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Posted: May 30th, 2005. 
Syndicated Interview – Jennifer Lopez
Do you find dance liberating, something that brings you out of yourself?
- “I was lucky. I was five years old when I started dancing and I think the wonderful thing about dance for everybody is that you dont have to be a trained dancer for that but it makes you feel free, when you really, really let go. And its one of the things that I miss most – not being able to go out to a club with my combat boots and my sweat pants and a hat and a t-shirt and just dance until 4 in the morning. Its therapeutic.”
So, given your fashion guru status, do you actually prefer to dress down?
- “Well, I was dancing and sweating for four hours and that was the fun of it but now that people know you, its different. You cant just be the crazy girl with the hat dancing for four hours. People have their eye on me too much and its not too much fun.”
Many actresses wanted this role – what was the most important element for you in wanting to take this role on?
- “The most important element for me in this role was the fact
.it was where she was in her life at this moment. She was a very driven person, she was very focused but she lost her way and become more focused on the prize and not the journey. I think she was in one of those places in life where we all find ourselves sometimes where youve worked hard at something and youve put all your hopes and dreams into something and then it just blows up. And youre standing there like, okay, what do I do now? And you give up. And thats what I think she is and that is the most important aspect to that character. Maybe a lot of people would want to do this because the Japanese movie was so charming and worked on so many levels that to do this project was great and Im lucky that they decided to choose me.”
How did you learn the tango?
- “I learned it first time. Ive always loved the tango. There are the modern dances like the foxtrot etc. and there is the Latin tango, which came much easier to me. That was more in my blood than for example the waltz so the tango I learned and it was good. I liked it. It was really fun.”
Many people think the tango is the sexiest of all dances.
- “It is pretty sexy. Its passionate. It has a little bit of edge to it and its more expressive in the fact that its about love, some sort of love or sexual passion. Its always about ripping her hair off or spinning her around or throwing her across the floor. Theres something really going on there whereas the waltz is more of a genteel dance.”
After watching the original film how did you feel about doing it yourself?
- “I saw it years ago when it first came out and then I saw it again a couple of years ago and I saw it again recently and I loved it. I always loved it, just themes that it played upon, the idea of passion, the idea of needing to be fulfilled as an individual, to be good in a relationship and I think we took those themes and ultimately I decided to do it because I had issues like how it was going to be adapted for Americans.
Culturally, we have different issues, so I was like, how is this going to work? So we pulled some of those themes which was so beautiful about the first movie and put it in our own setting and made it work in a similar way and add a little of this or that. I think this one had a little more of a comedy edge to it, too. But we were able to maintain that romance that the first one had and the underlying theme – you need passion in your life.”
Youve said that this is a tough business – What have you learned and how have you survived?
- “Its a tough business. Im not saying anything new. Its very What have you done for me lately? its very, Whats going on with you? Now in the past few years, its the big media, the image stuff, theres a lot to deal with on a lot of different levels. And then theres a work itself, which is the most important part, and how do you keep that fresh and how do you keep going? How do you keep, as an artist, fulfilling yourself and still creating the opportunity for people to allow you to keep working in a way, because thats really the gist of how you keep working.”
How would you describe the perfect dance partner?
- “The best dance partner is someone who can lead you but then still let you shine, I think. You want *-0a man whos going to lead you and be strong and at the same time hes going to let you have your moment.”
You need chemistry?
- “Absolutely. If you dont have chemistry theres no way
of course you have to have chemistry in everything. The best dance partner Ive ever had, I find I dance really good with my gay friends. You know what I mean? Its always so much better, like you want to dance salsa with them because they get really into it.”
Shall We Dance is about long lost dreams – do you have any long lost dreams?
- “Well, not yet. (laughs). No long lost dreams. But as far as dreams, Ive been lucky enough to fulfil those in the last fifteen years.”
After what youve been through in the last year or so – do you think it will affect your roles you get offered?
- “Absolutely it does. Actually, Ive been taking a new approach. Its harder because Ive just finished taking a year off but nobody knows that because people see me being chased when Im trying to buy milk and thats tough but I do believe that it effects it so Ive been trying to pull back a little bit. Ive been more private about the personal side of my life as opposed to why Im in the public eye to begin with. Its just because I was in a movie or I do music and thats why people know me.
For me its about getting the focus back on that and not about what Im doing when Im home. Not only does it affect me career-wise, but for me, it was affecting my life, the quality of my life and I wasnt happy anymore. I had to grow up a little bit and put up certain boundaries. Its okay to talk about this but its not okay to talk about that. Its not okay for you to chase me down and me to have to adjust my life. Whereas before, I was like, you know what – Im not going to let anybody make me change the way I am and do this or do that. But I realise that it had a lot of repercussions to it.”
