Hey, Spill Sims from the Ringers. I want to tell you about our newest podcast that is exclusive to Spotify. This is called the House Take. These are short podcasts.
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This is the big picture, a conversation show about hustlers. And, oh, it hustlers is upon us. You knew film from Lawrence before I have an interview coming to the floor. Later in the show, but first, Amanda and I are here to celebrate really live our great pop culture icons.
And a person who is now officially I believe in Oscar contender. And that person is Jennifer Lopez. Amanda, what do you think of the Jennifer Lopez of Sanso? Did she ever leave?
She definitely leave. But this is a classic Oscar comeback. And I think part of the reason that she is an Oscar contender. In addition to hustlers itself, which everyone is loving and she is apparently very good in, is that she's had an up and down career.
She's been very much in this spotlight. She's done some tremendous things. She's done some things that we would all like to forget. Certainly Jennifer Lopez and now she is back.
And this seems like such a classic lettuce reward. What Jennifer Lopez has meant to us for more than 20 years now on the 6th was 20 years ago, 1999. Extraordinary. And, you know, the first time a young me probably saw her is almost 30 years ago.
And we were looking at 27, 28 years ago when she was just a flag girl on a living color, you know, dancing her heart out. And it's been fascinating career. You know, we'll talk a lot more about hustlers. Obviously, I'll speak to Lorena about her process making a film later on.
And on Monday show, we'll dive a little deeper into the story of the movie, which it certainly sounds like a lot of people are going to see this became, which is truly exciting because it's a really fun movie. But we're going to look more closely in a career arc sense at JLo, the woman, the myth, the legend. And the way we like to do the show is in four parts. And the first part of course is breakthrough moment.
Now, JLo is so interesting for breakthrough moment because I think for different kinds of people, there are different kinds of breakthroughs. I mean, for you, what is your signal moment for Jennifer Lopez? I get two personal breakthroughs in addition to the approach. Okay, let's do both.
Let's do all of them. So I think my personal JLo breakthrough was the video if you had my love. Which played nonstop on TRL in 1999. What year was it?
On the 29. Okay. This is after she has emerged as a film star. Yes, but, you know, I was 14 and did not see outside in theaters.
So for me, JLo is suddenly on MTV, honestly, like 10 times in afternoon. And that summer I have seen that if you had my love. So many times. So I think it's really screwed up.
It's like just about she is within the video machine. And there is a guy who is watching her on like eight different security cameras. And it's a really voyeuristic experience. And I was uncomfortable plays differently now.
But that is certainly my personal moment with her. I think if you're going for objective moments, there are a few. There's obviously like, oh, there is obviously, obviously, there is obviously, so we know. We should talk more about and there is the green dress.
Do you think of the green dress? My first impression was I was like, oh, my gosh, no, I'm getting a mother. Your mother. I know, I know, I'm kind of shy.
And actually my dad was one who was like, why didn't you wear something else? I was like, oh, yeah. And I was like, because I like, I just said, because I understand. Come on, you can understand.
Where'd you go? I swear, I don't know. Big deals. Oh, you know, having father's green dress prepared for this.
I've seen it a lot of ways that green dress is like the moment. The, I mean, it's powerful. I think Google has confirmed that Google image was created because so many people were Googling Jennifer Lopez, green dress trying to find a picture of it that they were like, maybe we should have a tool in order to service this. This is extraordinary.
I've just Googled the Googled the Green Dress. Yeah. And the first return of course is green dress. Green versus octave dress is Jennifer Lopez from Wikipedia.
And when you pull it up, you get a number of photos of J-Lo's dress and even sort of like that right side box that has all the descriptions and the connected links. And so the American Recording Artist and Actors Jennifer Lopez wore an exig green versus octave silk chiffon dress for the 40 second Grammy Awards ceremony on February 23, 2000, which is of course, you know, essentially, in celebration of the song and the album and the video that you're referring to. Man, is this a more significant event than any movie or song she's been a part of? It's interesting part of this conversation.
I think it is. I'm going to read it to you in terms of the number of people who are familiar with that dress and the amount of eyeballs that it captured. And truly in the literal sense, but also it now has only a PDF page. It had technological implications, had fashion implications, had every implications, movie implications, music implications.
