No, this isn’t an ill-advised Madame Web sequel, and J.Lo will not be in the Amazon with anybody’s mother, researching spiders, before dying. This is a comeback. Jennifer Lopez stars in the musical adaptation of the 20th-century classic Kiss of the Spider Woman, heading for theaters this October. Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and Lopez all campaigning for their respective musicals at the same time? Can’t wait. Lopez had a bumpy 2024 — her autobiographical film This Is Me … Now: A Love Story was panned, the accompanying tour didn’t do well, and she got a divorce from Ben Affleck. In 2025, she’s primed for a comeback. Below, find everything we know about blonde, dancing, fedora’d J.Lo in the Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Pucker up for a trailer.
The trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman debuted on June 5. Lopez as Aurora is in full musical-theater glam, wearing fedoras, blonde wigs, and a spectacular gold dress. But her beauty is contrasted with prison scenes featuring two Argentine prisoners, played by Andor’s Diego Luna and Tonatiuh (Carry On). Then, upon seeing a “Spider Woman” poster in his jail cell, it becomes clear that Tonatiuh’s character, Luis Molina, is imagining Lopez’s story as a way of leaving his actuality.
What do we know about the adaptation?
Kiss of the Spider Woman, directed by Bill Condon, is the film adaptation of a musical that was, in turn, based on a novel. The original book, written by Manuel Puig, came out in 1976, and was adapted into the well-known 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman, which won William Hurt, who played Luis, Best Actor at the 1986 Oscars. The book (not the film, notably) was then adapted into the 1993 musical of the same name, which starred Chita Rivera as Aurora with songs by Cabaret scribes John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Terrence McNally, and won Best Musical at the Tony Awards.
The story follows Luis (Tonatiuh) and Valentin Arregui Paz (Luna), both prisoners in Argentina — Luis, a gay man, for “corrupting” a minor, and Valentin for political dissidence. Luis makes it through the day by imagining Aurora in various musical numbers. The musical-theater classic “Where You Are” can be heard in the trailer for the new adaptation.
When is it coming out?
Kiss of the Spider Woman technically already premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 27. Vulture film critic Bilge Ebiri called the film “star-making” for Tonatiuh but noted that the film doesn’t “match his vitality.” The rest of us will get to make our judgments when it premieres on October 10. Put on your dancing shoes.
Related
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- Rooting for Them
With the first trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman.
