DIVA FEVER: J.Lo vs Reese

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Nov 2, 2003 | by Elaine Lipworth

Jennifer's film

Shall We Dance? is about a middle-aged man, Richard Gere, who feels stuck in a rut with his wife, Susan Sarandon. He becomes entranced by a beautiful woman, Jennifer Lopez, who he sees through the window of a ballroom dancing studio. He takes up dancing so he can meet her.

Marina's verdict on J.Lo

'Obviously there's a lot of beautiful dancing in the film and the clothes had to match that. At the end Jennifer appears in a fabulous yellow dress made by Julien Macdonald that's as sheer as wet tissue, you can see everything. She loved it and looked incredible in it. Jennifer will only wear 4-inch heels, because she's tiny, so her dance shoes were custom-made by Superdance, an English company. It took a long time to prepare for the movie because so much had to come from abroad - even the little beaded crystals on Jennifer's dress were shipped in from London. 'Ballroom dancing is very specific in terms of costume design, so we did intensive research. It was like doing a historical period movie, but luckily everything looks good on Jennifer. She likes anything that shows off her behind and she won't wear dark colours - she prefers mauves, whites and lighter colours because they flatter her skin tone.

'We were filming in Winnipeg, Canada, in the middle of nowhere. Everyone in Winnipeg was excited when we arrived and there were banners all over the place saying "We love J.Lo". She was the biggest star they'd ever had in town. She didn't stay in the hotel with the crew though, she had a private house instead, so we only saw her on the set. When the news of Ben and the stripper exploded, the paparazzi arrived in town and Ben came up to the set to be with her. We were in a hailstorm emotionally because Jen and Ben were also in the midst of those terrible reviews for their film Gigli. 'One day while Ben was visiting, there was a big panic about a dress. Jennifer had a problem with a black ball gown she was wearing for an important scene. She was dancing in it during rehearsal and tripped, so decided she didn't want to wear it again. It became a really big deal with all the Miramax executives running round trying to convince her to wear it. Finally she said, "OK I'll wear the f**king gown" - she always curses - and stormed off to put the dress on. Ben turned to the director and said, "She's just had her first Barbra Streisand moment."

'Jennifer is perfectly beautiful, she looks absolutely gorgeous in all the clothes, but she never once said thank you. She's very businesslike and not much fun. She had a big entourage, which was a complete contrast to Richard Gere. She had assistants, hair people, make-up people, bodyguards, a personal trainer and her acting coach. There were always loads of people around her, she didn't hang out with the crew at all during filming - she never even had lunch with us. She's picky too, she only drinks caffeine- free regular Coke, which is hard to find.

'Richard Gere was lovely. It's protocol for stars to give the crew a present at the end of filming and Richard gave us all a beautiful, big, heavy, brown leather photo album. It was engraved with the name of the movie and he'd filled it with stills from the movie. It took an enormous amount of time and effort on his part. Jennifer gave the girls a J.Lo acrylic sweater in different colours and the men got J.Lo baseball hats.

'Richard was lovely, most of the time he seemed mellow, smiling and pleasant, but one day he lost it. There's a scene where Jennifer comes out of a coffee shop, smacks into Richard and spills coffee on her coat - his character is obsessed with her and hers is very standoffish. It was night-time, baking hot, with a storm brewing and millions of mosquitoes, but as it was supposed to be winter Jennifer had to wear a coat. She did the scene over and over again and couldn't get it right. She suddenly said, "What am I supposed to be doing?" and looked at her acting coach. Then Richard said, "Here's the thing, you come out, I walk into you, I spill the coffee, you wipe the coffee off and walk away, it's that easy." He lost his cool with her so she stormed off. There was a big meeting with the director and by the time she came back to finish the scene, everyone was exhausted.

'What was disappointing was that we didn't have the wrap party you usually have at the end of a movie. Jennifer had her own expensive dinner party for 26 people. We were invited to join her after dinner at a nightclub in town. We all turned up, but everyone had to buy their own drinks. We'd all worked hard for months and it's standard for stars to do something nice as a thank you like, "Here's a free drink" at least.'

Reese's film

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White And Blonde is the sequel to the massive hit Legally Blonde, in which Reese plays a ditzy but determined and intelligent lawyer who takes on Washington in her fight for animal rights.

Marina's verdict on Reese

'Thankfully Legally Blonde 2 was a different kettle of fish, mostly because Reese is a darling. I've done two movies with her and she can be a little standoffish at first, but once she knows you, she's really friendly. She's so modest that even when fans scream at her, she can't get used it. She's not one of those spoilt stars who doesn't appreciate things. A couple of times she'd eat with us or we'd eat with her in her trailer. We did some of the filming in LA and some in Springfield, Illinois, and there was this one restaurant where we all ate every night. Reese had her glasses on and nobody recognised her until one night the waitress said, "You're Reese Witherspoon, we love you." She doesn't expect to be recognised but when she is, she's nice to everyone. 'She's careful about what she eats, but she does like a treat, she'll sometimes get pizza on the way home for the family. She doesn't drink alcohol at all, I think it's because she's so tiny, it makes her sick. She's a size 4 (UK 8).