It's an interesting thing. Maybe we want to be back to that one a little bit because my personal, my personal breakthrough is probably just a year of 1997. And it's actually a very recent for JLo is after she's a flag role. It's after money train, which is a, I guess, crime keeper movie that she appeared in with Wieharlsen and Wesley Seine.
So it's kind of her first big supporting role and it's before mega stardom and it's before out of sight. But in the next edition, she's in four films and all completely different and they're all fascinating. She's of course a star Selena and gives a great performance. You know, Selena was screened in my high school in Spanish class.
And that's strange. I was the first time I saw it. It makes a sense like that that movie was a response to just a huge event. Completely.
And it's kind of amazing that movie was made and made in a way that it wasn't. I haven't done it in a long time. I ever watched it last night. With all respect to the memory of Selena, who is just extremely talented and important movie itself is like maybe the most like a graphic biopic that I've ever seen.
And I say that as someone who loves a good old fashioned biopic, but general surprises the sound and I like to talk about reform. Okay. Totally. Totally.
That's probably the best remember of her films. She appears in this little one line, which was a Jack Nicholson Bob Riflson directed kind of steamy thriller that I remember the time being a pretty good movie and a little bit of a combat for Bob Riflson who made five easy pieces and a number of classes and some of these long time pal of Nicholson's. And she plays kind of the femme fat out, which is a role that she gets cast in a lot in this period. And what Hollywood knows and doesn't know about general Lopez is kind of one of the interesting questions about this career that she's having.
She's also an iconic kind of movie, which is of course an all time great good bad movie or that good movie, turning your definition of the thing. Like she's perfectly credible as a woman fighting a giant snake. That's where I really unfortunate. Yeah.
Yeah. And the most flattering in the world. And then the fourth film is U-turn. So in this year, she's already worked with Bob Riflson, all of a sudden on U-turn and a giant snake, which is just amazing stuff.
U-turn of course, you know, complicated movie every last night, you were watching a rewatch Selena. She says a lot about that. She says a lot about me. She gets it.
I would recommend it in the same way that you might recommend Selena. It's a lot different than the most retro grate woman manipulating every man in the movie kind of part. But when I say seven to have that many roles, it's important to say that the movie comes right after that following years. Going to be in a poured this podcast.
It's everything I want to say about Selena while we're at it. Well, I was just struck by the fact that Selena is pre-generative of Lopez's pop rear. And we're so used to seeing pop stars go to the movies and try to conquer a second medium. And they're often playing singers or borrowing their first pop star persona and borrowing that stage presence and that image and everything you're supposed to be.
she's probably got, is present on the screen. And Jennifer Lopez doesn't have anything to borrow from. And she's borrowing from the real isolated Lata, but she is just a megastar instantly on stage. And she's so comfortable.
The musical numbers are not like obvious highlight of that movie. I will admit, she just has to worry about some points. I was like, I would like to see Jennifer Lopez perform again. But it's hard to create that kind of, both like screen presence and stage presence.
It doesn't come naturally to a lot of people. And she's so ins and comfortable with the meeting. One thing I've been thinking about is I reflect on hustlers a little bit. And I had never really thought for this way.
And she's not even thinking for me. But she's actually in this great lineage of Hollywood megastologies, of glamour queens who are multi-talented. She's in a lineage of Judy Garland and of Armer Streisand, of people who want to conquer everything. Now obviously, we know one of them, she's also attempting to conquer social media and clothing and fragrances and jewelry and style.
And she is taking on everything. And that's what the reason I think we kind of forgotten what an effective actor that she can be. But that is something I don't want to lose sight of while talking about. This is what makes her a good movie presence in your mind.
There is a physicality to her that I was thinking a lot about. And I don't obviously, she's incredibly beautiful. And her, like, as we discussed in the green dress, there is just her physical body. It's like a real marvel.
And she has to use that in her performances. But. Well, let me just say she has to host. She's like the hottest person alive.
It has been for 30 years. And she is also the trained dancer. And so a lot of she tango is basically everyone in all from who she died watching her dancing jacket and then one last night. And I also watched part of Shall we dance?
Which, the last time you talk about the better. But you know, there is obviously the one who uses it. But there is also something she's not a close-up actress always, in my opinion. Or that's not her most effective scene.
When you can see her moving in the world and reacting and actually using her physical presence in everything from Selena to even like, outside, I also rewatch the bar scene and then the sex scene from outside last night. And obviously she's using her body in a certain way. But when they're both kind of undressing, one by one, it's like that she's awkward. It's awkward.
