Ella, 10, and Natasha, 14, sums it up in her mind.
“Alex, myself, his kid, my kids. We’ve all evolved and grown into a family and grown as individuals because of that love. That’s a beautiful thing,” Lopez says. “2018 will always remind me of that. We kind of are limitless.”
She loves that Rodriguez shares her strong family values and shows unconditional love, as demonstrated by that check-in for a phone pep talk.
“We’re killing it. That’s how we are,” Lopez says. “We have this great, loving support system. You know, no matter where you are, that you’re rooting for each other.
“That’s what a partner is. You have a person out there, thinking about you.”
As for the sometimes fevered speculation about whether Lopez will marry Rodriguez, she gets it. But after three marriages, she is in no rush.
“We’re kind of taking it day by day. We’re in a good place. 2018 moved us to a place where we feel like a real family. And that’s good enough right now.”
On the horizon is film “The Hustler at Scores,” awaiting a final green light to begin shooting in March, recording sessions in her Miami home while the kids are at school, a concert tour when the kids are available to travel and another film likely for next summer.
“Alex has ‘Sunday Night Baseball,’ and we’ll travel on the weekends, so you have to plan out our family’s lives,” Lopez says. “It’s like (choosing) which projects are important enough, and we’re going to do those.”
With the 14-time all-star Rodriguez reveling in his ESPN role – “his second act is becoming even more impressive than his first,” she boasts – Lopez believes her movie title is perfectly fitting.
“Second act is kind of a theme for us right now,” she says. “And this second act is so going to rock, it’s going to rock hard.”