Jennifer Lopez Interview, El Cantante

MoviesOnline recently sat down with Jennifer Lopez at the Los Angeles press day for her new film, "El Cantante,” which celebrates the life and music of the legendary Puerto Rican salsa singer Hector Lavoe, a pioneer of the sound and sensibility that redefined Latin music in the 1960s and 1970s.

Directed by Leon Ichaso, the film is a labor of love for its stars, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, who are both New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent. Shepherded to the screen and produced by Lopez, "El Cantante” portrays an era when a new sense of national identity and pride took root in Puerto Rican communities across the U.S. Hector Lavoe’s music was both a soundtrack to and affirmation of that awakening, and that music courses joyfully through "El Cantante.”

Spanning the 1960s to the 1980s, "El Cantante” charts Hector Lavoe’s rapid rise to success and fame as an artist whose music combined Puerto Rican tradition with streetwise modernity, unabashed emotion with straightforward realism. It reveals the singer not only as an architect of salsa but as its soul; the kind of artist, like Billie Holliday, Edith Piaf or La Lupe, who forges an uncanny emotional bond with his audience. Love, pain, joy, pride, sorrow, endurance: Hector Lavoe’s singing contained the raw stuff of life as ordinary people – and he himself – knew it.

As Hector Lavoe, Anthony mines the contradictory essence of a gifted man who could express anything with his music, but channeled his inner turmoil into a host of self-destructive behaviors. Anthony’s intensity and honesty is matched by that of Lopez, who portrays Hector Lavoe’s indomitable wife, Puchi. In their first onscreen pairing, the real-life couple captures the complex dynamics of a relationship between two bright, funny and flawed human beings who loved, battled and forgave one another for twenty years, until Hector Lavoe’s death in 1993.

Jennifer Lopez is a fabulous person and we really appreciated her time. Here’s what she had to tell us about why it was so important to make "El Cantante”:

MoviesOnline: Why did this have to be the first film for your production company?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: I think, for Nurican productions and what we stand for, being a New York Puerto Rican, I couldn’t have found a better story to start with, y’know? But, doing the story of Hector Lavoe – salsa icon, musical icon in the Latino community, but also for me and what I do in my own life, it being music, a movie that had music in it, it really, really fit all the things I’m passionate about.

MoviesOnline: The wardrobe, did you have a lot of input in that?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Yes. Yeah, no, it was very important to me. I had about 50 changes in the movie. It was really insane. Sometimes I’d change four or five times a day. We’d do ‘60’s, ‘70’s, ‘80’s, we’re back in 2002. It was really crazy, but it was a lot of fun. But it was very important to me that we marked the time and that you saw the growth that they went from -- this relationship spanned 20 years. So, it was a big change in that time.

MoviesOnline: Did you research it at all?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Absolutely, well, we had an amazing costume designer, Sandra Hernandez, She was like, ‘OK! Here’s our 60’s! Let’s go!’ Y’know, and then we’d go in there and find the right thing for the character in the scene and just go from there. It was just great. I mean, her attention to detail, even the little earrings. It was like, ‘These are only ‘60’s earrings. These are only ‘70’s earrings.’ It was like crazy. The bags of shoes. Everything. The coats. And also, very specific to that New York kind of scene that they were in at the time which was the salsa scene which was a whole different thing. It wasn’t just anybody in New York. You know what I mean?

MoviesOnline: What do you remember about his legacy and what he meant for Puerto Rican culture?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: I mean, for me, we grew up with the music. Y’know, I mean, it was funny, because just like when we did the movie ‘Selena,’ like, I knew the music, I knew about her, but I didn’t know about her. Y’know what I mean? I wasn’t like following, following her. And it was the same thing with Hector, I like kind of grew up with the music and I was like, ‘Oh, I know this song.’ ‘He did that song?’ You know what I mean? It was just that kind of thing. It was like the soundtrack to your life. Y’know, being Puerto Rican and living in NY and growing up at that time, it was at all the parties. Every birthday party, every Christmas, y’know, that was what it was.

MoviesOnline: So, it was more like your Motown experience?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Yeah, kind of yeah. Definitely Funia records was like that for the Latin artists. They were the label. They were the label at the time.They created a specific sound, much like Motown did and changed musical history.

