‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ writer and director Bill Condon.
Opening in theaters on October 10th is the new adaptation of the stage musical ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’, which was written and directed by Oscar nominee Bill Condon (‘Dreamgirls’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’), and stars Jennifer Lopez (‘Hustlers’), Diego Luna (‘Andor’) and Tonatiuh (Carry-On).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with filmmaker Bill Condon about his work on ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’, the challenges of adapting the musical for the screen, directing the dance sequences, his visual influences, and what impressed him most about working with Jennifer Lopez.
Related Article: Jennifer Lopez Starring in Musical Movie ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’
Bill Condon attends the ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ New York premiere. Credit: Jason Crowley/BFA.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the challenges of adapting a stage musical for the screen and the process of writing the screenplay?
Bill Condon: The challenge, really, when you love a musical on stage the way I do this, is you must be brutal. You must figure out what works in the different medium. Some of my favorite songs in this show are people singing within prison walls and I just don’t believe in that as a viable way to go when making this into a film. I really thought we had to make a clear delineation between the grittiness and reality of the cell and the fantasy of the musical numbers, which mostly happened in a Hollywood movie and sometimes in Molina’s imagination, or in one case, a morphine induced fever dream. So, I think that’s the big challenge to take this score, for example, which I think is one of John Kander’s greatest. He’s a great lover of opera and I think this is the show in which he came closest to creating an opera. Then having to say goodbye to over half of it. Then because Fred Ebb is no longer with us, and I knew that in creating this movie within the movie, which hadn’t existed before, that there were song slots that he’d be writing if he were here. So, then the challenge, but fun was doing this archaeological dig, all the stuff that Fred and John wrote for this show in the years before it came to Broadway. So, there are three wonderful songs that are unearthed here and heard for the first time.
(L to R) Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez in in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions.
MF: Can you talk about the dance sequences, the specific way you wanted to shoot them and your visual influences for those scenes?
BC: Well, we wanted to shoot them in the style of the period, which meant longer takes, more full-figured, to show basically that these dancers and Jennifer Lopez are doing every one of those things. You know, she has shots here where she dances with six dancers for over a minute and hits marks and things like that, the way they used to, except for they used to have two weeks to rehearse those shots and we had a day. So that’s just a testament to Jennifer Lopez. But in terms of influences, they’re just countless movies of the period that get referenced in this movie. I really do look forward to the Easter egg commentary on the Blu-ray where we can really point people to the numbers that inspired us.
Jennifer Lopez in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’. Courtesy Of Roadside Attractions.
MF: Finally, what impressed you most about working with Jennifer Lopez and the way she interpreted her role?
BC: I think what impressed me most, the work ethic I’d heard about, so it was thrilling, but not a surprise. But what impressed me most is that she really connected to the idea that the character Aurora that she’s playing in this movie is Molina’s ideal version of himself. So, she really wanted to layer in things, emotions that he was feeling into that performance and translate it into the style of the period. It’s remarkable, and it’s so subtle, I think people might not even notice it, but it’s an incredible feat of, in her case, immersion in the style, and then layering in within that. When she realizes, “Oh, my God, I’ve been cursed. This is why I can’t love,” which is how Molina feels about himself. She does it in the style of the period, but she brings it this extra kind of little bit of grit that connects to what Molina is up to.
Jennifer Lopez in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’. Courtesy Of Roadside Attractions.
What is the plot of ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’?
Valentín (Diego Luna), a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina (Tonatiuh), a window dresser convicted of public indecency. The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen diva, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez).
Who is in the cast of ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’?
‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ opens in theaters on October 10th.
List of Bill Condon Movies:
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