00:00I had not seen any of the Kiss of the Spider Woman, okay?
00:02I didn't see the 80s version of it.
00:04I did not, I had not read the book.
00:06I didn't know the 80s version of it.
00:08My sister knew it.
00:10She came to my house and saw the script and she's like,
00:12are you fucking doing Kiss of the Spider Woman?
00:14And she was like, over the moon.
00:16I was like, yes.
00:22For me, it's like so important.
00:24I think it's probably just an overcompensation thing of like,
00:27I have to come in and be perfect right off the bat.
00:30Like I like to know, I don't like to make mistakes.
00:33So I'm just like over prepared when I come in,
00:37which I think some actors like kind of find it as they're going.
00:41And that's a different process.
00:43And it's cool.
00:44Like, I'm fine with that.
00:46Just for me, I'm a rehearser.
00:48I like to practice all the time.
00:51And so by the time I get there, I'm like, yeah, what are you doing?
00:54What are you doing?
00:55I'm ready.
00:55I'm ready.
00:56It just gives me more confidence.
00:58I remember you saying that.
00:59It's like, it only works for you if you've got it in your bones.
01:02Yeah.
01:02Right.
01:03And there was a terror that maybe we didn't have
01:05literally enough time to get it into the bones.
01:07It was terrible.
01:08You found the time.
01:10Do any of you have anything you have to do
01:11before the first day of a shoot of a production on set?
01:16I normally light a bottle of Santo right before just to like,
01:18whatever negative energy or anything that's on me, I just get it off.
01:22Leave it at home.
01:23Don't bring it to set.
01:24And just a nice little green juice.
01:25Because I feel like once I'm on set, I forget to eat or I get so overwhelmed
01:29that I don't think of any of those things.
01:31So I'm like, at least I'm getting some idea of a vegetable.
01:34For me, every movie is different.
01:35I don't have any like set ritual.
01:38I just come in.
01:39I'm like, I said, super prepared and just kind of ready to go.
01:44I always like tell the first AD, I was like, I will be a little late to set,
01:49but we will make it up as we go along.
01:51I promise you, because once I get there, I'm not leaving the set.
01:54I'm not taking a break.
01:55I don't need lunch.
01:56I don't need anything.
01:58Whatever, however you want to shoot, for however long you want to shoot,
02:01I will be there.
02:01And so, yeah, that's my only thing on the first day.
02:04I always let them know, like, don't panic when I'm out there right at the minute.
02:08But when I get there, it'll be great.
02:10But you're pretty close on this movie.
02:11It was crazy.
02:12We didn't have a lot of time.
02:13We didn't.
02:13Yeah.
02:14Yeah.
02:14I have to say, I had a sense just hearing over the years that
02:18Jennifer had a great interest in doing something like this.
02:22So that was, you know, you always have to convince yourself
02:24when you're sitting down alone, no deal, you're just doing it on your own,
02:28that there's a way to make the movie.
02:29And I think I was holding on to that idea
02:32that I think Jennifer wants to do something like this, you know?
02:34Yes.
02:35And he was right.
02:36Yeah.
02:36He was right.
02:37And my agent just sent me the script, Kevin Huvane.
02:40And he was like, I have something that I think you're going to like.
02:43And I was like, all right, send it to me.
02:44You know, it's like, you know, sometimes it's yes.
02:47And sometimes it's no.
02:48Most times it's no.
02:49And I get it.
02:51And I was like, I called him back and I like maybe 30 pages in and I go,
02:58is this mine or is this something that I'm going to have to like
03:01meet with or audition for?
03:03And he was like, no, they want you to, you know, Bill wants you to do it.
03:06And I was like, Bill Condon, Bill Condon wants me to.
03:08OK, OK.
03:10And I was ecstatic.
03:12I had been waiting.
03:13There was never a feeling in my life.
03:17I think maybe the closest thing.
03:19And I was too young to understand it was Selena.
03:23But beyond that, there was never a time where I felt like I sat down
03:27and read something and thought I was born to play this.
03:30You know, I like this was meant for me.
03:33I have been waiting for this my whole life.
03:36And because I did, I grew up on movie musicals.
03:39My mother was a huge fan of Barbra Streisand and Rita Moreno.
03:44And I just it was in my bones.
03:48It's what I thought I was going to do with my life.
03:50I thought I was going to do Broadway.
03:51And I'm in my, you know, life took other turns.
03:55And thank God it's been amazing.
03:57But to do this at this time is just like a dream come true.
04:01Did the scheduling?
04:02How did the scheduling work out?
04:03Because how far in advance is your life kind of booked out?
04:06It was tough.
04:07And Bill wanted to shoot it at a specific time.
04:10And I was like, the panic was, you know, will we have enough time to do it?
04:16And he was very confident.
04:20Thank God I was, you know, panicked.
04:23But we did it.
04:23And I cleared out, you know, some things and pushed a couple of things back
04:28just to be able to do it.
04:29You know, when you do these indie films, it's all, you know, heart.
04:34It's not about money.
04:35It's not about anything else except like, I love this part.
04:38I love this script.
04:39I want to work with this director.
04:41And I'm going to do it no matter what.
04:43And so we just buckled down and did it.
04:45Then I remember you were like, I'm going to go home on the weekends.
04:48And it's like, that never happened.
04:50I tried to go home one weekend.
04:52And he was like, you can't go.
