/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822628/PXL_20250108_162058411.jpg "Here’s how small Nvidia’s $3,000 Digits supercomputer looks in person")
There are just certain things you cannot possibly understand until you’ve become a mother, and Jennifer Lopez now feels that deeply.
“I remember when I didn’t have children, and I used to talk to my friends who did have kids, and I just didn’t get it at all,” the actress, singer and dancer confesses. “They were like, ‘Just wait till you have kids,’ and I remember when I had my babies [Emme and Max Muñiz], I wound up calling my girlfriends and going, ‘I’m sorry. I did not understand what the f–k I was talking about.'”
Over her last 16 years as a mother of twins, the Hustlers star has certainly learned a lot, and she’s channeling all that hard-earned knowledge into her latest role, that of Judy Robles in the upcoming sports drama Unstoppable. In the film, which hits Prime Video on Jan. 16, Lopez plays the mother of wrestler Anthony Robles, who won the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships, with only one leg.
Related: Jennifer Lopez’s Backless ‘Revenge Dress’ Leaves Fans ‘Gasping’ for Air
Prior to the film’s release, Parade sat down with both Lopez and the real-life Judy Robles to discuss the process of bringing the true story to the big screen, their shared connection as moms and the anxiety of watching your movie for the first time in a room packed with people.
“I mean, if I wasn’t a mom, it would be a very different portrayal,” Lopez says about playing Judy. “Understanding what it is to be a mother and to want the best for your kids and to protect them from the things that you’re going through however difficult they may be. It was definitely a help to me in this role.”
Lopez is the mother to 16-year-old twins Emme and Max, whom she shares with her ex-husband Marc Anthony. Meanwhile, Judy is the mother of five.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Unstoppable not only charts Anthony’s unlikely road to success, but also highlights his relationship with Judy, who raised him as a single mom, supporting his career every step of the way. It was a role that Lopez wanted to make sure she got right.
“When we met on Zoom, she had this huge binder,” Judy remembers. “As she was asking me questions, she was taking so many notes. She was also asking me questions that caused me to take a moment and think because I wanted to give her everything. I wanted her to know how I felt.”
Lopez chimes in saying that she asked “very specific questions, so I could understand who she was as a person.” She told Judy during their meetings, “I don’t have to use all the things that you tell me, but I will internalize them. I will understand you better, the more you can share with me.”
Moments from those conversations did, in fact, make it onto the big screen. Judy remembers a specific moment in the film when Lopez delivers the line, “That’s just Anthony. That’s who he is.”
“I said that,” Judy explains excitedly. “Those are my words that she made sure were in there, so I really appreciate that.”
🤩🤩 SIGN UP for Parade’s Trending News newsletter & we’ll keep you in the know on the viral pop culture moments & celebrity news everyone is talking about 🗞️🗞️
Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images
For Lopez, it was important that while the film focuses on Anthony’s success, it also faithfully tells Judy’s tremendous story. After all, there is no Anthony Robles without his mother, Judy.
“We connected as moms. I think that was the very first thing that happened,” says Lopez. “I was like, ‘I’m a mom, too. This is Anthony’s story. You’re his mom, but also I want to know about you.’ I wanted to really know about her and what it was like to have a baby at 16 years old.”
“I was really impressed with the care and the detail that she put into getting to know me,” Robles adds. “She didn’t just make it about her; she made it about Judy and all of my elements and all the little parts that make me me.”
Of course, learning that one of the most famous females in the world is going to play you in a film is quite a surreal experience as well. Robles was at work at Arizona State University when she got the call from her son regarding the casting.
“I honestly didn’t believe him,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Wait. What?’ So I walked out. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?'”
No matter how much preparation and care goes into a film, the premiere is always anxiety-inducing. Both Robles and Lopez were in the room when Unstoppable debuted in 2024 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“It’s nerve-racking for me, and it’s not even my life,” says Lopez.
“I was terrified,” chimes in Robles. “That’s my life, and that was my struggle, and I had to rip my heart open. To watch myself in the mistakes was difficult, but in the end, I was excited and very proud of it.”
The agony and ecstasy of a public life is now something else the women have in common.
“I know how hard it is to put your life out there for everybody to judge. That’s not an easy thing to do, and she really opened up,” Lopez says, praising Robles. “It makes the story even more triumphant and victorious in the end.”
Related: The 25 Best Movies of 2024
