'Marry Me' director says she used Jennifer Lopez's experience going 'through the ringer' with tabloids to capture a grounded moment in the rom-com

• Kat Coiro told Insider she did the scene "again and again and again" so it felt emotional.
• "It became even more painful than just the idea and the experience," she said of the scene.

In the Jennifer Lopez/Owen Wilson romantic comedy "Marry Me," we watch a heartbreaking moment when Lopez's character, popstar Kat Valdez, becomes the butt of late-night talk shows.

In the movie, Kat is set to marry her love and fellow popstar, Bastian (Maluma), in front of a live audience, but things take a turn when she finds out he's been cheating on her. In defiance, Valdez marries a random guy (Wilson) from the audience instead.

"Marry Me" director Kat Coiro revealed to Insider that to capture the aftermath — Valdez, in her wedding dress, looking through the TV channels as the news breaks of what happened — she and Lopez used experiences from Lopez's life since the star's own breakups were often put on display for the entire world to see.

"What happens when you go home and you're alone and they are making fun of you on television, how do we get there?" Coiro told Insider over a Zoom chat on how the scene came together. "Jennifer has been through the ringer so this was her being generous with her real-life experiences. We talked about that scene as something that she has personally experienced, being made fun of, being taken down, people so happy to see her fall."

Lopez's past romantic relationships have been tabloid fodder since she married Cuban waiter Ojani Noa in 1997 (which lasted 11 months). Since then, the star has been involved in numerous high-profile relationships, including marriages to actor Cris Judd (2001-2003) and singer Marc Anthony (2004-2014); as well as dating rapper Sean "Love" Combs, baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez (the two were engaged), and most recently to actor Ben Affleck (the two were previously engaged in 2002).

Coiro said to capture that scene of Valdez alone watching TV while still wearing her dress, she had Lopez do numerous takes to get it right.

"It was one of those scenes that we ran again and again and again to the point where it became even more painful than just the idea and the experience," Coiro said. "It was, 'Let's do this and really dig in.' So we knew where those moments were and she was such a partner in knowing that."

"Marry Me" is currently in theaters and available on Peacock.