Jennifer Lopez is back in the big screen with SECOND ACT, now showing!
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
"I just wish we live in a world where streets smarts equal book smarts." - Maya
J.Lo is definitely back and her comeback in the movie scene is sweet and so real!
Jennifer Lopez plays a Whole Foods-type grocery store’s assistant manager who is passed over for promotion, only to trick her way into a fancy new job under false credentials.
Hired as a consultant for a major beauty company, Lopez's character, Maya, finds herself going head-to-head with hotshot young executive Zoe (Vanessa Hudgens) in a race against the clock to create a new skincare line. Can Maya prove her lack of tertiary education doesn’t prevent her from excelling? And what of her relationship with boyfriend Trey (Milo Ventimiglia), who is tried of waiting to start a family?
Jennifer Lopez learned a long time ago that in the entertainment business, you can’t just sit around waiting for opportunities, you have to make them for yourself. It’s the simple reason “Second Act,” her first film in three years and her long-awaited return to the glossy, modern-day fairy tale, exists.
“I’m quite particular,” Lopez said in a recent afternoon in Los Angeles. “I’ve been offered movies over the past couple of years, but unless it’s the right type of opportunities, I’d rather create them. That’s mine and Elaine’s mantra. We don’t force things, but we don’t wait around, either. If no one is giving us the stories we want to tell, we’ll create them ourselves.”
Elaine is Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Lopez’s longtime friend and producing partner. They have worked together on projects like “The Boy Next Door” and “Shades of Blue.”
“Second Act” was Thomas’ idea. She thought that Lopez would be the right woman to play the 40-year-old big box store worker with business savvy but no degree who gets a chance to prove herself to Madison Avenue’s elite. A little bit “Working Girl,” a little bit “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and it was right up Lopez’s alley.
“People need inspiration. They need to believe in a fairy tale,” Lopez said. “I think that’s the evolution of the romantic comedy. It’s not so much about falling in love with Prince Charming, it’s about falling in love with yourself and realizing that you have to be the love of your life.”
Lopez, 49, said she even cried describing the story in a pitch meeting to STXfilms chair Adam Fogelson (“Our great champion,” she said), who agreed on the spot to make the movie. “(He) believes in these types of movies and believes in women producers,” she said.
They signed on a director, Peter Segal (“50 First Dates”), carved out some time in Lopez’s busy schedule (“I literally think she’s the busiest person on the planet,” Segal laughed) and got to filming in New York City, which proved to be its own kind of challenge.
Another big twist and revelation in the film is about Vanessa Hudgens role in Second Act. Hudgens got the part in Second Act after auditioning and doing a chemistry read with Lopez, who she says insisted on casting the High School Musical actress. It was indeed a good move.
Viewers will also enjoy the witty and funny remarks of Leah Remini who plays Joan, the reliable friend of Maya (J.Lo) in the movie. Joan and her two sons surely made the film even more colorful.
One person who already found himself quite emotional about the film is Lopez’s boyfriend Alex Rodriguez, who related to being self-conscious about not having a college degree.
“He didn’t get to go to college because he went into the big leagues at 18 years old, and he always missed that,” Lopez said. “When he saw it, he was like ‘I felt inadequate because of that.’ He’s one of the greatest baseball players of all time who has made some of the biggest contracts, but it’s not about that, you can feel inadequate being measured up to others because of their privilege and intelligence.”
Lopez herself only attended one year of college, but for her, that was a choice that was necessary to jumpstart her performing career.
Check out the trailer of Second Act below:
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