Your body language and demeanour would suggest youre in a very happy place.
- “I am in a very happy place. Im a very open person naturally thats why its hard for me to put up those boundaries, it has been for many years. But Im older now, more mature now, wiser now Id like to think and I have to be.”
Have you always been disciplined?
- “Im very disciplined. Ever since I was really young Id always felt that everything I did in my life prepared me for what I do for a living. When I was five years old I was in dance classes and I had to go every single – three days a week. Then when I was 10 or 11 I started doing track and I practised every day after school. Every day after school and on the weekends I did track meets so I learned a good discipline.
I think its a natural part of who I am as well. Im a very disciplined person as well and I expect the best from myself and when I dont give my best Im disappointed with myself. So I try to stay focused and do my best, especially when youre working on a movie and youre there to do a job. I just want them to get their moneys worth. I want them to think, she came, she came prepared, she did what she had to do, she didnt cause us any problems, she did great work, thank you very much. So at least I did everything I could do to do my part. Movies are very big projects. Theres hundreds of people involved but if you only and if everybodys doing their part, you can make a great movie.”
Is it harder now?
- “No, when I started it was harder, now its a bit easier. You learn how to do it better as you go along. You get better at knowing what you have to focus on and not that it goes away instantly but you can let it go. It tortures you a little bit when youre a young actor you just drive yourself crazy, its so silly but then you learn.”
Are you a workaholic?
- “I think Ive always been somewhat of a workaholic. But I dont think its an unhealthy thing, I just love what I do. I think Im more of an artist, a passionate person who really loves what theyre doing.”
How much training did you do to act like a professional dance teacher?
- “Well, Im a dancer so Ive been dancing since I was very young. But I was doing this for five weeks after I did a movie called An Unfinished Life. We rehearsed every chance we had. We rehearsed every morning before wed shoot, during lighting set-ups was really our big time to rehearse and on the weekends. I didnt have time to get into it so I had a lot to learn. It was good.”
Very early in your career you were the first woman to have a number one single in the charts and a number one movie at the box office – thats fairly incredible.
- “I know, I kept saying, Did you check Barbara Streisand? Yes, it was an amazing thing that happened.”
Susan Sarandon has had a long career do you see yourself acting in your 50s?
- “Yeah, if Im lucky. If I have the opportunity, Ill be doing it anyway! It doesnt matter what level Im doing it at but Ill be doing something!”
Syndicated Interview – Richard Gere
When was the last time you had a date with your wife and danced with her?
- “The last time was almost a year ago at a wedding party. I had finished this movie and my wife had taken lessons with one of my teachers. Her family and my family were there and all of our friends and she grabbed me and said We are going to dance for our friends. It was a spotlight dance, very romantic. She had learned to follow and I was doing a lot of the choreography from the movie and we were improvising dips, twirls and spins and doing all the stuff and it was wonderful. Really wonderful. I can highly recommend for a husband and wife to take some dance lessons at the Richard Gere Dance School, soon to open in your neighbourhood.”
You have now danced in two movies in a row?
- “Not only in two movies in a row, two dancing lawyers. I didnt realise that until someone told me the other day.”
You are not entirely new to dancing because at the beginning of your career you were on stage in Grease?
- “Yeah. I did a lot of rock musicals when I came to New York because I could sing and could play musical instruments. We did not call it dancing then, we called it moving. They would take essentially athletic young actors and actresses and give us choreography that we could move to. It wasnt like dancing, but we could make it energetic and fun. But it clearly wouldnt qualify as dancing. This is dancing what we are doing in this movie. And it is extremely difficult because it is ballroom dancing. Its really hard.
We shot this in Winnipeg where there is a really good ballet company, one of the best in the world. These wonderful ballet dancers came in and thought theyd pick up ballroom right away but it was extremely difficult. Even Jennifer, who is a wonderful dancer, had to work very hard to do ballroom dancing.”
Were you nervous about the dancing scenes with Jennifer?
- “Yeah very because shes a wonderful dancer and Im pathetic. I learned to dance well enough for the movie and make it look good but Im not a dancer.”
Did you notice a difference in your posture when you did two dance roles?
- “With the ballroom especially. The thing I did with the tap dance in Chicago was a very internalised thing. I was just creating rhythms inside myself and it was a jazz body. Ballroom is this very proud, odd thing you do with your head and torque your body in a strange way. Theres nothing natural about it whatsoever. Ironically tap dance is a much more natural thing, its like walking. Its just moving. In a way its much easier because of that.”
When you are dancing with somebody you like is it completely different to dancing with somebody you dont like?
