J.Lo admits even decades into her career, on-screen romance still brings “a bit of nerves”
Jennifer Lopez is still one of the biggest rom-com stars in the world… but even after decades in Hollywood, kissing scenes still aren’t something she just casually steps up to.
At the premiere of Office Romance at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre on May 26, the 56-year-old admitted that filming on-screen kisses still comes with the same awkward nerves she had early in her career.
“I want to say that I was fine, but it’s always a thing,” Lopez told PEOPLE. “It’s like, ‘Okay, I have to kiss this person that I don’t know and I’m just getting to know you.’ You get a little nervous, that’s all.”
The film, is a new Netflix romantic comedy. It pairs Lopez with Brett Goldstein, and follows a workplace romance between a CEO and her employee.
One that escalates into a secret relationship neither of them is exactly trying to keep professional.
For Lopez, those first moments on set clearly came with a feeling of high pressure. Goldstein, meanwhile, had a much simpler take on it. His advice for getting through it? Stop thinking about it entirely.
“Just go for it,” he said, describing his approach to shaking off on-set nerves.
Despite the awkwardness, Lopez said that chemistry was there almost immediately when they met, even if she didn’t quite expect it.
“I expected more of a rough guy,” she said, referencing Goldstein’s Ted Lasso persona. “But you get this kind, gentle but also very smart person that is so charming.”
Goldstein also revealed that he and co-writer Joe Kelly actually wrote the film with Lopez in mind while working on Ted Lasso, after deciding she was the obvious choice for modern rom-com lead energy.
“We started asking ourselves who the best rom-com star is, and without hesitation, we both said JLo,” he said. “Within a long train journey, we had the whole idea for the film.”
Still, for all the chemistry talk and carefully written romance beats. Lopez’s takeaway is a lot simpler: no matter how many films she’s done, pretending to fall in love on camera still comes with a small moment of panic before the scene starts.
