Jennifer Lopez

We are excited to debut our Hollywood Bulletin column in this paper, thanks to our good friend Nestor Cuartero.

Although Nestor and I went to the same college, UST’s Faculty of Arts & Letters, and we both worked in the school paper, The Varsitarian, our paths never crossed while in college because we came from different batches. I won’t say who’s older.

Nestor was the entertainment editor of Tempo and I was then working with another broadsheet when we met.

Through this column, I hope to update MB readers on the latest goings on inside Hollywood.

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Jennifer Lopez was bubbly and drop dead gorgeous in her tight-fitting beige dress when we interviewed her for her latest movie, “The Back-Up Plan,” at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles recently.

Before that, we also visited her on the set of this movie while she did a hospital scene. Her hunky co-star, Alex O’Loughlin, also graced our interview. More on him later.

J. Lo, who is now also getting to be known as the mother of Max and Emme, her twins with hubby Marc Anthony, admitted to us that she is ready for a posse.

“I think I am,” she said laughing. “I already inherited a posse from Marc when we got married because he had three other children already so I was already posse’ing it a little bit and that was the good training ground. So when we were in the doctor’s office and they told us we were about to have twins, Marc started crying because he was just so overwhelmed. But I started laughing. I was like, of course, why not, perfect (laughing). So yeah, I was ready.”

Becoming the mother of twins has changed her life.

“I am as busy as I was before but especially now (laughing). It’s difficult having the babies and being a working mom,” she confessed.

“It’s a balancing act. It really is because the babies come first. And at the same time, you want to do your work at the same level that you’ve always done it, if not better than before.

So you have to figure that out. It definitely made it more challenging but it made it better for me because my life is better now.”

This Latina superstar, who is finally coming out with a new CD this summer, revealed to us that she is happy where she is right now in her life.

She said, “Where I am at this point in my life right now I feel like it’s a new beginning for me because of the babies. They’re two years old now but because it is a new beginning in that arena. We’ve moved into a new house. I’m starting with a new record company.

I’m starting to do films again. It almost feels like a new beginning for me. It’s very different. It’s much more challenging, difficult, harder but in a sense better. I have so much more experience and that’s priceless.”

Juggling marriage, motherhood and career, she admitted, “is a balancing act. All of it is this huge balancing act, very difficult as before when I was by myself and I didn’t have to worry about children, a husband, or a marriage.

It was just my work and me. It was very different so now I just see myself kind of like a juggler (laughing).

It’s like all these balls up in the air all the time and each one of them needs to be paid attention to and that’s what I try to do every day. I try to give some time to my work, some time to my relationship, and most of my time to my children.”

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Jennifer gets to be cozy in the movie with hunky Australian Alex O’Loughlin, who portrays Stan in the Alan Poul-directed movie. The 33-year-old Aussie was born in Canberra and raised in Sydney. He is known for his roles as Kevin Hiatt in “The Shield” and as Mick St. John in “Moonlight.”

Alex said of working with his superstar co-star, “I didn’t really have any preconceived notions about Jennifer because I don’t read tabloids. I don’t plug into gossip and I don’t watch ‘TMZ.’ All I knew was that Jennifer was an actor and a musician because I’ve seen her movies and I’ve heard her music. I wasn’t expecting anything but I was curious to see who she was and what all the hype was. I found her to be one of the coolest people I’ve met. She’s really funny, talented and a super professional. She was a great partner to have in this film.”

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It was almost shocking to see former child actress Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie in the movie, “The Runaways” which we first saw at the Sundance Film Festival.

As the sexy lead singer of the all-girl teenage American band in the ’70s called The Runaways, Dakota gets to smooch her real-life best friend Kristen Stewart who also delivers one of her best performances onscreen as the young Joan Jett. Dakota gets to wear skimpy and revealing outfits that are far detached from her wholesome image.

Dakota explained to us why she accepted the role: “Cherie’s story really inspired me, especially the sacrifice that she makes at the end of the movie to give up life as she knows it – to be healthy again, giving up everything that you love and everything that you worked for, and everything that you know how to do. That was so powerful to me. Then when I met Cherie in real life a few weeks before we started filming, I found her to be one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. I am just so honored to play such an incredible woman.”

(Editor’s Note: Formerly a Manila journalist, Los Angeles-based Janet Susan Nepales is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.)

E-mail the writer at jrnepales_624@yahoo.com for your comments and questions.