How Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh brought Kiss of the Spider Woman to the screen

It’s a scene that might have taken place in a Kiss of the Spider Woman fantasy sequence. Jennifer Lopez, who plays the movie star Ingrid Luna in Bill Condon’s upcoming musical drama film — as well as the dual characters Ingrid portrays in the musical inside-the-musical, Aurora and the Spider Woman — reclines on a sofa at the Maybourne, a Beverly Hills hotel. White flowers sit nearby on a table, as members of her team look on.

Behind Lopez in a tuxedo is Tonatiuh. His Spider Woman character, a queer window dresser named Luis Molina, mentally escapes the confines of an Argentinian prison by retelling the plot of a film starring their favorite diva. In these sequences, Molina, jailed for public indecency with a man, transforms into Kendall Nesbit to sing and dance alongside Aurora. They're accompanied in these reveries by Valentin (Diego Luna), their cellmate and a political revolutionary who manifests his own dream doppelgänger as Aurora’s love interest, Armando (though back in prison, there may be some interest in Molina as well). Love and sacrifice, both found through a kiss, figure in this layered story.

The Out shoot was held in June, just days after Lopez took the stage at WorldPride DC, where she performed “Kiss of the Spider Woman” alongside hits like “On the Floor” and “Let’s Get Loud” that launched her to global stardom and gay icon status. It’s a title she takes seriously. “I’m so happy to be able to be here to celebrate community, diversity, love, and freedom,” she told her fans from the stage. Cue to a cover of George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90,” as well as a new track from Lopez, “Free,” which declares “I’m free / Free to love whoever I please.”

JENNIFER in DOLCE & GABBANA Dress, SHIPHRA Jewerly; TONATIUH in BROOKS BROTHERS Shirt and Tuxedo SAIDIAN VINTAGE JEWELS Brooch and Ring, NICKHO REY Earring Vintage Watch from WANNA BUY A WATCH, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN ShoesJohn Russo

Performing at WorldPride was a “special” experience for Lopez. “I was there for no other reason than just to show my support and love and solidarity [during] everything that’s going on in our country right now, which is absurd on so many levels — not just for the LGBTQ community but for the Latino community,” she says. “As an artist, you show up in the ways that you can. And when they asked me to do it, I was like, I will absolutely fucking be there.”

For Lopez, Spider Woman presented another opportunity for musical allyship in a time when the LGBTQ+ community is under renewed political assault — particularly trans and gender-nonconforming people of color like Molina. “What drew me to this story? First of all, the story’s about love, right?” Lopez says. “It’s the one thing in life that is really worth dying for in a way, and that’s really the poetry of the movie to me.”

The story, as first written in Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel, was groundbreaking for its themes of queer love and political resistance in the face of an oppressive dictatorship. As a central character, Molina defied cultural norms about gender and sexuality, characteristics that assured the book was widely banned upon its release. (Some modern critics also take issue with the novel’s tropes and lengthy footnotes categorizing homosexuality as a mental illness.)

But the Spider Woman story has evolved with the times while maintaining its cultural resonance. William Hurt won an Oscar for portraying Molina in the 1985 film adaptation. In the theater world, Spider Woman appeared onstage in a 1983 play penned by Puig as well as a Tony-winning 1993 musical scored by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with a book by Terrence McNally. This fall, the film adaptation of this musical will be released in an era when, sadly, a queer Latine creative being banished to a prison is not unheard of in the national news.

JENNIFER in ATELIER BISER Lace Top and Choker LAYLA KAISI COLLECTION RingsJohn Russo

“It was really a dream come true,” Lopez says of starring in Spider Woman. “I’ve dreamt of doing a musical for so many years. For it to be one that is … [a] movie about love and acceptance and community, especially in this time, to me it couldn’t have been a better thing to happen.”

Chita Rivera, idolized by Lopez growing up, originated the role of Aurora in the stage musical, making this part of particular significance to the Hustlers star. “To work with [choreographer] Sergio Trujillo, who was in Spider Woman on Broadway, who danced with Chita every night, to have him say things to me like, ‘Dancing with you was like dancing with Chita again’ — it was just amazing.”

When she arrived on set to sing “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which she meticulously prepared, in front of the living legend Kander (Cabaret, Chicago), who was 97 at the time of their meeting, Lopez “almost dropped dead,” she says. “The little girl in me who sat in front of the television watching West Side Story with their mom, dancing around and wishing I could sing and dance and act one day, had become fully realized in that moment,” she says with ardor.

