-Welcome back to the show. So good to see you. -Welcome.
-Feel so official at this desk. -It does, right?
-The thing in the background. -And you've got-- you've got
-the suit, you've got the thing, you got the look. -I'm ready.
-I came dressed, like, in my business clothes. -Yeah.
You look like you're ready to host. I like this.
-Uh, welcome back to the show. -Thank you.
First things first, congratulations
-on the new movie, Second Act. -Thank you.
Can I tell you, what-what was interesting about this movie is
I-I didn't know what it was about. I never read reviews.
-I never-- So, I just-- I watch the movie. -Right.
And, in the beginning, I thought, "Oh, it's gonna be
-a rom-com." I was like, "Okay, JLo back in a rom-com." -Right.
-And then you're kissing Milo in the movie. -Right.
And I was like, "Okay, this is it." And then, no,
-it just flips, and it's a comedy about a woman -Right.
who is fighting to, like, reinvent herself,
-like, i-in the business world. -Yeah. It's not traditional
romantic comedy, where it's, like, boy meets girl
and they have problems and then they get back together.
This is-- this is more about a woman
falling in love with herself and her own life,
you know, and realizing that the mistakes she made early on
in her life that she hasn't forgiven herself for,
um, actually lead her to her po-- purpose
and her-- and her happiness and her right path.
And I think a lot of people can relate to that.
-Can you relate to that? -Yes. Absolutely.
-In what way? -I mean,
I think we all beat ourselves up when we don't--
We-we think our life's supposed to be one thing,
and you're going along this way.
-Right. -Like, you know, I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna be
a movie actress. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do that."
And then-- You know, and I make music.
And then, all of a sudden, you're, like, not working.
And then they go, "Well, how 'bout you be on American Idol?"
And you're like, "Well, that's not what I imagined
things to be."
But you're like, "Well, maybe it's supposed
"to be different than I thought it was, and then turned out
-to be the best thing that I could have ever done." -Right.
Whereas everybody else was like, "Nah, don't do that.
Nah. No, your career is over." I'm like, "Mm, no."
And so, there's different ways to get to where you need to be.
That's a small example
-and a very kind of triumphant one for me. -Right.
But there's been many moments in my life where I was, like,
you know, struggling and decide...
you know, at the point where you're ready to give up.
And I think this character in this movie also has...
is at that point in her life, where she's like,
"Maybe I just... maybe I'm just not supposed to do this.
-I don't know." You know? -Right.
"And maybe my life is gonna be this.
"I'm born on this block, and I'm gonna die on this block,
-and that's it." -What I also loved about the movie is
it's-it's really funny,
-but there's also this message the whole time... -Yeah.
...which is, we are not who people think
we're supposed to be, you know?
Like you... like you said, she's born on this block,
and-and in that clip we saw, it's a manager saying,
"Hey, look, I mean, you're good, you know everything."
-No. "You're amazing." -"You're amazing."
-"But sorry." -Yes.
-"You don't get the job." Yeah. -Yes. You don't have the name.
-You don't have the look, you don't have the title. -Right.
And then, when you get that name and look and title,
-people look at you in a totally different way. -Right.
-Yeah. -Did you... have you ever felt that in your world?
Is there like... is there like a thing?
Have you ever lied? Let me put it that way.
Have you ever lied about something to get something?
-Like... -Yeah.
-Yeah? -Yeah. Oh, sure. -(laughter)
-Haven't you? Yes. -PEOPLE: Yeah.
(applause and cheering)
-I mean, I guess... -What is...? Look.
I guess, you know, I lied on my eight-by-ten résumés.
Like, you know, they had that place
where you wrote "special skills."
-Well, what were you special skills? -I don't know...
I mean, skydiving. Like, I put anything.
I... I remember, like, I-I auditioned
for this, like, Olympic commercial
-when I was first starting out. -Right.
And I was like, "I got to work, I got to get something."
And I was super young, and... and, um,
I remember I came in that day, and I was on fire.
Like, in my audition, I was like,
"Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh." Whatever.
And I walked out, and I knew it went well.
And right as I walk out, they say to me--
and the camera was rolling-- they say,
"Uh, by the way, do you know how to do a trampoline?
Can you do acrobatics and things like that?"
I'm like, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely."
I-I get the job,
and then I go to Canada to shoot this Olympic commercial,
and, of course, the trampoline's there.
They're like, "Ready for the trampoline?"
I'm like, "Yes." And I get on it, and I'm like...