There's like vulnerability in it. She just looks really good. And this is part of it. But it's when you can see her moving.
And in the world, the one she gets to do stuff is when I think that she is physically used as when I do that. I agree with you. She's obviously in some respects incredibly overpowering and some ways distracting. I think for a person, I need to watch her on screen.
But also, one thing that I really like about her, and I have to assume that you're not going to lean into out of sight as our person goes. Oh yeah. So I mean, movie-wise, absolutely. Movie-wise certainly.
And one of the things that I really appreciate and that hustlers get that a little bit. But I don't think that they're necessarily comparable performances. But you're going to hear a lot of people say this is the best she's been since outside. She's very witty.
If you watch her on talk shows, she's pretty clever. She has a New York woman. There's a sassiness. There's a kind of on one step ahead of you quality.
There's a lot of beautiful women who have a story. Are you still getting kicked in all the time by annoying guys? And they know how to be way out in front of those guys. And her character on the side is the same way which we're clearly starting to do.
Thank you. Like you're out there. But actually this is my second favorite outfit. I have a first favorite.
Like everyone had to get rid of it. It's not really having to clean the nose. No. She's always not on one step ahead of him.
She's always reading him correctly. And even that person only need the trunk. And they're, you know, it's simultaneously sexy and antagonistic. And even when she's with her father and talking about her relationships and the local key character, she's got a kind of a slimness, a cleverness to her.
They're not every kind of quote-and-quote bombshell act or something. She's not an object. She's a person who is often, they're not always in control. And I really like that about her as an actor.
She's funnier than a lot of movies you've ever credit for. And she tried to talk to that with the romcom phase, which we'll have to talk about because I've seen all of those many times. Don't think that they used her in the way that they could have, but she does have that forties. Like, not quite screwball because she isn't control, but there is just funny.
She knows what's going on. And she's using her humor. And like, even a little gesture is an eye roll. And that's why some of that physicality that I was talking about is that she really is showing you in every sense of the world what she thinks of you.
Yeah, she's a little bit more of a sandwich. She's in control and she's good with the short line. It's funny. One thing I watched last night, as I was rolling through the YouTube clips of her on the internet, was if somewhat recent interview, she'd have a Seth Meyers.
And in this interview, Seth Meyers mentions of her that Sir Mix a lot came forward and said that baby got back was inspired directly. This was really exciting news in November. Sir Mix a lot. You know what I'm going to say?
Yes. He said, this is so exciting. He said, you inspired baby back. OK.
That's cool. I feel like we spent all these years trying to figure out who cried the time and was thinking about who made yourself and then told her, nobody ever had like, I didn't think. Why didn't you go back? Oh, I didn't think of Sir Mix a lot.
I never thought he'd be inspired by a news. Why did you go back? I didn't get it. I didn't get it.
And you usually went on things when someone was on top. There's a lot of pre-production that goes in what's going to happen in the interview. Now, I don't know how much pre-production goes in some higher interviews. But when some others asked her about this, you could see that she was not psyched.
She wasn't super excited about being talked about as an object. But she's not rude. And she doesn't dismiss him. She doesn't shut it off.
But she does do exactly what you're talking about. She's kind of like her eyes float to the left side of her body. And she looks away and she sort of dismisses the nature of the question very casually and not in a way that would offend some of that Myers. And she's kind of a person who is in complete control of her face of her body of everything.
You know what I mean? She has that thing that not every beautiful actor actress has. Or sometimes it's just like people who are deeply in the camera. Exactly.
Right. She's not quite sure she's not in a real street. She's you need to see more friends. Exactly.
So what else would have said? I feel like we talked about it as a five times on this podcast because people keep having great years. It's only door 20 when you come back. I mean, you can't wait to see.
I watch it again for most of the last night. And you know, it was one of those I turned it on to. I've been having watching YouTube last night. I was like, oh, it's like 30 minutes.
I get to feel it right. And then there I was like an hour and a half later. We passed that time. I just want to get to the film.
I've seen you know. But an interesting thing about that is that everything you said she is witty and in control and is playing like a figure of authority and it's supposed to be a great foil to George Clooney. But I think what's most interesting about that performance is actually like this softness and the like kind of it's a slightly more reserved Jennifer Lawrence. Sorry.
