The last time Jennifer Lopez appeared on the big screen with her other half, the world was punished with “Gigli.”

The film starred Lopez and Ben Affleck, her fiancé at the time, and was universally panned by critics and failed miserably at the box office. The relationship didn’t last much longer after the film’s release in 2003.

On Friday, Lopez’s latest film, “El Cantante,” was released in limited theatrical release and he co-star is none other than Marc Anthony, her (current) husband.

So weren’t Anthony and Lopez hesitant at all to work together?

“Absolutely!” Anthony says with a laugh, when andPOP posed the question to the couple at the Toronto Film Fest last year.

“We’ve worked together so many times,” Lopez interjects.

The couple’s working relationship dates back to 1999, when Lopez released her first album, “On the 6.” The album featured a Spanish duet, performed by Lopez and Anthony, called “No Me Ames,” which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Hot Latin Tracks chart even though she never released it as a single.

But they had never spent so much time together in a working environment until “El Cantante.”

The film tells the story of salsa singer Héctor Lavoe – from his contribution to Latin music to his battle with drugs and to his death at age 46 after battles with depression and AIDS.

It was Lavoe’s music that drew Anthony to this film.

“Héctor Lavoe is an icon in our community and got the chance to leave behind some amazing music,” he says. “This is a chance we got to tell his story.”

“It’s a tragic story,” Lopez tells andPOP, “but it’s a story of a real artist. And it’s a beautiful story in that sense because, like Marc said, he left behind an incredible legacy of music.”






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