Jennifer Lopez’s latest film “The Mother” was a challenge for the superstar in more ways than one.
JLo plays the titular heroine in the Netflix action drama, who comes out of hiding to protect her adolescent daughter, and it was her first action film in several years.
For the project, the Golden Globe nominee had to train, and she told Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans at the movie’s Los Angeles premiere that the action scenes were nothing like she had done before.
“I did like a couple of action movies in you know my 20’s and early 30’s and then I didn’t do it for a long time, you know it was more like dramas and comedies and things like that,” she said. “It’s nice to kinda get back to it. It was a lot of fun for me.”
Her co-star Lucy Paez, who plays her daughter in the movie, also had to train for the action-packed film and talked to Access all about that process on the red carpet.
“It was an adventure every day,” she said. “Every day I got to learn something new. I met wolves and got to work in the snow. I did a little of kidnapping training because they tug on you really hard.”
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View GalleryAside from learning some killer combat skills, Jennifer took something else from the role.
Earlier this month, she told Access how the process of getting into character made her an even better mom to her real-life children, Emme and Max.
“My kids were coming from being babies into being 12 and 13 years old like [my onscreen daughter] Lucy [Paez],” she said. “They start challenging you. … The little babies that wanted to curl up with you and watch movies with you and [say] ‘Mommy, let me get in your bed’ and all that kind of stuff is gone.”
As she was navigating her twins’ emerging independence at home, her role as The Mother gave her insight into her motherhood journey.
“It really made me kind of delve deeply into thinking about The Mother and the kind of mother that she wants to be and wishes she was, [and it] made me think about that for my own life too. … Because I am a mom, I was able to feel that very deeply,” Jennifer explained.
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View Gallery“It was a cathartic experience in that way, and I do think it made me a better mother, because it made me think about it a lot,” she added. “Not that I don’t think about being a mom a lot – I do – but when you do a character, you delve thousands of feet deep into the psyche of things sometimes, just so you can find something to grab on to that’s going to feel real on camera, on screen, and really touch people’s hearts.”
“The Mother” premieres on Netflix on May 12.
-Emely Navarro