Jennifer Lopez performance. She's not swinging for the fences with every single line. And you know, it is that vulnerability. And I think part of the movie is that she and George Clooney are two super charming people who are allowed to be actually themselves for a moment with each other.
But it's interesting going from Selena to out of sight. Selena is just like the bright light. Jennifer Lopez is on. And I was impressed.
One of the challenging things about talking about her career as an actor is that she just hasn't made a lot of good movies. And she's made a lot of movies. And I think she's made basically one movie for every year. She's been an actor since 1997.
And so that's where we're looking at 30 years of films. But let's start thinking about why. Because in those early stages of her career she's obviously leaning into great filmmakers or like big kind of tentpole films. That's why she's making out of conduct.
But you know sort of her all over Selena and Bob Rieflson. And she makes a movie called The Cell, which is the most like one-on-one on high school and I like cinematography movies for me. You know, it's just such a beautiful movie and it makes no sense. It's so self-indulgent and kind of stupid.
And I don't know the little bit of the voice. It seems that we're going up the way. And she doesn't really have enough to do it. Yeah, that's the thing.
It's available on Netflix now. So you can put it in which I did. And I was like there's no point in watching this for the purposes of a general podcast. Can I tell you a personal fact?
Please. So I got a DVD player before in the college. I'm a DVD player that's incredibly meaningful to me in the last two years. So in 1999 I got a DVD player.
I got two DVDs with it. The first DVD is a matrix. I think I might be the mention of the second DVD was The Cell. And so I've seen The Cell a lot even though it's just not very good.
Did someone take that out for you? I think it was my now-life. Oh my god, that's incredible. I have to affect that one.
But you know, so I'm very familiar with this movie. And it's like none of the essence of Jennifer Lopez in it. It has all of the essence of a filmmaker jerking off a lot. I don't know what to say about it.
But you know, that was kind of a single of something. Not knowing how to use the charm that we just saw in that site. Or that we saw in Selena, or that we saw even in the movie. Which is her as sort of a regular, relatable person who has extraordinary gifts.
And parents of the school is at five percent. She's great at the eye Eden. And also she's Jennifer Lopez. What about some other less accessible films even in the cell?
Should we talk about the wedding planner or made a Manhattan? So I've not seen either of these films. It's crazy. I mean, perfect examples of the rare movies that are commercially released.
And I'm like, I guess especially in 2001 and 2002. There's your in college. There's a little reason for you to go see the wedding planner. Imagine me alone in the New York going to see a wedding planner.
I mean, here's the thing. You do that now. So it's fine. No, but in the same way that I had never seen a site in the South of Island High School at all.
I did see the matrix only because it would make me a little bit. The wedding planner in particular is a movie I've seen many times. But all when I was young. And I have to tell you it's not a good one.
What's the premise? The premise is that Jennifer Lopez is a wedding planner. Is she unlucky enough? But she's unlucky enough.
People be shocking. And so the actual set up of the movie is that she has a meet cute with Matthew McConaughey who it's set in there with this go. So she's stuck. Her heel is stuck in a drain.
One of those three trains. You know, like a great shirt. And she and like a dumpster is coming down one of the steeps. And I don't know how to make this movie.
And Matthew McConhey saves her from the dumpster. Sounds like people be. And then they share like a romantic dance. And then they go on their way.
This is all like early in the movie. And then it turns out that Jennifer Lopez is higher to plan. Matthew McConhey is wedding to someone who's not. Is it famous person or just a.
You would recognize her but I can't. Sorry. What is her name? Her name is.
And there's a whole side thing with Jennifer Lopez. Not being able to find a husband and then her parents. I probably believe that she's playing an Italian American in this movie. Which is something that they asked Jennifer Lopez to do from time to time.
It's another tricky part. Jennifer Lopez as a famous person and as a pop star has been very. More equal forward. She's always been very proud of her.
Litzy and Erid and obviously. Look at her. There's nothing confusing about it. But one of the things that Hollywood has long not understood how to do is.
How to lean into someone's genuine identity. And it's funny because I had sent her. And what the reason that I wasn't interested in is that you're talking about is they just do not feel terribly authentic to the person that she was that we came to fall in with her. Big first role is as Selena.
Maybe we understand who Jennifer Lopez is the person. Maybe she's not Mexican. But that doesn't mean that she's uncomfortable in that kind of role. Whereas her playing an Italian wedding planner is just kind of a weird choice.
