EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and LD Entertainment are in final talks to take domestic rights to Sundance’s most buzzed about movie this year, the Bill Condon directed, Jennifer Lopez feature take of Broadway musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman.
We’re hearing it took a lot for this deal to come together on this $50M Artists Equity production based on the book by Terrence McNally and John Kander and Fred Ebb’s songs. Integral to the deal, I’ve heard is Stuart Ford’s AGC who handled foreign sales at EFM. WME and CAA Media co-repped U.S. rights on the movie.
Tonatiuh and Diego Luna in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’
Sundance
Details are still coming together. The pic follows Diego Luna and Tonatiuh as Valentín and Luis, jail cellmates in a military-run 1983 Argentinian. Gay widow dresser, Luis, keeps Valentín’s spirits alive with tales about his favorite actress, Ingrid Luna (Lopez), and the movie musicals she starred in. This is the first big screen leading splash for Tonatiuh who starred on the Starz series Vida. Deadline’s Pete Hammond prasied, “Breakout discovery Tonatiuh shows why he got the part after a worldwide search. Equally adept at the musical requirements doubling as Nesbit, he is heartbreakingly good as a movie-mad young gay man living in his fantasy world in a repressed society, but also finding love where he least expected it and against all odds.” Critics coming out of Sundance hugged Kiss of the Spider Woman with an 82% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.
Lopez, along with Condon, was a force of nature in getting this project off the ground, which spotlights the Selena actress in her first big Broadway musical movie starring role (She almost did Bye Bye Birdie). Outside of her Netflix streaming feature hits, The Mother and Atlas, Kiss of the Spider Woman, is arguably her first big screen critically acclaimed theatrical role since 2019’s Hustlers from STX which was her highest grossing live-action domestic title at $105M and notched her supporting actress noms at Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice and her second Golden nod (after Selena). Should Kiss of the Spider Woman get an awards season run, it won’t be a surprise to see the actress in the conversation once again.
Roadside Attractions landed Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl out of TIFF as Deadline first reported and in a very short time generated buzz for star Pamela Anderson last fall, with a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and SAG Female Lead Actress nom, and Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as BAFTA, Golden Globes and Critics Choice noms for the pic’s Miley Cyrus. Not only was Last Showgirl an homage to the Baywatch star, but it catapulted Anderson for other big parts in Paramount’s upcoming reboot of the Naked Gun with Liam Neeson, and Kornél Mundruczó’s next drama Place to Be.
Producers on Kiss of the Spider Woman are Barry Josephson, Greg Yolen, and Vindhya Sagar. In addition to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity as EPs, so are Lopez’s Nuyorican with the multihyphenate as well as Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina as EPs.
Kiss of the Spider Woman the Broadway musical was preceded by its original source material, the 1976 novel by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig, and the 1985 Hector Babenco directed movie which was nominated for Best Picture and won William Hurt the Best Actor Oscar. Kiss of the Spider Woman, the musical won seven Tony Awards in 1993 including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, as well as acting awards for all three principals in the cast including Chita Rivera who originated the role of Ingrid/Aurora onstage.
We’ll let you know when everything has been finalized. Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate did not return request for comment.
