Thanks to STXfilms for the invitation
Second Act, the Jennifer Lopez-starring vehicle, sees the actress in a role where her character gets a second chance of making a career for herself at a new high-end job after she worked tirelessly (and thanklessly) at her retail job.
Lopez spoke to a group of select journalists about the newly released film which blends themes from similar films like Working Girl and It’s A Wonderful Life. “Infusing all of these beautiful themes of, your life is not over, you get to reinvent, you get to evolve, you get to have another day every single day you wake up,” Lopez said. “I feel like it’s just beginning. But there are things that I haven’t accomplished yet, and things I haven’t done that I feel like this is going to be the best time of my life.”
She adds that she knows a lot more now than she did in her twenties and thirties and that she could not have done any of the things she does now in her early age.
Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez star in SECOND ACT.
On finding that second act in your life, Leah Remini, who also has a role in the film, says people just have to know their passion, and despite close friends and family telling you not to do it, she encourages everyone to be persistent. “It’s your own passion and your own persistence that’s going to get you there,” Remani said. “You don’t need approval, and once you’ve realized that, you know, they don’t mean you harm, your family, your friends–not always, some do.”
In the film, Lopez’s character doesn’t necessarily have the high education required to work at her new employment. However, her street smarts are enough to impress and get her to fly under the radar. But whether or not you have an Ivy League education doesn’t make a person any less valuable. “Just because you don’t have that type of education doesn’t mean that you don’t have the same type of smarts or experience, or know how, or creative, instincts, that can be just as valuable to any–and now that I work with big companies, I know that even more,” Lopez said. “Because there are the people that go to Harvard, and Yale, and Stanford and all that. And yes, they’re valuable, they’re awesome, but then there’s a people who just understand a certain subject, a certain instinct, see things differently, you know, and they’re just as valuable.”
It’s part of that reason why Lopez was so drawn to the role. That reliability that allows her to tap into playing a mom, any kind of mom. “It’s my strongest instinct in life now,” Lopez said. And while she cannot relate to her character completely, she was attracted to her character’s journey where a life-changing event she blames herself for actually leads her to her second act.
SECOND ACT IS IN THEATERS Dec 21 and is rated PG