Why does make her Jennifer Lopez as a wedding planner? I have no idea. I mean, they try to use it as some old world you need to marry this person. It doesn't make any sense.
And here's the thing is that romantic comedy is particularly romantic comedy is made from like 1989 until. Whatever. The modern era like terrible set up lots of problems, lots of political and crime has some things that we would just all like to take back. But in addition to that, it's just that is romantic comedy.
Jennifer Lopez does not get to be Jennifer Lopez anyway. There's no charisma that she's really buttoned up. And she's not funny. We're talking a lot about her kind of old school comedy, which this is literally the genre and which she would deploy that.
And there isn't none of it. It's really confusing. And I don't understand that. Again, the wrong kind of like 2000 and 2001.
This was a low era, but they're not very good. But you should be able to get some sort of chemistry or something. Jennifer Lopez, I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
Also, she's a quote-unquote comic actress. I think she's pretty funny. But I don't think that she should be in pure comedy. Right.
And that's also a little bit tricky because it's actually what happens in her during this period, which is so fascinating. It's a test case for what happened in modern stardom is the cell of the wedding planner. And she makes two of these angeles and enough, which are both kind of intense thrillers slash crime movies. And she made Manhattan, which I quite assumed he was also not good.
No, she's around when I did a wrote a paper together a couple years ago now, but it was about with this get me today. And it was just about meeting Manhattan and all of the tough stuff and the tough assumptions in being in Manhattan. I assume she plays a major hat. Yeah.
And then a refines, please, a politician who falls for her because I know that she's a maid and so then she has to, you know, she's even like upstairs and downstairs. And there are some racist characters because you have to have racist characters. One of the craziest things about this movie is it was directed by Wayne Lane. I mean, like Chan is missing and a joy-like love and smoke-blowing the face really great.
So it's forgotten in the icons of the 80s and 90s and movies. And this is a really odd commercial pivot to something to the, oh, he's always starting to be bland. Yes. And so basically again this period again, kind of crime thriller or an iconic comedy.
And then it comes after those films. It's called Geely. Oh, boy. Now, I didn't really watch Geely.
It's actually a little hard to find Geely. Yeah. Reasons they're probably not surprising. For anybody who is, I don't know, born after 1995, you might not realize that this was considered the biggest disaster in the history when it came out.
It's not that it's not that it's not that it's actually history. It's bad. One of the reasons is because it pairs two of the ten most famous people in the country at the time, that would be dating as the stars. They've brought a deal on that.
Geely made $7.2 million against a $75.6 million budget. See, that's just fascinating to me because now it would make millions of dollars because you can't understand how famous these two people were in 2000 and 2003 and how much it kind of was on them. It is astonishing even now to look back at it. There's a weekly round of all the covers that I've done for Lopez over the past 20 years and it is just every week just insane in seeing coverage and lean into it.
I mean, I didn't pick a journey on the black video for my personal people, but I think that is really important. They were making videos about their couple of them. They basically created the idea of modern celebrity couple that were all obsessed with an investment. And it's hilarious to me that no one wanted to go see the movie.
Really broken up by the time it came out. They might have been like, I can't remember the exact time. They were on and off because he was stallion with, I can't remember whether they were flight attendants or bersers or whatever. Support that.
One of my favorite movies. I also do support that. I think we talked about, we did career art about him and we talked about this time. In any case, it's not clear they were on and off.
I think they weren't officially officially done until 2004. Yeah, yes, 2004. So Jay from the black 2002. And there was sort of, I think you're in the process of making this movie during the making of that video.
It's pretty self-aware. It's ridiculous obviously. It's also kind of satire. There's something very knowing.
I've always thought this was an act or two. He can't get out of his own way in terms of wanting to be the biggest thing in the world. But also he knows how ridiculous it's trying to be the biggest thing in the world. I love things people like that.
And I think it's a little bit in her too. And you see that you've been in the relationship. She's in that way that she platforms her love. I would say that this relationship has the awareness and has learned the lessons of benefit.
I don't know that Jenny on the block in the moment was quite as self-aware as we uni-spans about them. Why did she be? I mean, just be a little more vulnerable to their charms. I also remember that in 2002 we worked like post irony and there was no, it was still just being shown on MTV.
There was, it was the monoculture that was being really shown down. Yeah, and this is also notable. I think that this was after she come out of relationship with Puffy. And there was obviously a criminal incident that she was part of when she only fired a gun inside of a club.