“It was one of the most beautiful moviemaking experiences I’ve ever had, and also at a difficult time in my life, but it … just filled a part of me that was waiting to kind of come alive for so long,” she attests.

Tonatiuh, who identifies as nonbinary and uses he/him and they/them pronouns, felt a similar pull to the production directed by Bill Condon (Chicago, Gods and Monsters): “I knew the source material because I knew the play beforehand. But when I got the email with the title and the pages, it just felt spiritual. It felt very like I needed to give my full attention to it.”

JENNIFER in ELISABETTA FRANCHI Corset, SHIPHRA JEWELRY Earrings, ATELIER BISER Perle BraceletJohn Russo

Their journey to the role was anything but ordinary — a self-tape audition submitted at the last minute, a whirlwind callback, and a casting process that considered over 900 actors. Ultimately, his persistence paid off. “Something about it just wasn’t clicking just perfectly, and so I locked myself up in my office, and I kept working and working and working at it until I finally felt I found the through line and the humanity,” he says.

It was a gift for Tonatiuh to portray Molina alongside the song-and-dance numbers of the Hollywood fantasy counterpart. He recognizes that this range is rarely given to actors who comprise intersectional identities. “As a performer, I just always found it so frustrating to get categorized in any one particular box. … With this, I was really gifted the ability to play the entire spectrum [of femininity to masculinity],” they share.

Range takes work, though. “We shot basically two movies in a short amount of time. … We shot 11 numbers in about 20-something days, which is crazy,” they say. “Every day was basically its own number, and because we were an independent film, there was no leeway for mistakes.” Tonatiuh even lost 45 pounds to portray Molina after portraying a bulkier role in the 2024 Netflix action hit Carry-On. “I love being able to transform, if given the opportunity,” they share.

But the rewards were profound for them (and hopefully, viewers). “I think my biggest hope right now is for people who feel like the world is telling them that it isn’t for them, I want them to find a home here. … I’ve been told so much in my career and in my life that who I was was gonna get in the way of the job that I wanted, and my own humanity, my own Two-Spiritness, my own form of expressing myself — I had to almost silence it for an industry that doesn’t know what to do with it, right? With this … I was able to heal some of that with the art.”

TONATIUH in BROOKS BROTHERS Shirt and Tuxedo, SAIDIAN VINTAGE JEWELS Brooch and Ring, NICKHO REY Earring Vintage Watch from WANNA BUY A WATCH, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN ShoesJohn Russo

Tonatiuh has had notable roles in Tinseltown before. He shone as Marcos, a gender-nonconforming character who memorably threw a “queerceañera” on Starz’s Vida, as well as a lead gay character on network TV, Antonio Sandoval, on the ABC drama Promised Land. But Spider Woman is a watershed moment in the career of the 30-year-old actor, who has already garnered critical acclaim (and some Oscar buzz) for his performance.

Lopez recalls the moment she saw Tonatiuh fully step into the spotlight as her scene partner. “I remember sitting there with him … I was in my blond wig and smoking my cigarette, and he was sitting there kind of playing with his cigarette. And I said, ‘This is your Selena moment.… It’s a blessing in your career. And it’s just beautiful to watch you doing it.’”

Tonatiuh will never forget the impact of that encouragement from Lopez, who was referencing her own career-making role in the 1997 biopic of singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez; she delivered it right before they began filming a big number. He was “overcome with so much gratitude.” After the scene wrapped, “they call ‘cut!’ and I burst into tears,” he recalls.

It wasn’t the only pinch-me experience for Tonatiuh. “There was a moment in the number ‘Where You Are,’ where Molina asks Ingrid to take him away, to take him to a movie. And she does and sings a song essentially saying, ‘Why do you have to be where you are? Come with me to be a movie star.’ I just remember, I flew my mom and my stepdad out to see [the scene]. And here I was dancing with Jennifer Lopez and 70 Broadway dancers. Hearing those words, it was just so magical,” he shares.

JENNIFER in DOLCE & GABBANA Full LookJohn Russo

Tonatiuh also connected with his co-star Luna (Y Tu Mamá También, Milk, Andor) in their intimate prison scenes, which were filmed in order, a Hollywood rarity. Under the pressure of confinement, there is sexual tension that develops between the characters, but there are also moments of male vulnerability that are rarely seen on-screen. “The intimacy did build with every single passing scene, with every take,” Tonatiuh shares. “Diego and I really got an opportunity to just witness each other’s characters and blend them together naturally. … It’s hard not to fall in love with someone like him.”

