Jennifer Lopez is working overtime to shed the “pop punchline” label and carve out space as a serious actress.
The 56-year-old star is stepping into that lane with her upcoming role in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Directed by Bill Condon, the film arrives October 10 and sees Lopez embodying Aurora, the mesmerizing siren at the center of the story.
According to PEOPLE, she’s already given fans a taste of the soundtrack, debuting “Never You,” a John Kander piece that hadn’t been performed since the show’s early development in the ’90s. Lopez’s version hit streaming on September 18.
Her momentum continues in November when she’s set to receive the Virtuoso Award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. The honor will be presented on November 1 following a live taping of Awards Chatter with The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg.
The Virtuoso Award is designed to highlight Jennifer Lopez’s turn in Kiss of the Spider Woman while also honoring her decades-spanning career in music, TV, and film. Christina Routhier, the festival’s senior executive director, called Lopez’s appearance “a landmark moment,” adding that her work embodies “invaluable lessons in versatility, resilience, and creative vision.”
But not everyone is celebrating. When the announcement hit Facebook, the comment section filled with digs. “Omg! She will have the whole town shut down including I-16 so no one can approach her,” one user joked. Another bluntly wrote, “OH MY GOD… WHO THE HELL CARRRRRES.” A third threw shade at her past connection to Diddy, saying, “She must have been aware of what went on at the white parties.”
This type of skepticism isn’t new for Lopez. Just last year, her documentary sparked chatter about her being out of touch, with TikTok clips from it going viral for all the wrong reasons, per The Quinnipiac Chronicle.
Still, SCAD is framing her appearance as a major opportunity for students to learn from a global icon who’s stayed relevant for over 30 years. For Lopez, the Virtuoso Award adds prestige to her résumé — though the pushback from students and alumni shows her rebrand as a “serious actress” still has its doubters.