And she was at the center of a controversy. And on the one hand, I think Denny and I have a lot of comments. There's a lot of things in common. And so her hop scotching from famous Bo to famous Bo also had that very similar kind of like Judy Garland, Barbara Streis, and kind of affect.
She was always somehow bigger than the person she was with. Maybe she wasn't respected or she wasn't doing the thing that people thought she should have been doing. Coupleings about she leave though. And she was a smart and blessed.
So Martin, so Martin, he had four years of minigram. So he also used it on the crime thriller that has a comedy in it. He also features a Latino. And you know, nothing but the cinematologist movie is Robert Elswitt, who made boogie nights in Magnolia and Michael Clayton.
And there will be blood. This is like one of the grandmasters. And he's been here to like make a fucking Gee Lee. And I wanted to see it, which I still don't understand because there's so many points of interest for two of the most famous people in the world.
And this was when people still wanted to see movies. It's not an active lead to a POO in it. Did you see it? I don't think so.
Not in theater. I was very college. I didn't do anything. I mentioned in the past my relationship with the chemistry movies, which I can't deny.
I'm a big fan. I was very invested. Jersey Girl was this super self-consultant to become a more commercial filmmaker for him. Now, I have a couple of nice things in it.
This is also a case of a guy using a legendary cinematographer on a weird bed, drummy. The most things I'm on is one of the four most 70s artists. I hope the guy who's got a great paycheck on Jersey Girl, which also stars Ben Affleck. And you know, Jennifer Lopez is not a huge role in this movie.
I think she plays the way that's early on in the film. But that is quite a one-two punch of going Gee Lee, Jersey Girl. And I think it pretty radically changes her career. Because everything comes after that.
She's a fan of all of bigger films, particularly the next two you mentioned, shall we answer your dancing structure? She's a dancing structure. And so there's a lot of dancing. But it's kind of like a ballroom, so it's strictly ballroom situation, but I can't be or knowing.
I don't know. It's not for me. I have a little bit of a problem with movies that movies have any question marks. What are some other things about that?
Do you wear my car? Whatever happened to baby Jane. What's up, doc? I like that stuff.
Yeah. I guess what about that? Are we there yet? It's the fact that they have a question mark.
It's about being answered. It's like just tell me the answer. I'm going to go to the movie, get the answer to your question. Tell me everything after shall we dance is pretty dark.
I mean, it's also the app like things. And she pretty quickly marries our company. She has kids at some point during this. And I think she twins and takes some time to do that.
But I think she also really does the benefit situation. Celebrity wise was so intense. And then she leaves Jersey girl and shall we answer. That run is not so well received.
She does retrieve it. Yeah. A lot of these songs I think people will even recognize there's a little border town, which obviously was not very well seen. I think it was sexual bovial pick.
Star market engine for the past not very well seen. But that could plan. You know, what to expect when you're expecting Parker, these are movies that are just long forgotten. They're looking about 78, five, three years ago.
And I kind of feel like we have had a 10 year absence of JLo as a credible and exciting movie star. And that's one of the reasons why hustlers is going to emerge. And that come back in that you were describing earlier in the show. I guess if there's anything sad about that, do we lose her in her 40s?
And now we've got to say JLo's 50, which is a sound change. Listen, there's a lot of sea hustlers. You're going to be like, what the fuck that this person is 50 years old? God bless.
It's really impressive. I mean, it is sad that you don't like to see something like doing iffy things. She has had a lot of other items in the fire. We kind of skipped over American Idol, which is not a movie by any stretch of the imagination, but which made her live money and kept her in the public consciousness, and was being more profitable and successful long term way than being in a cool movie that you and I like.
And you also love American Idol. I do, although that is essentially when American Idol starts to get in, I will say she's in contention for the best ever American Idol judges. She was extraordinarily good, especially in that first run in 2011. She had that perfect combination of encouraging and critical and she no one understands the mechanics of starting better than someone like her.
So she was so good at that show. And so funny to think about Paul Appdool and Randy Jackson and Sami Kowl being original trio criticizing people because someone like JLo knows so much more than any of those people about how to be good at that job. Even she's not the world's race singer, which is not. I thought she was good American Idol.
