‘The Boy Next Door’: Jennifer Lopez Had Very Specific Advice for Co-Star Ryan Guzman During Their Love Scene

Once again, Jennifer Lopez‘s personal life is making headlines. But regardless, Lopez continues to ride the wave of love and support she’s received since 2019’s Hustlers. In fact, she’s declared her current mindset has helped her reach the best shape of her life. And Lopez certainly needed that confidence in filming an awkward love scene in The Boy Next Door.

Jennifer Lopez landed a hit with 2015’s ‘The Boy Next Door’

Lopez shot to movie star status with 1997’s Selena. And over the next several years, she headlined hits such as Out of Sight, The Cell, and Maid in Manhattan. But by the mid-2010s, it seemed like her big-screen track record wasn’t as strong as it had been. Then The Boy Next Door happened. And for better or worse, the movie turned out to be a solid financial success.

Made for a production budget of just $4 million, The Boy Next Door earned $52 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. While the movie earned poor reviews, it achieved a bit of a guilty pleasure status with its target audience. And in the process, the erotic thriller helped Lopez reclaim her box office power in the lead-up to Hustlers just a few years later.

The movie gave co-star Ryan Guzman during the steamy scene

Naturally, one of the most-talked-about scenes in the movie is the romantic encounter between Lopez’s character and the new neighbor, played by Ryan Guzman. According to HuffPost Live (via Us Weekly), Lopez and Guzman said filming the scene was awkward. Unlike their characters, Lopez took control in helping Guzman get in the moment on set, he said.

“[Jennifer Lopez] was the one that told me how important the scene was, and just to get out of your own head, and just to have fun with each other. Let me clarify… be relaxed!”

The Boy Next Door might not be everyone’s type of movie. But this scene in question is undeniably the fulcrum for everyone that comes after it. After all, Noah (Guzman) develops an obsession with Claire (Lopez) soon thereafter. Meanwhile, critics fixated on a historical inaccuracy tied to Homer’s epic poem The Iliad.

Jennifer Lopez is no stranger to racy or controversial movie roles

Lopez told HuffPost she definitely considers the sex scene in The Boy Next Door to be one of the “racier” ones she’s done on-screen. However, the actor hasn’t shied away from controversial material in the past. In fact, she once admitted her biggest regret was turning down the 2002 erotic thriller Unfaithful.

In that movie, Diane Lane stars as a suburban wife and mother who begins an extra-marital affair with a handsome stranger (Olivier Martinez). Perhaps Lopez hoped The Boy Next Door would give her the chance to take on a similar project. Although it didn’t earn the same acclaim — Lane even received an Oscar nod — Lopez’s movie became a hit nonetheless.