Bill Condon on Weaving Fantasy and Reality in Kiss of the Spider Woman

In his latest project, Kiss of the Spider Woman, writer and director Bill Condon brings together two cinematic worlds, one raw and confined, the other dazzlingly escapist. Known for his deft touch with musical storytelling (Dreamgirls, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago), Condon approaches this adaptation with a blend of reverence and reinvention, exploring the collision between fantasy and survival.

Condon describes the film as “a unicorn of a movie.” Structurally, it’s split between an 80-minute prison drama and a 40 minute film within a film musical, a bold creative and logistical choice.

“I knew it would never have the budget of Beauty and the Beast,” he said. “But you can’t cut corners with a musical, it demands a certain scope. So the solution was to pour our resources into that 40 minute musical and balance it with something rawer and more intimate in the prison scenes.”

What could have been two competing tones instead becomes a seamless conversation between fantasy and reality. “At a certain point,” Condon said, “the audience realizes it’s all one story.”

Transitioning between these spaces became its own choreography. Condon designed moments where the music and lighting bleed into the prison cell before fully transforming into the musical world. “You get the audience comfortable,” he said, “and then you can bend the rules.”

The result is a rhythmic flow between confinement and escape—mirroring the emotional journey of the film’s two protagonists, Valentin (Diego Luna) and Molina (Tonatiuh).

At its heart, Kiss of the Spider Woman is a study in contrasts. “One man lives in the world of politics and logic, the other in dreams and emotions,” Condon said. “As the world around them is stripped away, they begin to see each other as human beings and that’s what changes them.”

That evolution is most striking in how the two men trade strength. Valentin’s stoicism softens into emotional vulnerability, while Molina’s theatricality finds a new groundedness. “They each move into the other’s position by the end,” Condon reflected. “That’s what makes the story timeless.”

The musical sequences—performed through Molina’s imagination are inspired by Hollywood’s golden age but filtered through his personal lens. “I didn’t want to imitate 1950s musicals,” Condon explained. “We wanted the essence the Technicolor vibrancy but with the clarity of a modern eye.”

That vibrancy extends to the details. A red scarf becomes a thread connecting both worlds, symbolizing love, loss, and identity. “It’s the one prop I kept,” Condon admitted with a smile. “I’ll be wearing it to the premiere.”

In this reimagined version, Jennifer Lopez takes on dual roles as the Spider Woman and the glamorous film star Aurora each a reflection of Molina’s inner world. “Aurora is an idealized version of Molina,” Condon said. “Her inability to love mirrors his own.”

Lopez’s performance captures both sensual power and emotional restraint. “Watching her record ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ was one of those pinch-me moments,” Condon recalled.

For Condon, Kiss of the Spider Woman is both a return to form and an evolution of his musical storytelling. It’s a film that dares to juxtapose the bleak with the beautiful, reminding audiences, as he put it, that “people secretly want to love musicals. You just have to show them how.”