MoviesOnline: Why do you think Hector’s story in particular needs to be told today?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Y’know, For me he is like the quintessential artist. It’s like a real examination of what an artist is. I mean, it’s somebody who is put on this earth, has this like amazing talent, a personality that is funny that touches so many people, but then again they have this deep, kind of vulnerable side and they are meant to suffer a certain amount of pain so they can put this into the music or the painting or whatever it is that they do and it touches millions of people and it helps them get through their lives. And in a way, I see it as a sacrificial lamb.To me, he was just growing up and doing what I do too. It was such a kind of a study in what an artist is. He was just that. He was really that. That is why he was put here on this earth for. It’s really sad. I mean he had a sad life if you look at it. And it’s funny because I met his daughter and she came down to the set with his grandson, and they were like ‘Y’know, this was not an easy life.’ ‘I know, god.’ Y’know what I mean? It’s just like, but they feel things in a different way and he suffered in a different way. But if you listen to the lyrics in some of the music and you listen to the lamenting in some of the instruments, y’know what I mean? It’s like I don’t know if he’d be able to do that if he hadn’t lived the life that he’d lived. Y’know what I mean? It would have been something different. We know that, but it was great to kind of look at that onscreen.

MoviesOnline: What insight did you have into his wife? Why do you think she stuck around?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: I think they loved each other. I think at the end of the day, as much as they were killing each other, they loved each other. I mean the door is right there. We all know. Everyone in this room knows. You’ve all been in relationships. It’s like, twenty years, nobody can tell you to stay when you don’t want to stay. The way no one can force you to go if you don’t want to go. It has to be something that comes from you. And I honestly believe, as much as they would be bad to each other, they would be good to each other, they would lift each other up. She’d pull him out. He’d make her laugh. There was just -- they just really at the end of the day had a love for each other, because either one of them could have walked out at any time and neither one of them did.

MoviesOnline: You structured this movie around an interview she did. Why did you decide to do that and did you ever think of putting video of that interview in the end credits?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Well, it’s funny, because we cannot find the actual video tape. I only had CD’s of it that we had our hands on. I went crazy trying to get these tapes, but for some reason we could not get our hands on them. She, over a year or two, talked to David Maldonado who is one of the producers on the film and brought me the script at the beginning and this other writer David and they recorded everything. And they did video tape some, but they didn’t videotape, I think, a lot of it. And so, I don’t know what ever happened to those video tapes. When Leon came on to the project, and we talked and I was like, ‘O.K.’ I knew he was the right director for this movie and for this time and this story. I think he had just went to Fania records, where Fania records used to be, and he was like, ‘It’s boxes, it’s like this graveyard of this glorious time.’ And he was like, ‘I just think that’s how we should start the movie. We should start the movie and just tell it from Puchi’s point of view through these interviews since this is a lot of the firsthand information we have. And we’ll just start from there.’ I would have loved to have had, it would have actually helped me and my character. (Laughs.) But I loved having the actual audiotapes. It really, really helped me with her sound and what made her laugh and how she laughed. Different things.

MoviesOnline: Did you shoot at the actual recording studios?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: We shot at Fania records one day, but no, that recording studio was not the same studio.

MoviesOnline: What are the advantages of working with your man?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Advantages? Well, the advantage is that you’re just very comfortable together. Y’know what I mean? You don’t have to really put on any airs or anything like that. We could tell each other anything. We could push each other past the limits and know that everything was going to be O.K. at the end of the day. So, in that sense it was very good. The disadvantages? I have to say, it was a real blessing to be able to work with Marc. You know, when I put him in the movie five and a half years ago or wanted him to be in the movie, I never thought that we’d be together at this time. Who knew that? Y’know? But we were and that actually helped. I guess everything is destiny and fate and all that kind of stuff.

MoviesOnline: How comfortable were you in the age make-up and was there ever talk of having another actress do a different age?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Oh, I dunno. We never talked about another actress to do that different part. I figured we would just age me. It was never a discussion. And I felt weird in it. It was strange to get aged up like that, but at the same time I loved being that Puchi in the movie. I mean, I loved the rest of it too, but there was something about being able to really think about everything that happened and be at that point in her life and kind of looking back on the glory years that was really interesting. And I was able to use, kinda, even my own thoughts about it, y’know what I mean, in the examination that I had of the whole entire experience, but I was lucky because I had her firsthand on tape. A lot of the stuff that I used in the film is stuff that she said almost exactly. I mean, I adlibbed a lot of the interview. There was a lot written that Leon wrote, but we shot it for two days straight, just me all day, all day both days. And I was able – we played around a lot. You see that Leon actually plays the interviewer – that’s his voice – so, we would just kind of go back and forth to get into it. We had fun with it. It was really funny, because at the end of it I had like a pain in my chest. It was something about going through all that and reminiscing it and everything and being so close to the project. It was the last two days of shooting in NY, so there was just something about it. You just kind of felt her pain and I just remember having this pain in my chest for the next two days. ‘Oooof.’ Y’know what I mean? It was a heavy experience.

