Jennifer Lopez says the engaged couple at the heart of her new action-comedy, Shotgun Wedding, was in trouble even before gun-toting hostage-takers crashed their nuptials.
Among the guests are Darcy's bickering divorced parents Renata (Sonia Braga) and Robert (Cheech Marin), her ex-fiance Sean (Lenny Kravitz), and Tom's down-to-earth mom Carol (Jennifer Coolidge) and dad Larry (Steve Coulter).
"There's so much that happens, but the core of it is these families coming together and Darcy and Tom really figuring out who they are and how they are going to make this marriage work and if they can make this marriage work," Lopez said in a recent virtual press conference, comparing the film's tonal DNA to that of the 1984 classic, Romancing the Stone.
"They start off at very different ends of the spectrum on what they want, not just from this wedding, but also from their relationship," she added. "Along the way, with all of the things they have to go through, which is outrageous, and crazy and where it goes is crazy, they really do discover each other and what they want."
When the guests are captured, Darcy and Tom are away from the action, arguing about whether they should actually go through with the service.The circumstances lead to the hilarious image of Darcy dressed in Carol's poofy white gown and Tom in a white tuxedo first handcuffed, then fighting bad guys in the jungle, driving a golf cart and flying down a zip-line to drop a grenade.
Lopez said her frock, which ends up torn and filthy by the end of the movie, was like a character in and of itself.
"I wanted it to start off where she was super-uncomfortable. It was the biggest, most cumbersome, kind-of-beautiful, but also not her at all," Lopez added.
"Then, as she went on and was more honest with Tom about who she was and what she wanted, she started kind of peeling back the layers and becoming more herself and kind of stepping into her own power, more of her own authenticity. And I think that happened with the dress, as well.'"
Given the comic chops of the cast, there were many moments when the stars unintentionally cracked each other up, especially when they were trying to be serious.
"We had this very emotional scene where I was like, 'All of our family could die!' and Josh said, 'Your hair looks square like Marge Simpson,'" Lopez recalled, dissolving into giggles.
Lopez insisted that, unlike Darcy's father Robert, her dad David would never go behind her back and invite her ex to her wedding, even if it was the seemingly perfect Kravitz.
Lopez married Ben Affleck in real life after filming Shotgun Wedding. The pair tied the knot in front of their children in Las Vegas last July, then held a more formal wedding in Georgia a month later.
Asked what it was like planning the affairs with an Oscar-winning director, Lopez replied: "It's a collaboration. He has an amazing eye. He has incredible taste.
"I think that's why we ran off to Vegas and got married there first," she laughed.
"It took all the pressure off the big family wedding that we were having, but everything we do, we try to do it together. He planned the whole Vegas thing, the big party, we did together. Planning a wedding is a lot. It's very stressful, as you can see from this movie."
