By Saba HamedyNBC
News
Jennifer Lopez likes to make noise.
The artist has plenty to say in her new documentary,
Halftime,
which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last week and on Netflix on Tuesday.
The film examines Lopez's professional life over the years, including filming and promoting the movie
Hustlers
and backstage scenes at the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show she headlined with Shakira.
It also offers a window into her personal life, including a brief cameo from her fiancé Ben Affleck.
(Her ex-partner of hers Alex Rodríguez is not mentioned or included in the documentary: they broke up in April 2021).
Here we explain five conclusions of the documentary.
1. Lopez Was Frustrated About Sharing The Show With Another Singer
For the 2020 show, JLo and Shakira split evenly for the 14-minute performance, singing a medley of their biggest hits.
And while Lopez was honored to perform on a national stage with Shakira, backstage she was also frustrated by the limitations of acting.
During one scene, they both talk on the phone about the Super Bowl.
The artist of Puerto Rican origin tells Shakira: "If it was going to be a double bill, they should have given us 20 minutes. That's what they should have done."
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While preparing for the show with her music director, she is also frustrated by time constraints.
"It was the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl," she says.
At one point prior to the show, he is also seen in a video on the phone with Ricky Kirshner, a producer for the NFL sports league, saying that the ending "can't be one minute."
"We're trying to keep it to a minimum. It's hard because it's a big stage, and a big show. We've all dreamed of doing it but it's been a nightmare since we started."
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When Kirshner retorts, Lopez responds by saying, "I'm trying to give it some substance... I want something that makes a statement."
The NFL also "didn't want the cages on the show," according to Lopez and others in the documentary.
"Pulling out the cages and sacrificing what I think would be like not being there," the singer says in the film.
She adds that she stood her ground, stating that "the Super Bowl is tomorrow and we're not going to change anything."
In the end, the show kept the political statement.
There were child performers in glowing spheres that many interpreted as a reference to immigrant children and youth held in US detention centers.
Lopez's daughter Emme also joined her mother on stage and sang a part of Bruce Springsteen's
Born in the USA
as the artist unfurled a blanket of feathers bearing the flags of the United States and Puerto Rico. .
JLo posted on Instagram the day after the Super Bowl.
He wrote in the caption: "Other people may try to build walls, keep us out, or put us in cages. We are proud to recognize that all of us together are what makes this beautiful country truly great."
At the time, comments about the walls and cages seemed to confirm speculation that he was sending a political message with his show.
2. Seeing images of children in cages at the border motivated Lopez to be more political
During the documentary, the artist points out that she is "not involved in politics".
"I'm not that person," he says.
"But I was living in an America that I didn't recognize. I was afraid for my children, for their future."
It was looking at images and footage of children in cages at the border that made her feel like she "couldn't believe" what she was seeing.
In 2018, hundreds of children were separated from their parents at the US border as part of the Trump Administration's 'zero tolerance' policy.
"You don't rip a child from his parents," he says.
"There are just certain things that as a human being you don't do."
"It made me realize that I had a responsibility not to keep quiet," she adds.
"Not to leave politics to others."
Promotional image of the documentary 'Halftime'.Netflix via NBC News.
When preparing for her performance with Shakira, Lopez is seen talking about making a statement with her show and challenging the "narrative that Trump created" that "everyone is an immigrant trying to sneak into the country and is a criminal."
"Some of us have been here for years," he says.
"And a lot of those people are just good people looking for the American dream. That's all they want."
3. JLo considered quitting Hollywood amid scrutiny and jokes about her
As her career blossomed, Jennifer Lopez says there was a time when "I had very low self-esteem."
"It didn't matter what I accomplished," he says in the documentary.
"His [the media's] appetite for him to cover my personal life overshadowed everything."
"I believed a lot what they said, which is that I wasn't really good," she says.
The documentary shows clips from late-night shows poking fun at Lopez, in particular her relationship with Ben Affleck.
The couple known as 'Bennifer' was one of the most attractive in Hollywood between 2002 and 2004: they canceled their wedding days in advance and later broke up.
Each then married other people.
She was married to singer Marc Anthony, whom she separated from seven years later.
Affleck married actress Jennifer Garner, but in 2015 they announced that they were divorcing after 10 years of marriage.
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The couple met again last year, but initially kept their romance secret.
They announced their engagement in April 2022.
Affleck is briefly interviewed for the documentary, where he is asked about the scrutiny Lopez received during the early days of their relationship.
"Once I told him, doesn't this bother you?" he says in the documentary.
"And she said, I'm Latina, she expected it. It's just that you don't expect it, you expect to be treated fairly."
The criticism shocked her.
"There were many times when I thought I was going to quit," he warns.
"I had to really find out who I was and believe in that and nothing else."
The documentary also shows a series of clips of people in the industry making fun of Lopez's butt in various segments.
"When I started working, the beauty ideal was very thin, blonde, tall, without many curves," she recalls.
"It was tough when you think people think you're a joke. But I ended up affecting things in a way I never intended to."
4. The Oscar nomination snub for
Hustlers
hit her hard
Throughout the documentary, viewers can see all of the work Lopez put into
Hustler 's film, including
pole
dancing
classes .
"It's super painful because it's like a crash course," he clarifies, pointing to the bruises on his legs from training.
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The film, she says, was especially exciting for her because "it had substance."
"That's something I've fought for in my career," he says.
"This is a movie about women who had limited options and had to make tough decisions. These characters remind me of the women I knew growing up in the Bronx."
The documentary highlights all of the awards season buzz Lopez generated for her role as Ramona, the oldest dancer at a
New York
strip joint , in the film.
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In December 2019, the singer-actress received a Golden Globe nomination for the role.
"It only took me 20 years," she jokes in a call reacting to the nomination.
The cameras follow Lopez to the ceremony itself.
She didn't win.
Reflecting on the loss, he tells the camera, "I really thought I had a chance; I felt like I let everyone down."
The Oscar nomination snub also affected her.
At one point in the documentary, she is seen reading positive reviews and getting emotional from the overwhelming reaction of support.
In the midst of awards season, she's also seen juggling Super Bowl rehearsals and attending events, holding out hope of a nomination for Hollywood's most coveted award.
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The morning the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards were announced, in February 2020, they didn't get the go-ahead.
"The truth is that I began to think that they were going to nominate me," he says.
"I got excited because a lot of people told me I would be. And then it didn't happen. I had to ask myself: what does that mean? I'm not doing this for an award... I'm doing it to tell stories and to influence change and connect with people and make them feel things, because I want to feel something. That's why I do it."
5. The artist strives to "be better in every way"
Jennifer Lopez says it took her a long time to "find" her way in the industry.
He assured that after his divorce with Marc Anthony, the father of his children, he took a long time to reflect on his career.
"As an artist, I kind of lost who I was trying to build a perfect life, a family life," he said.
"And when my kids were 3, I got divorced. I was a single mom with two little kids, 42 years old... movie roles weren't knocking on my door. When I went back to work I really felt like I didn't know what my role was anymore. worth".
Being a judge on
American Idol
helped her "find her purpose."
"I really learned a lot about myself," she clarified, including that she needs to "be better in every way."
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"You know you have those moments in this business where you ask yourself: what's next? And what's next?" he says. "I think every artist, every creative person, every artist lives with that fear." .
Now, though, Lopez says, "I'm not going to be afraid to make noise and use my voice to the best of my abilities."
At this point in his career, he says he is "thriving" in ways he "never imagined."
The documentary comes to an end showing images of her performance at the inauguration of the president, Joe Biden.
"I'm not done," he insists at one point in the documentary, "I'm not even close."