Jennifer Lopez tears up as Kiss of the Spider Woman receives standing ovation at Sundance

Jennifer Lopez fought back tears as her new movie Kiss of the Spider Woman received a standing ovation after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday.

The Hustlers actress, her co-star Tonatiuh and director Bill Condon were showered with applause as they took to the stage in Park City, Utah after the premiere of their movie musical.

Lopez, wearing a web-patterned gown, told the crowd, "I've been waiting for this moment my whole life. The reason I even wanted to be in this business is because my mom would sit me in front of the TV and (West Side Story) would come on once a year. I was mesmerised and was like, 'That's what I want to do.' This is the first time I actually got to do it. This man (Condon) made my dream come true."

Condon, who wrote Chicago and The Greatest Showman and directed Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast, added that he started thinking about Kiss of the Spider Woman when he was last at Sundance 27 years ago.

"Kiss of the Spider Woman is a movie I started thinking about all those years ago. It's a movie I've wanted to make my entire life," he said, reports Variety.

In the musical drama, Lopez plays Aurora/Ingrid Luna and the Spider Woman, all figments of the imagination of Molina (Tonatiuh), who is serving time for public indecency in an Argentine prison. He tells stories about his favourite screen diva to his cellmate Valentin, played by Diego Luna.

Manuel Puig's novel of the same name was first adapted into a play and then a movie in the 1980s. In 1993, it was turned into a Broadway stage musical, which serves as the inspiration for the new film.

Kiss of the Spider Woman does not yet have a release date.