04:54I need you to rehearse this weekend.
04:55I was like, OK.
04:57But it was amazing, though, the dedication.
04:59No, we did.
05:00We were there.
05:00Like summer camp.
05:01You know, winter camp.
05:03Do any of you remember the very first musical you saw?
05:09Singing in the Rain.
05:10Yeah.
05:11I mean, mine had to be West Side Story.
05:12It was the first one my mom showed me.
05:14Yeah.
05:14On stage, Madeleine Muncher, when I was 10 years old.
05:17Oh, wow.
05:17Did you see the Broadway version of Kiss of the Spider Woman?
05:22No, I had not seen any of the Kiss of the Spider Woman.
05:25OK, I didn't see the 80s version of it.
05:27I did not.
05:28I had not read the book.
05:29I didn't know the 80s version of it.
05:31My sister knew it.
05:32She came to my house and saw the script.
05:34And she's like, are you fucking doing Kiss of the Spider Woman?
05:36And she was like, over the moon.
05:39I was like, yes.
05:41I haven't told anybody yet.
05:43But I didn't know anything.
05:45So my first introduction to it was reading this kind of beautiful script
05:48of this story of these two men and this, you know,
05:51the way he described this beautiful Hollywood diva, you know.
05:55I was just like, oh.
05:57And she's saying, how many musical numbers?
06:00Yes.
06:01Oh, my God.
06:01Like, it was just, it was my first introduction to it.
06:06And I just loved it.
06:06I loved what it said.
06:08I loved that it was about love and seeing people for who they are
06:12and accepting them without all the labels, without all the things.
06:16Just like, you mean something to me.
06:19I love you.
06:19I love your spirit.
06:20I love your soul.
06:22And that bringing people together and heal, you know, kind of like, you know,
06:27healing any divide, that idea to me is such a big,
06:31beautiful idea that the world is so desperate for right now.
06:36And to see it in this way with these big musical numbers in between
06:40is going to be, I think, something really important.
06:44I think if people get to see it, I'm very excited about that.
06:47When was the first time you were starstruck
06:48or when was the first time you were recognized?
06:51For me, I was starstruck.
06:53I met Barbra Streisand.
06:54Obviously, my mom was a huge Barbra Streisand fan.
06:57Funny Girl is probably my favorite musical, one of my favorite musicals,
07:01if not my favorite besides West Side Story of all time.
07:05And I was very starstruck.
07:08She was just, you know, saying,
07:09how do you deal with being so famous?
07:11Because I had like my J-Lo album and all those things come out.
07:14And I was on in the tabloids all the time.
07:17And she was, I was like, you're Barbra Streisand.
07:19What are you doing?
07:20Like, I couldn't even, it was like, I can't compute this, you know.
07:24And the first time I got recognized, I mean, it caused me tremendous anxiety
07:30because I was like walking down the street.
07:31It was right after I did the movie Selena.
07:34And I had done television before that.
07:36And I had done other movies.
07:38But for some reason, Selena was the one that when I walk,
07:41I'm just walking out of my apartment, going to like the store to buy ham
07:47or something like that.
07:48And on the way back, somebody was like, Jennifer, Jennifer.
07:52And I was like, and I'm like, I don't recognize the person.
07:57And they run up to me.
07:58And I was like, oh, my God, who the fuck are you?
08:02Oh, my God.
08:03It's terrifying.
08:04That's crazy.
08:05Like, like really scared.
08:07Like, and I'm like a young girl by myself, not young, youngish.
08:10You know what I mean?
08:11But I'm a young woman by myself.
08:12And I was like, and she was trying to touch you, hug you.
08:17You know, you're like, whoa.
08:19And that was like, I, it was when it hit me.
08:22I was like, oh, you're an anonymous person.
08:24Now you're moving to the world.
08:25Yeah, you're moving through the world in a different way now.
08:27And I started having panic attacks.
08:30It's really a different thing to kind of grapple with in your mind.
08:35That I think people are better with because of social media.
08:38Everybody's a little bit of their own star of their own channel.
08:41You know what I mean?
08:42But it was, it was different then.
08:45It was different then.
08:46And it was terrifying.
08:48And it took me a minute.
08:49I remember calling people and being like, how do you deal with this?
08:52What should I do?
08:53How do I get the panic feeling away?
08:56But eventually you get used to it and you learn how to navigate it.
09:00In college, Tony Kushner came to campus.
09:02And I was just like, I wanted to come up and say hi and how much I loved his work.
09:06And I don't think I got a single word out.
09:08So that was really embarrassing.
09:10But then the first time that I got recognized, I was in a restaurant and I went to the restroom
09:15and somebody was in the urinal next to me.
09:17And they were like, you're from Promised Land.
09:19I was like, yeah.
09:20And he goes, can I take a picture?
09:22And I literally was like, um, can I zip up first?
09:26Like, he goes, yeah, of course, of course.
09:27It was, it was weird, but it was, I was one of those moments where I was like, okay, uh,
09:31well, I, I'm probably going to use the stall from now on.
09:35Oh, for me, I guess like you, Stephen Sondheim, I went over to his house one day for a meeting
09:40and it was just, oh my God, to be there.
09:42And in that legendary place where he just written everything, you know, and to be offered
09:47a martini at 1130 in the morning.
09:51Come on, absolutely.
09:52He said he did.
09:52Yes, please.
09:53I did.
Comments