Romcom Bonanza to Nudge J-Lo Back Into Low-Wattage Spotlight

Clearly bored with the twins, absentee star Jennifer Lopez is set for a busy run of on-camera distractions in the months ahead. And perhaps needless to say after her ‘07 run of dodgy, self-produced dramas, the output to come promises a veritable bounty of romcoms playing to the constituency that will finally get J-Lo over that $100 million hump. Or maybe the $25 million hump — any hump, really, would likely satisfy producer Bob Yari, who’s bankrolling The Governess this fall:

Story centres on a professional thief who, in order to pull off a major bank heist, poses as a nanny to the three unruly children of a wealthy widower. When she starts to fall for the kids and their father, she must decide if she can give up her past for a chance to start over.

Playing the help has seemed to work for J-Lo in the past, with her highest-grossing entry Maid in Manhattan sure to inform Governess’s delicate balance between sass and servitude. Failing that (and with a SAG waiver in place, its the audience, not the encroaching labour woes, that would kill it), Lopez has a back-up ready with Governess co-screenwriter Don Roos, who has already attached her for his own comedy Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. All of which can only mean one thing, naturally: Madre’s will be back to its old Pasadena-institution self by New Year’s. We can’t wait.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

• Jennifer Lopez to star in ‘Governess’ [Variety]