Jenny from the Block describes the hardships of getting back in the game after a breakup. “I’m afraid of starting over,” she sings over Danja’s fast-paced, galloping beat, while admitting she’s “still in love” with the man she left. “It’s like my whole existence he holds in his hands.”Jennifer Lopez doesn't see her new film "The Back-Up Plan" as a comeback. Although she took a break from films after the 2007 release "El Cantante," Lopez worked on her music and produced TV and film projects. Plus, she gave birth to twins.
"I was just home, kind of on maternity leave," says Lopez during an interview at the Four Seasons Hotel.
In the film, Lopez plays a single woman who wants a baby
so much she decides to get artificially inseminated. It's at that moment when she meets the man of her dreams, played by Australian hunk Alex O'Loughlin. How they deal with the pregnancy is fodder for both comic and serious moments.Lopez liked that she could relate to everything in the script, having just experienced many of the same pregnancy moments.
"So many things in this movie is art imitating life," Lopez says. "This script was just perfect. Throughout my career I have always felt that certain things come to me at the right time. When I look at the work I have done, it's always kind of indicative of where I was in my life at the moment. This was the same thing."
The script also appealed to the 40-year-old New York native because screenwriter Kate Angelo blended traditional elements of a romantic comedy with the modern story elements of single parenting, social responsibility and being an independent woman.
There was nothing significant about her return to acting — Lopez just felt it was the right time. She opted for a romantic comedy because she's had success in the genre with "The Wedding Planner," "Maid in Manhattan" and "Monster-in-Law."
The key to a good romantic comedy, says Lopez, is playing the role as real as possible.
"When you do that, it's funnier and you really get the emotional beats," Lopez says. "I do that whether it's a drama or a comedy. But with a comedy I just have a little more fun."
The genre has also given Lopez her biggest film flop, the 2003 release "Gigli." But that was the rare bump in a successful career, which includes selling more than 35 million albums worldwide and fragrance and clothing lines.
Now she must deal with the J.Lo empire as a working mom. She got a glimpse of that challenge when she had to leave her 2-year-old twins to do interviews for the movie.
"It was tough. I'm just going to have to figure it out as I go along. I told them 'I will be home and the sun will still be up.' I tried to explain to them I wouldn't be away that long," Lopez says. "But, it's difficult."
