FEELING THE J.LOVE
REMINI GUSHES OVER HER BESTIE LOPEZ AS CO-STARS TOUT ‘SECOND ACT’
LOS ANGELES — “I don’t think this lighting is going to work,” Jennifer Lopez says. She has just turned up at a photo shoot, and she is dismayed.
“Newspapers don’t do retouching,” the actress points out, “and ugly don’t sell movies.”
She requests that studio reps retrieve a monitor so she can review the images upclose, zooming in on the pixels. As Lopez’s entourage scrambles to find a screen, best friend Leah Remini stands by patiently. The two will be posing together in a photo for a story about their new film, “Second Act,” but Remini seems less concerned about the images. “I don’t need to see them,” she shrugs.
Remini understands the work that Lopez puts into maintaining her brand. She doesn’t complain when she’s on time for an interview and her co-star is an hour late. She has no interest in “taking away her J.Lo.”
“I’m not that friend that is like, ‘I don’t see you as J.Lo,’ ” she says. “I see you as J.Lo, and I love that. Because you built that. I’m not trying to take you down and go, ‘Be normal.’ Her not being normal is what made this all possible.”
“This” is Lopez’s empire, which has grown to include acting, singing, dancing and producing since she was discovered as a Fly Girl on “In Living Color” in the ’90s. This year alone, she’s starred in the third season of the NBC crime drama “Shades of Blue,” done a 120-night Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood and has begun work as the executive producer and judge on the third season of NBC’s “World of Dance.”
And then there’s “Second Act,” Lopez’s first film in three years. The romantic comedy follows big-box-store assistant manager Maya (Lopez), who wishes for a promotion for her 43rd birthday. When she’s passed over for a college-educated applicant, she laments to best friend, Joan (Remini), that her lack of higher education has held her back.
Joan’s tech-savvy son overhears the discussion and secretly creates an online résumé for Maya that bluffs about her credentials — and lands her a job at a fancy Madison Avenue firm.
The STX Entertainment picture marks a return to romantic comedies for Lopez, 49, who established herself as one of the most dependable actresses of the genre after starring in such films as “The Wedding Planner” and “Maid in Manhattan” nearly two decades ago. But it’s the biggest movie role ever for Remini, 48, who is best known for her TV sitcom work opposite Kevin James on “The King of Queens” and the recently canceled “Kevin Can Wait.”
“I’m not a film person,” Remini shrugs. “I don’t love the genre. I don’t enjoy the actual work of it. I like live shows. I like an audience. I don’t love filmmaking.”
Still, she admits she said yes to the role before even reading the screenplay because of how much she trusts Lopez. The two met 14 years ago, when Remini was deeply enmeshed in Scientology. She and her husband were close with Marc Anthony, who in 2004 had just begun dating Lopez. Anthony invited the couple to the premiere of movie he was in and excitedly introduced them to his new girlfriend.
“He was like, ‘She’s the love of my life, blah, blah, blah,’ ” recalls Remini. (Anthony and Lopez would go on to wed and divorce and share custody of their 10year-old twins.) “As I was walking up to the table, I was like, ‘Ugh, God, you’re even prettier in real life.’ She started laughing, and I was like, ‘Ugh, and you have a sense of humor even?’ ”
Within the week, Remini was at Lopez’s house, hanging out with her. The two immediately bonded, she says, forming the kind of friendship where “you just take the armor off.” She has credited Lopez with being one of the few people in Hollywood to stand by her when she left Scientology in 2013.
Remini has been talking without Lopez by her side, waiting for her to arrive from her home to the interview. Suddenly, the door slides open and Lopez walks into the room. “Hi, guys,” she says airily. “God, that is nice,” Remini says, observing Lopez’s outfit.
“Anyway, we don’t want to waste your time,” Lopez says. The conversation about Remini’s aversion to film continues.
“I’ve always been like, ‘Why don’t you do more movies?’ ” Lopez says. “But performing on those sitcoms in front of an audience, it’s a different talent.”
Remini is quick to downplay her acting ability. She says Lopez, who produced “Second Act,” and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas — Lopez’s ex-agent-turned-producing partner — knew she wasn’t the kind of actress “who was going to play Chekhov.” But Lopez insists she isn’t worried about being typecast as a brassy New Yorker, because she’s “not looking to be anything other.”
“She’s the actress of us,” Remini says, pointing to Lopez. “Jennifer’s done such an array of films and different types of characters. She’s that girl. She loves the acting..”