Maid in Manhattan (2002)

With Lopez aboard, Thomas and Schindler recruited director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club, Smoke) because "not only has he shown great wit in movies like Smoke and Chan is Missing," says Schindler, "and even the more dramatic Joy Luck Club, but he has demonstrated a very sure command of character-driven pieces. That seemed to be the ideal combination for this story."

"We loved that his films were antithetical to the genre," adds Thomas. "We needed an edge of reality, and, as long as we promised to keep the story grounded, Wayne agreed to direct."

Wang was drawn to the project because "it wasn’t just filled with easy gags and an implausible romance," he says. "The humor resonates and the love story builds in a completely believable way."

Another element that appealed to the director was the "upstairs-downstairs" aspect of the story and the commingling of two different worlds, the well-heeled patrons at a Manhattan luxury hotel and the people who work there, behind the scenes. "It’s more than just a romance about two people from different worlds. That they instinctively fall for one another is the easy part," says Wang. "But developing understanding and respect for one another. That’s what makes it work."

Next stop was the man who wrote Working Girl, Kevin Wade. "Kevin was a wonderful collaborator," says Thomas. "He heard our ideas and scripted a beautiful story."

Says Wade: "I consciously stuck to the bones of the original idea, which was about a hard-working woman who gets a chance to go to the dance," says Wade. "The twist for me is that she’s not at all eager to pursue her prince, because she’s afraid of jeopardizing the security she has worked so hard to achieve for herself and for her son. That created the opportunity for a great deal of tension, both comedic and dramatic."

Like Lopez, the character of Marisa Ventura is a Bronx-born Puerto Rican woman from a working class background. "I knew this girl better than any character I had ever come across," says Lopez. "I understood the feeling of being on the outside looking in and not allowing herself to dream of a better life for herself."

Though the film tells its story through humor, Lopez admired its underpinning of reality. "Marisa is a woman who has put her personal life on the back burner, which a lot of mothers do, especially single mothers," she says. "The story is about how she finds balance in her life, how she learns to take care of her own needs and, at the same time, continues to meet the needs of her son."

For the role of Christopher Marshall, the wealthy son of a prominent politician, Thomas, Schindler, Wang and Lopez were looking for someone with "that 'Cary Grant' quality. I think it was Jennifer who suggested Ralph first," says Thomas. "While none of us had seen him do comedy, we certainly knew he could pull off the romance. He's an amazing actor. So we chased him, begged him, and smiled a lot until he couldn't refuse."

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