Jennifer Lopez Is Not Focusing on Oscar Buzz: ‘I Don’t Need It … Not That I Wouldn’t Love It’

“It’s great to be in the conversation … like, you’re doing work that people recognize, and that they love. That’s enough,” she added

Jennifer Lopez in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Jennifer Lopez has a playful response to the bubbling Oscar buzz for her first movie-musical role.

The actress and musician recently sat down with CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Lee Cowan to chat about her life and career ahead of the release of Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Asked by Cowan where she “puts” awards “expectations,” Lopez, 56, replied with a laugh, “I don’t, I don’t — I learned my lesson last time.”

“But also, the joy, for me, is in doing it.

Every single moment,” she continued.

“It’s great to be in the conversation … like, you’re doing work that people recognize, and that they love.

That’s enough.”.

Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers (2019).

That’s not to say Lopez isn’t against having her work recognized.

As she explained to Cowan, 60, “It’s not that you can’t want more, or that you don’t wanna stand up there and say thank you.

Of course — we all want that.”

“But I realized that I don’t need it in the way that maybe I thought when I was younger,” she continued, joking, “Not that I wouldn’t love it — I just wanna do that little disclaimer!”.

“I’d be very grateful for that too,” Lopez added, sharing a laugh with the interviewer.

Lopez received high praise for her performance in Hustlers, portraying a real-life exotic dancer who targeted and schemed Wall Street clientele out of money.

Directed by Lorene Scafaria, the film also starred Constance Wu, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Cardi B and Lili Reinhart.

Despite receiving a Golden Globe nomination for the film, she was ultimately not nominated for an Academy Award.

In voiceover in her 2022 Netflix documentary Halftime, Lopez said, “The truth is, I really started to think I was gonna get nominated.

I got my hopes up because so many people were telling me I would be.

And then it didn’t happen.”.

From L: Jennifer Lopez in Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025) and Hustlers (2019).

She is now poised to premiere her most buzzed-about role since Hustlers next month in Kiss of the Spider Woman, written and directed by Bill Condon (Chicago).

Lopez stars alongside Diego Luna and Tonatiuh in the film as a “silver screen diva” named Ingrid Luna.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is an adaptation of Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel of the same name and its Tony Award–winning Broadway musical.

It is the second feature-film adaptation, after the first in 1985, and marks Lopez’s first-ever movie musical.

PEOPLE confirmed on Sept. 19 that Lopez will be submitted for consideration in Best Supporting Actress categories this awards season.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is in theaters Oct. 10, following its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this past January.