For Lopez, it’s this connection between these very different characters that drives the heart of the film. “This very intense experience they have of being locked in the cell together and helping each other survive, they’re able to see straight into [the] humanity in one another and fall in love,” she shares. “To me, that is the real definition of love, where it doesn’t matter what somebody looks like or where they’re from or who they are or what background — it’s just looking at a person and seeing their soul.”

Lopez’s history — growing up with a beloved lesbian aunt, whose experiences with discrimination inspired Lopez to executive produce the queer show The Fosters — made the film’s themes personal. Referring to a gender-neutral term for a niece or nephew, she also praises her transgender nibling, Brendon Scholl. This film is her love letter to the LGBTQ+ community, whom she counts as her closest friends, fans, and family. (Half of her backup dancers are gay, she estimates, as were two-thirds of a recent crowd at a show.)

“My whole heart belongs to them and … I’m smiling from ear to ear just thinking about it, just thinking about the relationship that we have and the love that we have and how important it was for me to do this movie for that community.”

TONATIUH in BROOKS BROTHERS Shirt and Tuxedo, SAIDIAN VINTAGE JEWELS Brooch and Ring, NICKHO REY Earring Vintage Watch from WANNA BUY A WATCH, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN ShoesJohn Russo

As the film’s October 10 release approaches, both stars are busy — Lopez with a new tour and upcoming Las Vegas residency and Tonatiuh with a new theatrical project; at the time of this June interview, he was preparing to act alongside Amber Heard and Brandon Flynn in Spirit of the People, a play penned by Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play) about the impact of queer tourism and gentrification in Zipolite, a Mexican community famous for its nude beaches. But both remain focused on the impact Kiss of the Spider Woman can have.

Tonatiuh has been in “a state of mourning” since the Trump administration began its aggressive campaign of mass deportations and detainments of Latine people. “There is no difference between me or Jennifer or Diego, who are in this film, from the people who are hardworking and are trying to provide for their families,” they say with emotion. “It’s just been breaking my heart to see their agony and to see people separated from their families. And I think that, especially [for] first-generation people like myself, it’s activating a sense of fear that we are next. And so I hope that this [film] gives people a space for some catharsis and a little escape and a win.”

Lopez also has a message for fans who, like Molina, might be listening to her music or gazing at her poster as they seek to escape the world’s worries.

“Come play with me. We’ll sing, we’ll dance. We’ll forget about the troubles of the world for a little while,” she says. “That’s what I’ve always been here for. That’s always been my mission with my music and my performing and my movies — is to help people sing and feel and cry if they need to and dance and scream and have a good time. And … remember that there is joy in the world, and there is love in the world.”

This cover story is part of Out's Sept/Oct issue, which hits newsstands August 26. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting August 14.

talent JENNIFER LOPEZ @jlo and TONATIUH @iamtonatiuh
photographer JOHN RUSSO @johnrussophoto
tech TAS LIMUR @taslimur
photo assistant BRETT ERICKSON @brettericksonphoto
producer J. CHARLES BENIGNO with PHOTOHOUSE PRODUCTIONS @photohouseproductions
jennifer’s stylist ORETTA CORBELLI @orettac
jennifer’s tailor SUGAR FERRINI @sugar.ferrini
jennifer’s assistant stylist ALLEGRA GARGIULO @jesuisallegra_
jennifer’s makeup artist SCOTT BARNES @scottbarnescosmetics
jennifer’s hair FRANK GALASSO @frankgalasso1
jennifer’s nails TOM BACHIK @tombachik
tonatiuh’s stylist SAVANNAH MENDOZA @savannahkmendoza
tonatiuh’s HMU artist SOPHIA PORTER @thesophiaporter
video KEN WALLER @kenwallermedia
catering CITY KITCHEN @citykitchenla
location THE MAYBOURNE BEVERLY HILLS @themaybournebh / maybournebeverlyhills.com

JENNIFER LOPEZ in ATELIER BISER Lace Set, LAYLA KAISI COLLECTION Ring; TONATIUH in TODD SNYDER White Tux Jacket, BROOKS BROTHERS Trousers, BUDD LONDON Shirt & Scarf, SAIDIAN VINTAGE JEWELS RingJohn Russo