Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)
March 14, 2004
Aussie out to tame La Lopez
By Michael McKenna in Los Angeles
SPOILERS!
YOUNG Australian director Robert Luketic has locked horns with pop diva and movie star Jennifer Lopez -- and is determined to tame the "madness".
Only weeks before filming begins on Monster-in-Law, Luketic, 31, is getting a taste of Hollywood excess, and wants no part of it.
The director, who had a huge hit with Legally Blonde, is dismayed by the incredible secrecy over the script and shooting schedule.
He is also shocked at attempted bribes by the US paparazzi to report on the "on-set fights" between Lopez and an actor from another generation, Jane Fonda.
"I am earning my money on this one," he said in an interview in Los Angeles this week.
Luketic, who trained at the Victorian College of Art, said he had laid down the law to Lopez to leave her celebrity, as well as her famous entourage, behind when she steps on to the set.
"I think I am going to get a very professional, focused actor," he said of Lopez. "You know, there is a lot of madness that goes on around her.
"And I made it very clear that I am not interested in seeing anything that is outside of what this movie is about."
Luketic said he expected a good performance from Lopez, who only recently broke-up with fiance Ben Affleck.
"She was up in everybody's face . . . it was gross, it was absolutely disgusting," he said.
"I went to her house and had a meeting. She just flashed this pink diamond ring right in front of my face.
"I was like 'I can't even see your face through that, can you put it down?
"And she goes 'Isn't it beautiful?' and I'm like 'Yes, it is a very impressive thing, but you don't have to keep showing it like that.'
"What a piece of work she is, but that's why you got to love her."
Luketic said he realised how big a celebrity Lopez was after being recently followed by a paparazzi to lunch at the Ivy, the Hollywood restaurant favoured by celebrities wanting to be photographed
"He came up to the table and offered me $US50,000 (about $68,000) to report on what was supposed to be the feud that they were going to create between Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda on my movie," he said.
"I left the restaurant, the guy chased us to the car and then I had a phone call at home on my answering machine."
The young director, who is also working with Stephen Spielberg on an animated movie, said one of the reasons he was drawn to Monster-in-Law was to work with Fonda.
Asked whether he felt intimidated by the prospect of working with the two famous actors, he said he was not scared by anyone.
"It doesn't keep me up at night, but it is exciting," he said. "I am not intimated by anybody. You can't be -- they (actors) can smell fear."
Luketic's latest movie, A Date with Tad Hamilton, will be released in Australia next month.
© Nationwide News Pty Limited 2004
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