JENNIFER LOPEZ on 'THE BACK-UP PLAN'

Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor for RadioFree.com
March 30, 2010

In the romantic comedy The Back-up Plan, an independent entrepreneur named Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) becomes frustrated when her storybook dream of falling in love, getting married, and having a family fails to materialize. With Mr. Right nowhere in sight, she decides to leap into parenthood alone via artificial insemination. But her new plans are quickly complicated when she happens to meet Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) almost immediately thereafter. The two enjoy a whirlwind romance, and as things become serious, Zoe discovers that she is about to be the proud mother of not just one baby, but twins. Suddenly, the couple must re-examine their relationship as they face the prospect of enormous challenges and new responsibilities.

Coincidentally, Lopez had had fraternal twins of her own just before signing on to this project. In this interview, she talks about playing Zoe, and how her real life mirrored elements of the story.

MEDIA: Why did you feel that this particular project was a good fit for you?

JENNIFER: It was just time for me to do a movie again, I think. And I just love romantic comedies, and it was just the first thing that I wanted to do next. So we started looking for one, and this one came up, and it was just perfect. You know, throughout my career, I've always felt like certain things come to me at the right time. And when I look at the work that I've done, it's always kind of indicative of where I was in my life at the moment. And this was the same thing. It was just kind of very serendipitous that it happened this way. It was perfect.

Would you consider this movie a comeback for your film career?

[laughs] I don't really think of it that way. I was just home, kind of on maternity leave, working and making music, and doing things like that. And now, my first movie's coming out since, you know...I was fat. [laughs]

Because this film occasionally detours from the comedy to address issues of responsibility, would you call it a "message movie"?

It's not a message movie. It's a romantic comedy, and it definitely deals with modern issues, which I love. That's what I really liked about it...It had a very modern voice. It seemed very up to date. And I think that's very important for romantic comedies, that they do deal with issues today. It doesn't feel like it's a story from twenty years ago, which some romantic comedies can be like. So that was one of the things that really attracted me to it.

Given the timing of your own pregnancy and the fact that you had twins, would you say this story was a situation of art imitating life for you?

So many things in this movie was art imitating life for me. Because I had just gone through the pregnancy, it was really just fresh in my mind. And [screenwriter Kate Angelo], when she wrote the script, she had just gone through a pregnancy as well. And when we first met, we met at this aerobics class. [pauses] Aerobics is such an '80s term. It was a boot camp! [laughs] And she comes up to me, and I had just signed onto the movie, and I was really excited about it, and it was right before Christmas, and she said, "I'm Kate Angelo." And I was like, "Hi..." And she was like, "I wrote The Back-up Plan." I was like, "Oh my God!" And she was like, "I just had a baby, too!" And it was just perfect. It was so fresh in our minds that we really fought with the guys sometimes with certain things, like, "This has to stay in!" and "This has to be there! No, you don't get it, this is important! Women are going to love this!" So yeah, we used a lot of the stuff from real life.

Do you think being a new mom made you better equipped to play this role?

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. But I knew that was happening as it was happening, because my life and the way I felt about life and the way I felt about my children was so deep and profound, and it was the first time I felt anything like that, that I knew, as an artist, it was going to make a huge difference in everything that I did. And when I was on the movie, I really did feel that--I really felt the growth of myself as a human being, as a person.

What was your first reaction to finding out you were going to have twins?

I was in denial that I was even pregnant, so when I found out I was having twins, I kind of just laughed. Like, "Of course this would happen!" And I started giggling, and [my husband] Marc started crying. It was joyous. We were happy. [laughs]



In what ways did you relate to your character Zoe? Did you find that you had a lot in common with her?

It's funny, because Zoe and I are so opposite--because she was so comfortable being alone because of having lost her parents so early, and I'm so uncomfortable being alone, we were total opposites. And it was funny because in a sense, it made me admire this person. And I loved playing her, because I envy people like this in a sense. But it became, also, her crutch--kind of her big flaw, that she was so afraid to let anybody into her life that she was going to let something great pass her by, or subconsciously destroy it, which is what she kind of tries to do in the movie a little bit. But no, we're not similar in that way. It was something I had to find and just realize, "Oh God, I love her. I kind of wish I was like her! This will be great to play." [laughs]

Would you say that she's a cougar?

I didn't think of her in that way. I just thought of her as somebody who was hot enough to get Alex. [laughs]

Did you ever have your own "back-up plan" in which you considered being a single mom?

No. It's just too hard. Honestly. I have so much respect for single moms or anybody who finds themselves a single mother. But to even choose to be a single mother is just so courageous to me. It is such a hard job to raise a child and to be everything to that child without a partner. I think it's just admirable and courageous and brave, and every other valiant word I can think of. And I don't know if I could do it on my own. I really don't.

During your own pregnancy, did you get ravenous food cravings like Zoe's?