And she's been the star of TV show called She's a Blue for the last few years. And I think what she said that she understands the mechanics of stardom is exactly right. And JLo's probably not the best at anyone saying aside from being like astonishingly beautiful. I mean, but she is, she is a very good answer.
She's not the number she not the other, which no one is, but she's a good singer at another greatest. She's a fantastic actress. But not an oral street. She knows how to be a star.
She has created the idea of general hope as I think in a lot of ways. She understood earlier than most everyone else now that being really successful and having a career is not tied to being in movies or even being on TV, but it is having a fashion on an Emmy on American Idol and having three other businesses and diversifying in the way that you see everyone from Beyoncé to Rihanna to. All of these people now, they have to do it all. And she kind of knew that for everyone else.
Now is the time for you to help us understand a rather than for Lopez. It's so good. It is unbelievable what they're doing. There's a whole lot of gossip about this.
We're going to talk about it all the time. We've done several episodes. But I really do think that she figured out what went wrong with being a public couple with Ben Affleck and has managed to apply those lessons. And they are, I hope they love each other by all indications they do.
But in terms of performing what it is to be a celebrity couple, there's no one better right now. In terms of knowing what people like to see, knowing what kind of content to give. I've sent you the video that Alex Rodriguez made celebrating Jennifer Lopez's birthday. I asked you to watch the video.
I did you watch any of it? I did watch them. Did you watch? I have so many bad movies to watch.
It's 10 minutes. I can tell you more than half the movies on this list. Okay, well, Jennifer Lopez's birthday. Both A-Rod and J-Lo are the others.
They were like you and me. Yeah. But they were very close to each other. I think A-Rod had a private birthday party for, I'm sure it was like 150 people, but he didn't make a huge deal.
And it was like J-Lo month. And all of it was extremely forward facing. They had a giant party at Cora Hassat-Fantas. And then Alex Rodriguez was on the fake.
I don't know what it's supposed to be. I'm going to say, I can't make a shit. And then I believe it's just the owner of the island. Off my end.
Okay. But so after that A-Rod posted a YouTube video. The title is incredible. It's all cast.
And it's my birthday surprise for Jennifer. And it is a 10 minute video that he fully ended of representing J-Lo with a car. And within the first minute he realizes that it's definitely the gentleman who's talking 25 years. Yeah.
He's like, but I want to do anyway. I'm going to give it a good a car. We've been talking about maybe a car. I mean, he's going to buy a car.
But he's practicing the presentation of the car and practicing where the kids are going to come from. And like, you know, having people run things back. And then finally he does surprise her. And he blindfolded her.
She's walking this way. And so he's watching. He's negotiating her down the stairs. And she's like performing.
She knows she's been filming. And she's like, where am I going? It's great. She's in it.
Then the kids drive up the car. It's the 50, actually. I'm in the club. Yeah.
I think it's a poor. I should know the type of car. But I don't really care about that. And then they don't really like, I haven't driven a car in forever.
Whatever. They don't get in the car. She tries to reverse it. And A-Rod is something like, oh my god, don't crash the car.
And it's all so staged and produced. And clearly there is a whole camera group there. And they are lighting it. And the general has a fantastic job that this surprise is being filmed because she looks great.
And I think even dummy A-Rod knows that you can't just like surprise film better for Lopez. That's not OK. And they practice all of it. And it is still so endearing.
And you feel like you're watching them swabble about how to drive a car. And that they managed to make it that produced and just do something that is like totally for public and some Janet order to make you like them more in order to buy their products. But I still enjoy watching it. And have done this entire recap means that they're very good with it.
It's a true feat of starting to be able to make you not hate someone. If you're having them walk through all of those various stages of overmanaged to content. You know? Because somebody like that doesn't vanish the way that I don't lean order to cap your old car.
And you know, I'm not going to spot me on the beach or the model. But you don't see him making things for your consumption. But they do. Like I just Google Jennifer Lopez Alex Rodriguez, I was all I did.
And the first return was published four hours ago by the Today Show's website. And the headline is Jennifer Lopez wants more kids. M-Dash. C-L-S-R-R-E-G-S react.
Which does that mean that they never had that conversation about having more children? The first time they had it was on the Today Show? No. But yes, the fact that you're wondering that is the thing that they're willing to do it.
I mean, he proposed and the photos are obviously staged. And they did it again anyway. And Julie, I live in an eye who are obsessed with these two. It's been a lot of time being like, well, do you actually propose the first time and then they've received it?
