[EXCLUSIVE]: Tonatiuh on 'KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN' Breaking Boundaries, Building Chemistry, and Dancing With Legends

By Klep Napier | Wearecritix.com

Bill Condon’s upcoming adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman is already generating Oscar chatter, and much of that buzz surrounds its star, Tonatiuh, who takes on the role of Molina. In our conversation with him, Tonatiuh opened up about stepping into a role once made famous by William Hurt, the thrill of working with Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez, and what it means to rewrite Hollywood history through this new take on a classic story.

For many actors, the weight of following such an iconic performance might have been intimidating. But for Tonatiuh, it was pure joy. “I think I’m some kind of neurodivergent because it was just pure freaking excitement,” he laughed. “To dance next to Jennifer Lopez, sing and do a musical with Diego Luna, and work on a Bill Condon film felt like a dream come true. It felt like I’d been in training for this my entire life.”

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What drew him in most, though, was the script itself. “The juxtaposition of those two worlds… it’s an actor’s dream,” Tonatiuh explained. He shared that he sprinkled in nods to old Hollywood icons “Gene Kelly, Montgomery Clift, Errol Flynn” while also reclaiming a space historically denied to Latino performers. “To a certain extent at that time, Latinos weren’t even allowed near those kinds of roles. So to go back and rewrite history and really say with our film, ‘Latinos are Hollywood, not Latin Hollywood,’ just feels like a gift.”

Onscreen, much of the film’s power lies in the charged chemistry between Tonatiuh’s Molina and Diego Luna’s Valentin. The actor revealed that this bond was forged in part by the film’s unusual production choices. “We shot in sequence, which is almost unheard of,” he said. “The first time Diego and I saw each other as our characters was the first time I walked into that prison cell. From there, every scene stripped away the facades until by the end, I was viscerally shaking having to say goodbye.”

Of course, fans are eager to hear what it was like sharing the screen with Jennifer Lopez, who takes on a showstopping role in the film-within-the-film sequences. “She is extraordinary,” Tonatiuh said. “Bill gave us the impossible task of doing these numbers in as few takes as possible, and Jennifer just ate it up. She was giving Marilyn, giving Cyd Charisse. Honestly, I don’t know why no one ever thought to give her an opportunity like this before, but once people see it, it’s undeniable.”

As for what’s next, Tonatiuh isn’t ruling out revisiting Kiss of the Spider Woman on stage, though he says his real ambition is to continue transforming into roles that keep audiences guessing. “There’s always a temptation in Hollywood to pigeonhole people,” he reflected. “But if you walk away asking, ‘Wait, you were in that?’ then I know I did my job right.”

Kiss of the Spider Woman opens in theaters nationwide on October 10th, 2025.