For her first film role in two years, Jennifer Lopez chose the sudsy romantic-stalker drama The Boy Next Door, which she also produced. And she admits there was something irresistibly relatable about the character which she plays.

Jennifer Lopez in 'The Boy Next Door'
Jennifer Lopez stars in her first film in two years

"We knew we were making a popcorn thriller," she said, "but the character for me was something that seemed a perfect fit for right now. I really could relate to what she's been through, being at the point in her life where her relationship falls apart. She's left feeling that sense of worthlessness, like she doesn't belong anywhere. So I think people can understand making a mistake in a moment like that."

More: Read our review of 'The Boy Next Door'

She plays Claire, a single mother with a teen son, who has a fling with her 19-year-old neighbour, played by Step Up actor Ryan Guzman. For the sex scene, Lopez refused to use a body double.

Watch the trailer for 'The Boy Next Door' here: 


"It was all me," she said, "and all Ryan, by the way." But she goes on to note that filming that kind of encounter is intense: "Those scenes are embarrassing. They are uncomfortable, but your job as an actress or an actor is to make it believable, that it was enough to make this guy go insane."

To get through the scene, Lopez says it was important to keep things professional. And this includes the moment when she dissolved into a fit of giggles with Guzman to break the tension.

Lopez knows that for an actor "it's just as hard to bare your soul emotionally. But it was very empowering doing this film, knowing that I could have a script and get it made. And play a role that I wanted to play that no studio was making. That was really great."

'The Boy Next Door' poster