Or are they just kind of doing this in real time? And I don't really know. Like I think they have a relationship that is their rich and famous. They're already sterilized or so different than ours.
I couldn't honestly tell you. And I couldn't tell you whether if he actually did propose to her with a camera crew. Like, you know, hiding in any photos. What does that mean to anyone else real for that?
Because they live in their whole crazy universe. It's a very smart observation. I think that's part of it. And knowing that all of life is a performance, I think plays a significant role in what's so good about her work in hustlers.
I'm not going to spoil for you here. But I will just say that in the same way that when we watch on a time of Hollywood, and we have this relationship with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, and we see them acting and knowing who they are as famous people and who they didn't form, are feelings about them. Jennifer Lopez is a Ramona in Hustlers. And this is irrespective of what you think about the movie.
Her power and her evident fame completely suffuse the movie. And it's a good thing. It's not bothersome. It's actually, it helps us because there is a level of suspicion that we need to have it for the same way that we have a little bit of suspicion.
Exactly about your starting. Was there a camera crew on a beach when Alex proposed? Maybe there was, but maybe that doesn't matter to them. Maybe it didn't make any less authentic than we imagined it might for your eye.
Yeah. And so we have two of these starting right now in terms of associating and relating to the person on screen, and what you know of them and what you bring to watching the performance. And also the actual screen presence. You need both of those things.
But she definitely has it. And I think the fact that she is so present. And so in our mind, and has managed to do that for 10 years, she's going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be able to create anyone else's career. She knows how to use it to manage and that helps her stay real then.
Is there anything we have in this case in jail is created. You think we would be making a big mistake on the mentioned. Because you know when we publish this podcast, I'm going to say, how dare you ignore, I don't know, angelize, monster in law. something that we haven't really broken down here.
I will say I wanted to watch second act last night. I really wanted to see second act as a lot of people in my life. If they would go see second act for me with me and no one to. So I never thought of theaters and then you can't run it.
You have to buy it and I can find something I was not willing to purchase second act on that night. So that's not just for second act is hilarious. And one of the problems with these movies is you just don't believe J. Lowe as a person who's like struggling because she's got so much power and charm.
And obviously she's striking. But the plot of the movie is a second act follows a woman in her 40s who pursues a second chance of corporate career. After a friend creates her a fake resume and credentials. Yeah, right girl.
Sign me up. Melica is not her 40s. But she looks like 25. So funny about this movie.
We're talking about the box office performance of Julie. This movie would be for $16 million. I made $72 million, which is a nice little living. That's not so bad.
For, I guess it's like a rom-com, Johnny, workplace comedy. I think it's like the women's empowerment situation. Sure. I think her whole career could be.
Thank you for something. I'm very excited for the general development. Me too. We'll be talking about more on the Oscar show coming up basically for the next five months.
Now look at my conversation with the writer director Laurence Faria. I'm glad to be joined by Laurence Faria. writer director of hustlers. Thanks for being here.
So I want to know where you were in your career. Like four hustlers came to you. You made some films. But this is not the sort of one I would predict it would come next to me.
So what were you doing? What were you thinking about doing next after the night? I was excited to swing the pendulum away from a really personal story, which the mother was directly about my mother and me, feeling like my father's death and her moving here from Jersey. So I was really excited to swing the pendulum.
And yet when I was sent to the article by Gloria Sanchez and Prana, they still felt like familiar people to me, even though it was a wild story and really incredibly written article and they felt like characters already felt like a movie already. They still felt like relatable. People, they felt like people like to rock with the guys and the girls honestly. You're an exclusive girl.
Yeah. But I worked in a boiler room when I was late teens off off off all straight. I worked in a boiler room. I was just answering phones and doing the sperterial work.
Well, we're in the style of the film boiler room. Want your guys cutting deals? A giant room that just had phones in it. Yeah.
It was crazy. But I mean, it felt like normal in a way. They were people I knew. They were just guys that I know were all trying to make ends meet.
It didn't occur to me. I mean, I heard them and I felt like these were some things. They were selling bad stocks to old people. So I mean, I knew they were up to no good.
They were terrible too. The receptionist that was there. They were terrible too. My mother had worked there.
Some guys said we couldn't hit her head at the baseball pad. And the boss basically just said to her, like, bottom line, can you keep working with him? Because he brought in money. And my mom was just hands on a keyboard.