“The Mother” starring Jennifer Lopez is released on Netflix

American actress, Jennifer Lopez, says she has been warned about the trials of mothering teenagers ever since she was pregnant with her twins, but she knows exactly what she wants to impart to her growing children as they edge closer to adulthood.

“I have to say it does come with its own set of challenges. Things change and I don’t know, I feel like I’m trying just to teach them the lessons that I want them to know. It’s just to like, unapologetically be yourself and love yourself and know that you can do anything if you work hard at it and you have passion for something, you’re limitless,” said Lopez, who had twins Emme Maribel and Maximilian David, with singer Marc Anthony, in 2008.

“That you don’t ever let people put you in a box or limit you in any way. You really can do whatever you want to do. I think just—and I want them to know very much so the lesson of love and how that heals everything. That’s an important thing I want them to know too.”

Lopez was speaking during an interview with The Associated Press about her new Netflix thriller, “The Mother.” The film follows Lopez as a former assassin who’s fleeing from other dangerous assailants, but comes out of hiding to protect the estranged daughter she left behind. 

It also stars Omari Hardwick as an FBI agent, who Lopez’s character entrusted with her newborn child to find a good home for her. 

Lopez also revealed there is a movie genre still on her wish list.

“I still think I want to do a proper musical. I’ve never done that on-screen. That could be a lot of fun. I’ve toyed with the idea of directing, but now that I’m married to an Oscar-winning director and I see what it takes to really do it at that level, I’m like, ‘Maybe, maybe no,” laughed Lopez. 

“But definitely musicals because that’s really what made me want to be an entertainer to begin with, was watching musicals with my mom when I was little – singing, acting, dancing, that’s why I do all three. And so that would be a nice thing.”

And Hardwick, who starred in the megahit show “Power” – which ran for six seasons between 2014-2020 on Starz – said he would be interested in reprising his role as former drug kingpin-turned-somewhat legit businessman James St. Patrick for the spinoff shows, “Power Book II: Ghost” or “Power Book IV: Force,” or consider a new show within the Power universe, if both sides can make it work.

“They asked me before to come back. They asked me in the last year and a half to come back. When I was offered this, when I was in Boston reading this script, I was in Boston saying, ‘Okay, then this.’ And then the ‘then this’ went to Starz and then they didn’t come back giving me what I wanted on the ‘then this,’” explained Hardwick.

So, is it a real possibility? Hardwick says yes, if he gets “the right ‘that.’”

“The Mother” premieres on 12 May on Netflix, just in time for Mother’s Day.