MoviesOnline: There are a series of intense moments between you and Marc Anthony. What was most rewarding and most challenging about it all?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: The whole thing was a very challenging role. These type of roles don’t come around every day. It’s like ‘Selena.’ To be able to play someone who really lived, it gives you an extra added pressure and responsibility because people really knew the person because, ‘That sucked. That was so not who she was.’ (Laughs.) So, you have a real responsibility to come to the table with your game right. So, I guess that was the hardest part, but also the best part of it, because it gives you a challenge to really kind of dive into.

MoviesOnline: As a producer, can you talk about how hard it was to get the movie made and how it was received in Hollywood?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Yeah, I mean it was tough. Like I said, I had the script for five and a half years. We had to first get the script right. They bought us a script that I knew needed work. And I wanted to find a director to kind of guide that, who had a real vision for the film. I met with a bunch of directors and that took some time. And then finally, when I met with Leon, I just didn’t interview anyone else, I was like, ‘He’s the guy. He’s definitely the guy.’ And once he got it he was like, ‘I’ll do the rewrite myself.’ And I was like, ‘O.K., great.’ And then he handled it and it took like a year, eight months. And then from there, it was like, ‘O.K.,’ once we got his script, the notes we had for him were so minimal, because he really made it this kind of tragic, intense love story and we just loved it. We just loved it.

MoviesOnline: But was there much enthusiasm outside your circle?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: It was tough. It was hard getting independent films made, but also somebody that nobody knows. In the Latin community, he’s so well known. For us it was like, ‘What do you mean you don’t know Hector Lavoe?’ But for everybody else it was kind of like, well, Hollywood was a little bit more like, ‘OK.’ And I have to say, the people who financed it, R-Caro Productions, were very kind of just believing in like, ‘Do you love this? You want to do this? This is your passion?’ I was like, ‘Yes, this is all I want to do,’ and they were like, ‘O.K.’ And it was like that type of blind belief. At the end of the day we just found somebody who just believed in me, my company and Marc and the whole idea that we were so passionate about this project.

MoviesOnline: As a producer, how difficult is it for you to balance making it informative and educational?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Yeah, I mean, one of the great joys of the movie is being able to kind of bring Hector, I mean, if you listen to the music, I mean, I think it just kind of speaks for itself. Even for myself, while I was trying to get the movie made, sometimes I was like, ‘Why am I pushing this boulder uphill? God this is crazy!’ And then I’d listen to the music or I’d go back and watch the performances of the Fania All-Stars and watch Hector just bring the crowd down.This is why. It was an important time in musical history. At the end of the day, it was really about his music he left behind and how it touched people. And to this day, when you see Daddy Yankee or Fat Joe with a picture of Hector Lavoe on their chest, you’re like, ‘Why?’ Well, you know why now. He was a tragic figure, but at the same time y’know, like a Billie Holiday or any one of these great artists who leaves something behind, they touch a cord in the lives of humans in a way that is so hard to kind of pin down, but once you see his life, I think what is great about the movie is that once you know his life you even understand the music even more. So, even the joy you were getting out of it before, as a fan or not or just learning, you are going to get so much out of it just by knowing what his life was like.

MoviesOnline: What do you think of Marc’s performance?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: I feel like it was such a seamless performance. I don’t even feel like you see him acting. It’s so crazy. He just ‘is.’ And that’s – somebody, some old actor said that. ‘Don’t let them see you doing it.’ Y’know what I mean? And I really felt he just did, he just felt like he was Hector. That’s it. That was him.

MoviesOnline: Do you still have an English language album coming out soon?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Yes. In a couple of weeks I have the first single coming out. It’s called ‘Hold It, Don’t Drop It.’Yeah, I think we are doing a dual single too. I think we are doing another single with it called‘Do It Well.’

MoviesOnline: Have you shot a video for it yet?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Actually next week. I’m shooting both of them. Yeah, I’m gonna rest after today. (Laughs.) Take a couple of days off and then go to dance rehearsal.

MoviesOnline: And then you have your tour?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: Yeah, and then we’re gonna start getting ready for the tour. Yes, it’s exciting. It’s an exciting time. It’s a really happy time to be in projects that we really love.

MoviesOnline: Has Robert Rodriguez approached you about ‘Barbarella’?

JENNIFER LOPEZ: No, is he making ‘Barbarella’? Really? No, I hadn’t heard that. Really? He’s gonna come to me? Really? Is that true? That would be fantastic. This is gonna be funny, because my video that I’m doing, we are gonna do a ‘Barbarella’ thing in it. That’s really strange. Isn’t that weird? He’ll shoot the video! Wait a minute! (Laughs.)

MoviesOnline: Thank you.