Oscar-winning filmmaker Bill Condon is back with “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” his latest movie musical starring a global music superstar playing the subject of public adoration.
An adaptation of the Tony-winning 1993 Kander and Ebb Broadway musical, which itself is an adaptation of the 1976 novel by Manuel Puig, stars Diego Luna as political prisoner Valentín, who is thrown into a cell with window dresser Molina (newcomer Tonatiuh.) To pass time, the latter recounts the story of his favorite Hollywood musical starring screen siren Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez,) therefore juxtaposing the pair’s dreary reality inside a 1970s Argentinian prison with the Technicolor fantasy of Luna’s melodrama “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”
Related Stories
The film is the first musical adaptation Condon has both written and directed since “Dreamgirls” starring Beyoncé in 2006, which earned two Oscars. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2025, sparking measurable awards buzz for its stars, especially breakout Tonatiuh (“Carry On,” “Promised Land.”)
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” has also been a years-long labor of love for Lopez, who fills the shoes of the late Tony winner and fellow Puerto Rican icon Chita Rivera, who originated the multi-faceted role of Aurora on Broadway. The star and executive producer first previewed the film to IndieWire in December 2024, saying, “It was my first musical, probably since [‘Selena’], if you consider ‘Selena’ a musical. But this was a proper musical where I really get to play three different characters in a way. And so it was a huge project for me.”
Lopez, the first woman to simultaneously have a number-one album and a number-one film in the United States, later told IndieWire at Sundance that the musical genre itself is “where I got the idea to sing and dance and act and not just do one thing.”
In his review of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio especially highlights how the film differs from Best Picture winner “Chicago,” which Condon wrote. “That film relied on zooms, close-ups, and harsh cuts on bodies, whereas the metafictional ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’s’ musical scenes are shot stagelike, with actors like Lopez, Tonatiuh, and Luna in the frame top to toe.”
Roadside Attractions will release “Kiss of the Spider-Woman” in theaters on Friday, October 10. See the trailer below, which teases Lopez’s rendition of “I Do Miracles.”
