The movie musical adaptation of Broadway's Kiss of the Spider Woman will release in movie theatres this fall via a newly inked distribution deal with Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and LD Entertainment. The completed film, written and directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), made its world premiere earlier this year at Sundance Film Festival. A wide release date has not yet been set.
The screen version of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally's 1992 musical features film star and recording artist Jennifer Lopez starring in the title role, with Tonatiuh as Luis Molina and Diego Luna as Valentin Arregui. The cast also includes Broadway alum Josefina Scaglione (West Side Story), Bruno Bichir, and Aline Mayagoitia. The film, a presentation of Artists Equity and Mohari Media, ran 128 minutes as of the Sundance premiere.
READ: What Changes Have Been Made for the Jennifer Lopez-Led Kiss of the Spider Woman Movie Musical?
“All of us who made this film believe it needs to be experienced in a theatre, so we're grateful and excited to be partnering with the very talented folks at Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate Studios, and LD Entertainment to make that happen," says Condon in a statement. "On a personal note, this feels like a homecoming—Lionsgate picked up Gods and Monsters out of Sundance in 1998, and I’ve worked with them and Roadside on three other films since then.”
“Bill Condon's showstopper of a musical adaptation of the beloved story that is Kiss of the Spider Woman had us on our feet cheering at Sundance,” adds Roadside Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff. “A trio of multifaceted performances, from the amazing discovery Tonatiuh, the brilliant Diego Luna, and superstar Jennifer Lopez, alongside a tender story and a spectacular Kander and Ebb score, give us many riches to promote come our release this fall.”
Based on Manuel Puig's 1976 novel, Kiss of the Spider Woman centers on a pair of cellmates in an Argentine prison. Valentin is a political revolutionary, while Molina is a gay window dresser who takes care of him by telling him the stories of his favorite films, many of which star his favorite movie star of all, Aurora. But the one story he fears telling is Aurora's greatest role: The Spider Woman.
The novel was adapted by Puig into a 1983 stage play, and then into an Academy Award-winning film in 1985 starring Broadway favorite Raúl Juliá. John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally's stage musical version expanded the story somewhat, making Aurora a character who appears in a number of fantasy sequences. Chita Rivera created the role and won a Tony Award for her performance, later succeeded by Vanessa Williams in her Broadway debut.
The musical has been rumored to be making a return for some time in some form. A reading was held in 2015 with Audra McDonald, Alan Cumming, and Steven Pasquale. More recently, Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center was poised to stage a new revival as part of its Broadway Center Stage season, but it was ultimately pulled and replaced with the staging of Spamalot that subsequently transferred to Broadway. At the time, Kennedy Center representatives cited casting complications due to plans for a Broadway revival. A Broadway return for the work has yet to materialize.
Though she is also a recording artist and self-produced a musical film titled This Is Me... Now: A Love Story that was released last year, Spider Woman will be Lopez's debut in a musical theatre piece. She was previously set to star in a live TV production of Bye Bye Birdie for NBC, though that was ultimately thwarted due to scheduling conflicts. As early as 2016, she was eager to have a musical written for her by Hamilton writer Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lopez also has a development deal with Concord, whose Concord Theatricals controls licensing rights for Kiss of the Spider Woman. It's unclear if the upcoming film is a part of that partnership. One of Lopez's first feature films is 1997's Selena, which while not expressly a musical, featured the singer-songwriter lip-syncing as late Mexican pop star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez.
Barry Josephson, Tom Kirdahy, and Greg Yolen are producing with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Artists Equity, the film's studio and lead producer. Michael Joe, Danie Bernfeld, and Kevin Halloran are executive producing for Artists Equity along with Condon for 1000 Eyes, Lopez and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas for Nuyorican Productions, and D. Matt Geller for Josephson Entertainment. Courtney Baxter, Mickey Liddell, Luna, Mark Sheinberg, Pete Shilaimon, Pamela Thur, Sam Weisman, Daniel Weisman, Margaux Weisman, and Whitney Williams are also executive producing. The distribution deal was negotiated by WME Independent and CAA Media Finance.