No, actually, I was pretty good. I did eat. I did have a healthy appetite, and it went and got more healthy as time went on and they grew. [laughs] But again, I love that about Zoe, that she kind of really indulged a little bit, and she liked fast food, and lots of beef.

Did you get attached to a pregnancy pillow, as Zoe does?

Okay, you're going to love this. I had twins, and so it was really uncomfortable because you lay on one side, and there's a baby. And you lay on the other side, and there's a baby. [laughs] So I had a really hard time with it, so I did have this really big pregnancy pillow. It was actually very firm, very hard. And Marc still sleeps with it to this day! Literally, while I was pregnant, he was like, "I want one of those." And he got one, and now he travels with this pillow.

Zoe's dog Nutsy really steals the show...

Yeah. [pauses, acknowledges the implication of being upstaged by the dog] Thank you. [laughs]

How was your experience of doing comedy opposite a canine co-star?

It's cool. You know, there are three different dogs. And one's good at faces, and one's good at walking in the [wheelchair], and one's good at like going like this [gestures] with his head and fighting with you. So they're all very talented! [laughs] And it's fun. It's fun. I mean, sometimes we just have to wait till they get it.

There's usually a trainer off-camera constantly talking to the dogs, yes?

Yes. That was challenging. [does a dog call] You know, stuff like that. And she's like laying down like right at our feet, right out of frame and screaming in between our lines. That was hard.

Did Pasadena, California serve as a shooting location for this movie because of your specific ties to the city?

It's funny, I'd love to say, "Yes, I brought the movie to be filmed in Pasadena!" But honestly, Pasadena's such a beautiful place, they film so many movies there. You know, I've worked there throughout my career. I remember starting in television, we were always out there. And I think that's why when I went to open my restaurant, I was just so familiar with it. And then my dad moved out there. And so it's just become part of my life, I don't know why. [laughs] But kind of just from working, and my dad, and the restaurant, I just have a nice, sweet history with it.

How did you feel about the scene where a very pregnant Zoe is scrutinizing herself in the mirror?

I just thought that a naked pregnant woman checking herself out would be so funny. I actually wished there was more of it in the movie. [laughs] And actually, it was my idea to put it in because I just remember being pregnant and just marveling at the hugeness of my body, and like looking in the mirror from all angles. But it's something you do privately...And that's why she's like feeling insecure. And I was like, "We should have a double with the real pregnant body do it." And that's what we did.

While you were pregnant, were you as tough on Marc as Zoe was on Stan?

No, actually, I had a lovely pregnancy, and it was a beautiful, magical time for us. But of course there's moments where you feel--like in the movie--that it's just so much going on with your body, and so much going on hormonally that you don't have time to deal with anything but that, you know? And I think it was really true to life the way we portrayed it in the movie.

In your experience, what has been the best and worst part of having twins?

The best part is mostly everything. [laughs] I mean, everything is really just the way they change your life, and just having that feeling of love inside you all the time. It's just such a fulfilling place to be in your life. You know, I kind of wish it would have happened to me earlier in my life sometimes. But I know things happen when they're supposed to happen. The worst thing about it, probably, if there was something that was tough, is that there was two of them. And I was always worried that they would both feel exactly the same--it's like, if I gave one a little bit of candy, I gave another one a little bit of food or whatever. And if I kissed one, I'd make sure, like, "I don't want him to see me kissing her without kissing him." You know, just making sure that they both felt equally loved is what was tough about the twins...It's funny because you'll be holding one, and the other one will climb on your back. And you know that he wants attention, too, or she wants attention, too. So it's challenging.

Now that they're two years old, are they getting rowdy?

No. They are so pleasant and happy. And they have a lot of love in their lives, and so they're very content children, you know? But now they're starting to be able to express certain things. Like they know when I start putting on hair and make-up and getting dressed, it's like, "Hmmm...She's going somewhere..." [laughs] Sometimes they'll come with me, and they'll know that, too, because they're getting dressed. And then sometimes they're not. And so I think they're starting to put all that together.

Any tips on getting back into shape? You probably don't have much time for yourself...

Yeah, it's hard. Sometimes it's like literally I'm just taking a bath, and [my son] Max...Off with the clothes, in the bath with me, in the tub with me, in the shower. You know, you just don't have a minute by yourself. [laughs] You go to the bathroom, the baby's standing right there. I'm like, "Go outside!" And she's like, "No way!" [laughs] So yeah, it's tough. But getting back into shape was challenging, like it is for anybody who has a baby. The first few pounds drop off really fast, and then you're like stuck with those last 10-20 pounds, let's say, and then you really gotta get disciplined. And there's just no other way to do it: you gotta diet, you gotta do the exercise. You just have to. And I knew I had the movie coming up, and that was like another level of having to not eat as much. No bread, no sugar. You know, you really start having to think about those things, because being on camera [comes with] a responsibility to look good. [jokes] And if you don't, you'll hear about it from a group, like you! [laughs]

Thanks for your time.

Thank you, guys.