(laughter)
(laughing): And I... and I...
-(applause and cheering) -And no.
-And they were like... -Oh.
Luckily... Yeah, luckily, the producers, like,
fell in love with me, and I loved them, and they were like,
"Wow. So you know how to do the trampoline, huh?"
I'm like, "Yeah. Sorry."
The-the, um... the chemistry you have
-on camera with Leah Remini... -Oh, my God.
-...is-is phenomenal. -Thank you.
Are-are you guys...? You're real-life friends?
-Well, real-life best friends. -Because there's a scene
where you're-you're slapping each other, right?
-She's slapping me. -Yeah, but you slap her afterwards.
-It's like... -But I had to. -(laughter)
I-I genuine... I genuinely...
What if somebody slapped you four times?
-What are you gonna do? -I genuinely didn't know
if that was in the script or not.
No, it was not in the script.
You know, one of the things... great things
about doing this movie and doing it with Leah is that I felt like
if we could capture our relationship,
-because we're real friends. -Right.
Like, for real. Like lifers, right?
And so, you know, we laugh.
She makes me laugh like nobody else.
We cry together. We've been through hard times.
-We-we call each other on our bullshit. -Right.
You know what I mean? Like, we're real friends.
And, uh, in that scene it was specifically... you know,
we were trying to bring all the real stuff we could
to the roles, and she was like, "You know how I do that thing?
I'm about to pump you up to go over to this guy."
She goes, "I'm gonna do the thing I do
before your shows where I go, 'Who's the champ?'"
And I go, "Okay. Yeah, yeah, do that, do that."
She goes like, "Who's the champ? And you say, 'I'm the champ.'"
I was like, "Okay, cool."
She does it, and then the first take, she starts slapping me.
-(laughter) -She's like, "Who's the champ?"
And, you know, I'm playing it like I don't know
what she's doing, and I'm like, "I... What?"
And she goes, "Who's the champ?
Come on. 'I'm the champ,'" and she starts slapping me,
and I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna go with this.
By the fourth time, I was just like, boom!
"Stop it! Enough! Enough with the slapping here."
But it was a lot of fun, because that's the type of things
-that we could do. -Right. And the whole...
the whole movie carries that theme.
It's a woman who's rediscovering herself,
moving into a new world, and it feels like Jennifer Lopez
is doing the same thing, because on the same day
that the movie's dropping, you have a music video dropping,
-I do. I do. -for "Limitless."
And is it true this is your first time directing?
Yes. It was, it was. It was the first..
-(whooping, applause) -Yes, I'm...
Thank you.
It was a big deal for me.
-Right. -It was a big deal for me, yeah.
So you get, you decide, "Okay, I'm gonna direct
the music video, I'm in the music video,"
and your daughter's in it as well.
I did. I put my daughter in it.
I didn't want to put my daughter in it.
My daughter's name is Emme, and she's an angel.
Okay? Dropped down from Heaven.
And... she, um, she's like, "Mom, I want to do it."
She knew I had to have a little girl in the video,
and when you see the video, you'll see it's...
it's about, you know, struggling.
Being born a woman, like,
you have an uphill battle right away.
-Right. -You're not a man, you're struggling a little bit.
And I wanted to kind of personify
that little girl inside all of us,
who's always kind of fighting with you every day,
even when you're my age, right?
And she knew I was doing that,
and she was like, "Mommy, I can do it,"
and I was like, oh, God, I don't want her to do this.
The hours are gonna be long.
I'm directing for the first time.
I'm gonna have to push her.
-What if she's not good? Oh, my... -(laughter)
You know? Like, I have all this stuff running through my head.
And when I tell you... I died.
She was so amazing.
And I-I get goosies right now thinking about it.
She just... it's such a beautiful thing
that we got to do that together
and that it was my first directing experience.
-(applause, whooping) -And the song written by Sia is amazing.
-I'm excited for you. -Thank you.
You know, I'm excited because, it's weird, every single time
you come here, there is something new
that you're looking forward to.
You bring a light with you. You bring an energy.
-Thank you. -And I'm excited to see what the next journey...
You're gonna be, you know what, you're gonna be directing
your next movie that you act in and write
and do the CGI for and the...
-Right! -and the trampoline stunts.
-You're gonna be doing that as well. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jennifer Lopez-- trampoline stunts as well.
-Yes. -Jennifer Lopez, everybody.
-(cheering) -Thank you so much for coming back to our show.
Second Act will be in theaters December 21.