BEVERLY HILLS – Just over four years ago, it was one of the most famous women in the world's turn to reach for one of America's most popular books. As Jennifer Lopez, who was pregnant with twins Emme and Max, toured with then-husband Marc Anthony, she'd sing by night and flip the pages of What to Expect When You're Expecting by day. On Friday, the silver-screen version of the book, depicting five very different pregnancies, arrives in theaters.
What to Expect "was a bible for me while I was pregnant," says Lopez, today a sleek figure in a white sheath and spike-toed Louboutins at the Four Seasons as she settles into a booth next to her on-screen husband, Rodrigo Santoro.
But reading that weighty book, Lopez was like most other first-time moms, turning its pages "honestly every day, every month. I would get mad when I was on the month for too long. When it took too long and it's almost like you're waiting for the next issue to come out — ooh, what's going to happen later?"
Next to her, Santoro, who is half Brazilian, half Italian and a superstar in Brazil, says the book is ubiquitous, even for men.
"My sister had it," says Santoro, who is best known in the USA for his turns in Love Actually, 300 and Lost. "After that, I took a look at the book. I was curious. I don't have kids yet, so I haven't needed it.""You will," Lopez says knowingly.
Lopez, 42, and Santoro, 36, play Holly and Alex, a couple who try to conceive later in life and, after experiencing trouble, decide to adopt a child from Ethiopia. Myriad celebs join in What to Expect with their own bump tales: Cameron Diaz and Matthew Morrison play hotheaded reality-show personalities Jules and Evan, whose tabloid-y relationship takes an unexpected turn. Elizabeth Banks picks up the obsessive mom-to-be baton as Wendy, who owns a shop dedicated to nursing. Brooklyn Decker plays Skyler, the infuriatingly bloat-free trophy wife (of Dennis Quaid) who paints peace symbols on her picture-perfect bump, while Anna Kendrick and Chace Crawford round out the cast as Rosie and Marco, two dueling food-truck chefs whose one-night affair turns into an unplanned start to parenthood.
Picking a husband for Lopez proved to be more difficult than director Kirk Jones had imagined.
"I think people feel like they know Jennifer when they go to a movie, because they're aware of her public persona and she's had a lot of success with her music career and her acting career," Jones says. "When you sit down to then find a partner for her, for some reason it becomes more challenging."
Luckily, this photogenic pair had instant chemistry.
"I don't know what it is, but there's obviously a warmth and a generosity of emotion I think they both share, and when they came together in rehearsals, it was just incredibly natural," Jones says. During the steamy Atlanta shoot, Lopez says, she identified closely with Holly, whose fear was rooted in missing out. "I identified very much with the fact that she wanted a baby so badly, because I wanted a baby so badly at one point in my life, and I really thought I couldn't have it, and I know that pain where you really feel like it's not going to happen for you, ever."
As for Alex, "he's fine," interjects Santoro, whose character balks at the reality of their baby's speedy adoption. Alex finds a safe place with the "Dudes Group," an informal support group of wisecracking fathers (led by Chris Rock) who meet weekly in a park to decompress about life after baby.
Back on the musical radar
In the film, no one's pregnancy goes according to plan. Diaz's athletic, type A character ends up spitting fire on bed rest; Banks falls victim to the most uncomfortable of side effects; and Kendrick struggles to make her new relationship work. Throughout, Decker simply, maddeningly glows. "My experience was more like Brooklyn, which everybody is going to hate to hear," Lopez says. "I wouldn't say I was glowing the whole time, but I was happy the whole time. Of course you have your difficult moments, but I didn't have all of the symptoms that a lot of people have. Like her, I was very athletic, I felt great, was on tour until I was 6½ months in. I didn't really get super-big until the last month." Overall, Lopez says, she gained 50 pounds.
"And I realized, because I got pregnant not in my 20s but in my late 30s, it was something that I was aware of, how beautiful it was, and I was aware of how my body was changing, and I was aware of how lucky I was and how much of a miracle it is. I was savoring every moment and saying that if this never happens to me again, I want this to be a really beautiful moment in my life — and it was."What to Expect arrives on the heels of a remarkably successful year for Lopez, whose own path back into the apex of pop culture took a pregnant pause two years ago with the release of her critically panned insemination flick The Back-Up Plan and the delayed release of her last album, Love?
Then, along came American Idol. "That's been one of my best experiences in my career, working on Idol," says Lopez, who gently (and stylishly) mothers the contestants on the show.
In response, her fans have come flooding back. Post-Idol, Lopez's songs are "doing great," says Sean Ross of radio industry website Radio-Info.com and weekly newsletter Ross on Radio, noting the fast start that her latest single, Dance Again, had on the charts. "She's back on radio's radar."
Santoro's schedule is similarly packed. His HBO film Hemingway & Gelhorn premieres May 28, and later this year, Heleno, a biopic on one of Brazil's most famous soccer players, which Santoro produced and stars in, will be released, followed by The Last Stand with Arnold Schwarzenegger, due early next year. Still single, Santoro says he's trying to figure out balance, traveling among Rio de Janeiro, L.A., New York, London and Spain. "He has an exotic life. I live in Calabasas," Lopez says with a laugh.
A sequel and a tour on tap
In reality, both stars are used to being watched. In Rio, Santoro is routinely snapped by paparazzi while he is surfing off the coast. Lopez says she has mostly mastered staying away from their lenses.
"The one place we kind of get caught is (the beach), because I love the ocean. I love the water, and sometimes I just have to go, and I'll take (the kids)."
Next, Santoro dives back into the role of Xerxes for the sequel 300: Battle of Artemisia. Physically, "it's exhausting. It's a lot of work," he says. "But it was worth it the first time, and I will make it worth it the second time.""I feel like he's talking about my tour right now," says Lopez, who goes on a world trek with Enrique Iglesias this summer. "I'm really excited about the prospect of taking the family on the road and going and singing my songs and dancing my dances."
She will take the twins, along with beau Casper Smart, 25, who will choreograph. "It's all kind of romantic in my mind, but I know after a month I'll be like, 'Mommy can't move!' "Her relationship with Smart, displayed recently during her performance of Dance Again on Idol, seems to suit Lopez, who says that despite "still getting her footing" and "adjusting to all the changes that have happened" in her new life, she's in a good place. On her precious days off, "I like to stay in bed all day" watching Disney movies with the twins (Hercules is a favorite).
"Emme's very much like me," she says, and she can sing. "She's very girly, she likes pretty things. She's very happy all the time. My son is kind of — there's a lot going on in his mind, I feel like. He's very, very smart. I feel like he's like his dad like that. His brain really functions on a level that is like a computer a little bit. He has kind of a photographic memory."