- “You have to trust them even if you dont like them. Thats why dance is such a good metaphor for relationships. For the dance to happen there has to be trust and one person who leads and one person who follows. Its not because of the power hierarchy its because two people cant be leading.”
Are you a leader or a follower?
- “With Jennifer I was a follower. There was the illusion that I was leading but she was definitely in control.”
What is the difference between this and the original Japanese film?
- “There is no way we could have done exactly the Japanese film because culturally it doesnt make any sense here. The Japanese film was about many different levels of repressing sexuality, physical touch, independence… all these things. That doesnt really work in this culture, its not meaningful in the same way. So we had to find something that was meaningful here. What the writer came up with – which I thought was very smart – was to create a family and people who were not dysfunctional but very functional.
They are smart, funny, experienced, active with great kids, the house, the job, the dog, the whole American dream. Its not a fake they really are like that. This husband and wife are really good with each other but even then there is something missing. That was interesting! I think it is a peculiarly American thing. The other part is about women. There is no way that the wife in the Japanese movie – who is so dependent, so shy and stayed at home, didnt have a job, just sat there eating chocolate and watching TV – would have been related to in America.”
Is it also a story about lack of communication?
- “On the surface yeah. But you might say why when the wife discovers he is taking dance lessons didnt she just ask him about it? It was easier for her to go to a private detective than just to ask her husband what he was really doing on Wednesday nights. I think the root of that is insecurity or lack of strength, lack of independence, lack of self knowledge.
You dont ask the question because you dont want to know the answer. But if you are strong in yourself then the answer is the answer. Later on he says to her I just felt guilty about wanting more because we have so much, everything is so great. I love you, I love my kids but I want more. I want joy, love whatever that spark is that makes us feel alive and I think we all feel that. We all have pretty good lives but still there is a sense of more. We can make more breakthroughs we can be bigger. We can be giants.”
So are you like the character in Shall We Dance?
- “Im not exactly like him. Im not like the guy who comes home every night on the train with a briefcase. I have a little different life. So in a way I have consciously made a life where I am trying to make breakthroughs. Not that I have achieved it but Im trying to. This is an every day thing. Its not like you say 10 years from now Im going to have a breakdown. Every day you really have to be looking for this. If I got stuck into a pattern, which is ok, but then Im stuck. Im not free and then boundaries start to come round and rules and you really dont go outside of the known. Every day is a struggle to get a bigger, larger heart, larger mind. Thats an internal process. You cant really do that leaning on someone else. What you learn in the process of doing that can be brought then to the relationship and I think thats what this movie is about.”
Have you ever felt a professional routine in your career?
- “No if I did Id probably stop. It has a certain amount of inertia. There have been times when I have not felt like working and I had to pay the bills. So I went out and found something I could do, something that I could turn into something that I could work with. But I am incredibly lucky I have a career that is not the normal repetition of life over and over. I do different things all the time.”
You once said you might stop making movies, what changed that?
- “I still like what I am doing. My latest films are dealing with the problems of older men. Im an older man, so it is dealing with my issues. When I was a younger man I dealt with younger man issues. I used to say when I reached 50 that would be it…stop. I think I was fairly serious about that but then a friend would say they had a script. Id read it and it was pretty good so Id say this would be my last one. I still enjoy it so as long as people want me to keep doing this and they bring me things that make me feel good to work on Ill probably keep doing it. Plus it feeds my foundation work which is very important to me. Not only the money feeds the foundation but also the opportunity sometimes arises to use things like this promote it.”
Your character chooses dancing, has photography been that kind of outlet for you?
- “Yeah. I would not think it is as radical a step as in the movie. For me photography is in spurts, its not systematic. I get a buzz on about something and then Ill take photographs and I will burrow into an idea and it will evolve into something or it wont. I dont see it as a systematic hobby.”
A lot of stars colour their hair but not you, why?
- “Isnt it great! I got away with it. Isnt it so lucky? All the money Ive saved not having to colour my hair. The girls know this, its expensive doing that once a week. I didnt even think about it. I know myself pretty well and I know Im playing characters. If its ok for the character to have white hair then great the character has white hair. If its better that the character has dark hair then Ill make it darker. But in terms of my life all I care about is my wife – does she find me attractive? Great, fine.”
Would you change the colour of your hair if your wife asked?
- “But she wouldnt. She likes it. I changed it darker for Unfaithful and my wife said dont do that again.”
Release info:
Credit:
Release date:
Certificate:
Running time
DVD ratio
Price (VHS/DVD) Buena Vista Home Entertainment
20th June 2005
PG
101 mins
1.85:1 widescreen
£19.99
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.