In 1997, Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson co-starred in the horror film Anaconda. The film was both a commercial and critical bomb, with many considering it one of the worst films ever made. However, it still manages to get tons of attention because of its all-star cast and the very early performance from Lopez.
In the years following the film's release, both Lopez and Wilson's careers would grow and evolve. Lopez became huge in the music world, while Wilson continued to grow in his film career.
The two actors would return to the big screen in 2022 when they co-starred in the romantic comedy Marry Me. Wilson would later reveal what it was like working with Lopez again 25 years later.
Owen Wilson Admitted He Never Saw 'Anaconda' The Entire Way Through
The 1997 horror film Anaconda is notoriously remembered as one of the worst films ever made. However, it has still managed to develop somewhat of a cult following. The film featured an all-star cast, which included Lopez and Wilson.
Spoiler alert: Wilson's character gets eaten by the anaconda. When speaking to AV Club, Wilson talked about his experience shooting the movie and made a surprising revelation.
"I’ve never seen that movie all the way through," Wilson admitted. "I’ve seen that scene where you can almost see my face through the snake’s belly."
Check Out How Jennifer Lopez Created Her Iconic Style
When asked if he did a mask of his face in order to make the special effects work, Wilson said he didn't know how they made it work.
"I don’t know how they did it," he said. "The magic of movie making."
"I do remember with that movie that we went to Brazil and filmed on the Amazon and we were there for four weeks," Wilson continued. "Then we came back and filmed in Los Angeles at the Arboretum. Almost none of the stuff that we filmed on the actual Amazon is in that movie. It’s mostly [Laughs.] just here in Los Angeles at the Arboretum."
Owen Wilson Revealed Working With Jennifer Lopez On 'Marry Me' Was 'Very Relaxing'
Wilson and Lopez would reunite on film 25 years after the release of Anaconda. The film the two would star in together was the romantic comedy Marry Me. The film told the story of a famous pop star (played by Lopez) who marries an unsuspecting audience member (played by Wilson) during a concert.
When speaking to Moviefone, Wilson was asked what his experience working with Lopez was like this time around.
"For me, it was very relaxing," he said. "It was nice because Jen assumed so many responsibilities, I didn't have to worry about anything. She and Elaine (producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas) had to bear the brunt of the stress of everything. A lot of times when you work on a movie, you kind of hear it in your head or you have casting ideas. With this, everybody was just spot on. I wasn't worried about anything. I felt that it was working while we were doing it."
In the film Wilson's character lives a completely different lifestyle than the character Lopez portrays. Wilson spoke about his own views on the idea of opposites attracting.
"Well, to an extent. I think opposites attract in a sense from different backgrounds and seemingly very different. But I think in terms of your spirit, I think there must be some sort of overlap either in humor, or the way you look at the world, or what you're curious about, or sense of adventure. So, in those ways I think sometimes it helps to have a little bit of overlap for that attraction to work."
Jennifer Lopez Said That She Could Relate To Her Character In 'Marry Me'
Lopez has starred in some unforgettable romantic comedies. She has become the go-to person for the romantic comedy genre. It should come as no surprise, then, that Lopez takes the scripts for these films very seriously.
When speaking to Moviefone, Lopez explained what she looks for in a script for a romantic comedy.
"I think it's hard to reinvent it every time," she said. "How do you make it different than the last one? Because we kind of always know that two people are going to wind up together and that's going to be the end. So, it's about how interesting the journey is and the interaction between the two characters and how interesting that is. If that's written well, that's what makes me want to do it."
Lopez also gushed about her love of romantic comedies herself.
"I, as a moviegoer, love romantic comedies," she said. "Those are some of my favorite movies of all time, whether it's When Harry met Sally or Prelude to a Kiss or any of these types of movies, the Meg Ryan era, and the Julia Roberts era, all those movies is what I grew up on. I love them so much."
Lopez continued, "So, it is kind of a homecoming for me because I haven't done one in a few years and now I have two coming out. I have this one, Marry Me and then Shotgun Wedding will be out at some point, which I did with Josh Duhamel. So, I'm excited to be able to do a couple."
In an interview with PopSugar, Lopez talked about the similarity between her life and that of her character.
"This wasn't a role where I had to research what it was like to be a famous recording artist who does branding . . . I understand what all of that is already," Lopez said.
"I think the difficult part was kind of the meta part, which was the idea of showing what it's really like inside my bedroom when something goes wrong and you suffer a heartbreak like this in front of the whole world and the media kind of goes to town on you."