Discussing her new Netflix movie The Mother, Jennifer Lopez was joined by a roundtable of some of Audacy’s finest female hosts including Julia, Shelly Wade from New York’s The Block, Sarah Pepper from Mix 96.5 in Houston, Poet from WPGC 95.5 in Washington DC, and 94.7 The Drive’s Corinna Delgado.
LISTEN NOW: Audacy's 'The Mother' Roundtable with Jennifer Lopez
Chatting all about her new project, The Mother, which as D.C. host Poet pointed out is one of her most physically demanding yet, Lopez had a chance to answer some questions from each of the ladies.
“The fight choreography was probably the most challenging,” J.Lo admits in regard to the demands she took on during filming. That said, she didn’t really mind. “I like being physical, I like working out, I’m athletic, I dance, I do all of that, so all of that helped me with it," she says. "But it’s hard to fight.”
“I’m not a fighter by nature," she says, "just in kinda the emotional sense of the word. I’m more of a lover in that sense. So, it was a whole kind of mindset and mentality, besides learning the choreography with the knife and all of the things.”
Those stunts, Jen pointed out, were done all herself; no stunt double. Even that last fight scene with Joseph Fiennes. “Unless they did some shots without me,” she jokingly added with a smirk.
Julia was curious as to what drew Lopez to the role, to which Jennifer answered twofold: “Getting offered a role like this at this time in my career is really surprising," Jen answered. “A big huge action movie, you see a lot of men doing stuff like this, you see a lot of younger actresses doing things like this." Being offered and taking on the role, “was like, a huge big deal.” Not to mention it's “the biggest action” feature her production company has ever taken on.
Taking the answer further, Jen adds, “then there was the story behind it about being a mother and what that means,” expanding more on the thought and how she brought her own experience as a “non-traditional” mother to the role.
While Lopez brought some of herself into the role, her character in The Mother certainly shows differences in many ways. Other than just being a fighter, J.Lo is a very hands-on mom, and prides herself on being affectionate and attentive with her children. In total contrast, The Mother in the film loves from afar.
Speaking about the complexities it took to get her into that mindset with Shelly in NYC, “this character,” unlike herself, “emotionally was not available," she says, "besides being not physically available because she had to stay away from her kid to keep her safe... there was a whole different set of challenges as far as emotionally and physically what to do.”
"It’s like having a wall up," Jen continues. “She had a wall up that I don’t have." She recalls how director Niki Caro would make a point to remind her that “less is more,” when it comes to emotion, because, “there’s a different kind of closed off-ness to this character, and that was hard for me."
Listen to Jennifer Lopez Radio and more on the free Audacy app
Praising Jen for taking on “such a different role” than we’ve ever seen her in before, Sarah in Houston took the question a step further, asking Lopez, “How did you find that yourself? How long did it take you to get into that character, and when you're finished, how long does it take you to come out of it?”
Lopez immediately admits that leaving her characters behind has gotten easier the more experienced and older she gets. That said, “it took me a minute to kinda fall into… her mannerisms, or the way she thinks," she says, revealing she went about it by “putting myself into the mindset of: 'This is a person who has been by herself for 12 years -- with hardly any human contact -- and how awkward it would be to be around people again.' Let alone the one person who means more to you than anything in this world.”
As a veteran and a mother, Jen’s latest role especially resonated with Corinna, who opened up the conversation to the topic of the broad definition of a mother’s love and protecting your child at all costs, even if that means having love from a distance.
To hear Jennifer’s insightful answer and the rest of the conversation, press play on the roundtable interview above.
The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez as a military-trained assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she's never met from ruthless criminals gunning for revenge will be available to stream on Netflix beginning May 12.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram