Jennifer Lopez seems to be an unlikely action star. The actress is mostly known for her rom-com turns in movies like Maid in Manhattan, The Wedding Planner and more recently Marry Me. However, over the last few years, the 53-year-old has been joining more physically demanding movies, and her latest Netflix movie, The Mother, is no exception. After being compared to action star Jason Statham (who she's worked with before), Lopez is opening up about getting a more diverse array of acting opportunities in her 50’s.
During an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, the Hustlers actress was straight-up asked if she could be the next Jason Statham, after her recent action roles in Shotgun Wedding and The Mother. JLo was clearly flattered to be compared to her Parker co-star, though she really doesn't seem to put too much stock in that notion. She, instead, thoughtfully discussed how good it feels to be offered these kinds of roles as she’s gotten older. The 53-year-old actor explained:
That wasn’t my goal. I love Jason, I worked with Jason. He’s an amazing guy. I think it's really about that I'm getting these opportunities to play these roles that I wasn't even getting offered in my 20s and 30s. So it's actually very empowering and when I get sent these scripts and I look at them. … I just think that there's a really beautiful story at the core of this and [we looked at] how big of an action movie [it could] be, depending on who we bought on as director, which [was] Niki.)
It seems like the emotional core of The Mother is what drew Lopez to the Netflix project, but the opportunity to perform badass stunts was seemingly a plus. The film is about an assassin who comes out of the shadows to protect her daughter, who she left when she was a baby. The trailers for the film show Lopez kicking plenty of ass, proving herself as a worthy action hero. Lopez looks great in the movie, and her work is a testament to the fact that she can play a variety of different roles. She's also in incredible shape in this film, which makes me believe she could actually give Jason Statham a run for his money.
While it has the non-stop action scenes viewers come to expect from a film about assassins, it also has heart and a mother-daughter relationship at the core. The Selena icon herself has two children, Emme and Max, and is the stepmother to Ben Affleck’s three children. Family is important to the , who has previously spoken about her “blended family” with Affleck, so this could be one of the factors that attracted her to the family story.
While Jennifer Lopez claims she's not planning to be the next Jason Statham, her slate of upcoming projects seems to say otherwise. She recently wrapped production on Atlas, a Netflix sci-fi film she boarded that sees her play an AI soldier. The movie will also see her star alongside Marvel alum Simu Liu. Additionally, she's attached to another film titled The Godmother, in which she'll play the late drug lord Griselda Blanco. While minimal details about the project are available at this time, it sounds like it'll give Lopez opportunity to star in an old school gangster epic. So all in all, seems like the Out of Sight star is taking a break from rom-coms for the time being, but fans have plenty of action-packed thrillers to look forward to as she forges her own path within the genre.
You can catch Jennifer Lopez in The Mother, which is currently available to stream using a Netflix subscription. For more information on other movies hitting the streaming platform and theaters this year, make sure to consult our schedule of 2023 new movie releases.
