Selena
In 1995, news of a young Tejano singer named Selena took center stage. The singer was shot and killed by the president of her fan club. Her death wasn’t a very significant event for most white Americans, but in the Latin community, where Selena was considered the Mexican version of Madonna, her death was on a par with that of John Lennon’s.
Selena Perez was a famous Latin singer killed by the president of her fan club
As it turned out, the high-profile media coverage of Selena’s death made her more famous dead than she had been alive, and Hollywood executives recognized the potential of making a movie of her life. In August 1995, Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, made it known that he would be executive producer in a joint venture between his Q Productions, Moctesuma Esparza, and Robert Katz. The project was a film based on Selena’s life.
Gregory Nava, who had directed the film My Family, was to write and direct the movie, which they would begin filming on February the following year. To find the perfect person to play the role of Selena, an international casting call was set.
But during the time of this announcement, Jennifer was busy. She had just completed filming Jack, a movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and was in Miami shooting the thriller Blood and Wine alongside Jack Nicholson.
From this point on, it’s easy to say that the roles Jennifer auditioned for and won had improved. But the same cannot be said about her relationship with her boyfriend, David. He was her high-school sweetheart who had followed her and stayed with her when she relocated in Los Angeles. But he was the first victim of her career.
Jennifer viewed them as two people growing in different ways. Her star was ascending, but David seemed directionless even with his job as production assistant. She said, “He came out here with me and was here with me the whole time when I first started doing television. Career-wise, we weren’t in the same place. He just didn’t know what he wanted to do. But I had a fire under my ass. I was so fast, I was like a rocket; he was like a rock.”
It wouldn’t be long before Jennifer discovered that for all the success she was enjoying, it would be difficult to find a partner who would complement her life and her career.
And so her acting career was on the rise. Abraham Quintanilla and the other producers were willing to hire an unknown young woman to play the role of Selena. From all over the country, a lot of hopefuls flocked to the production office with their tapes and pictures. But as luck would have it, Gregory Nava, who would direct the film, was already familiar with Jennifer’s work and saw her as a bright young actress. But even then, Jennifer still had to audition alongside the more than 22,000 hopefuls in various cities.
Considering that Selena was the movie that propelled Jennifer into stardom, she was at first doubtful about playing the character. She recalled, “I got a call saying that Gregory Nava was going to direct the Selene story. Now, I knew she was about my age and they might be considering me for it. But it wasn’t this thing like, ‘I have to get this part.’” She auditioned anyway and she got the part.
Jennifer’s portrayal of Tejano singer Selena earned her praises and her first Golden Globe nomination
Jennifer was serious about portraying Selene to the best of her ability, especially after Mexican-American activists were critical that Jennifer, a New York City native born to Puerto Rican parents, was chosen to play the role. She wanted to prove to them that her being chosen was not a mistake.
In preparation for the role, she immersed herself in Selena’s daily life, even moving in with Selena’s sister, Suzette, in Corpus Christi. Jennifer also spent time with the rest of the family, particularly with the mother, Marcela. She said, “She told me I was just like Selena. “’You never eat, you don’t want to look fat, you never drink enough water! You’re just like Selena.’”
From Marcela, Jennifer also found out that Selena was worried “about eating too much and getting fat that she almost passed out.”
Jennifer’s efforts enabled her to grow close with Selena’s family, and they eventually opened their hearts to her and showed her photo albums and videotapes. Jennifer remembered, “I watched every piece of videotape I could get because you act different in interviews than you are off-screen. I think anyone who does a film like this about a real person, you have to do your homework and find every insight into who she was and what made her tick, and what was the flaw in her personality that led to her death.”
She attempted to combine all that she gleaned into a living on-screen person. But she was not into physical impersonation, though makeup artists were successful in molding Jennifer’s features so that they resemble Selena’s. What she wanted, more than anything, was “to capture her personality down to the tiniest details – even the way she rubbed her nose.”
Later on, Jennifer would discover how the tragedy would weigh heavily on her. She said, “We all felt badly when we first heard Selena died, but now I feel so much closer to it. Even as I’m researching it, I just sit there and cry.”
One of the things Jennifer had to master was Selena’s trademark unique sense of style, which was very different from Jennifer’s. At that point, Jennifer was partial to “really flowery, pretty dresses” or “Hush Puppies and low-cut pants and short T-shirts” whereas Selena made fashion statements every single time. Selena was known for wearing tight pants and midriff-baring tops.
Jennifer told In Style, “Our styles are very different. I’m into a more minimalist look. She wore darker makeup than I do. We also have very different taste in clothing – she wore jeweled bras with tight pants, for example, and that’s not me. But part of getting into character for me was to look in the mirror and see her face and not my own.”
One of the things that Jennifer admired about Selena was the fact that the doomed singer wasn’t afraid to just be herself. It was one thing that endeared her to her fans. She didn’t even try to hide her voluptuous figure which, Jennifer knew, was in contrast to what the Hollywood actresses wanted to have. It was all about being thin and white.
But Jennifer, who herself had a voluptuous body, recalled, “I’ve always had trouble with wardrobe people! If you watch the films I’ve been in, you can see what my figure’s like. I don’t have the typical very straight body. I’m hippy. I have a big butt. It’s not like you can hide it. But when I get in with the wardrobe designer, they’re thinking, ‘Let’s see, she’s looking a little hippy, she’s got a big butt, what should we do? How can we make her hips look smaller? How can we make her look a little slighter?’ They’re always trying to minimize because we see all those actresses who are so thin and white. Latinos have a certain body type. Even the thin ones, we are curvy. So I’m like, ‘This is my shape. This is my body. I don’t ever go below 120 pounds.”
While the actors filmed the movie, they didn’t get immediate audience feedback and it would be months before they could find out if the public liked what they did. But for Jennifer, she got a peek of how the viewing public thought of her while filming the concert scenes. That experience taught her how addictive it was to perform in front of thousands of adoring fans.
In the completed film, the first scene was Selena’s concert in 1995. For that scene, Director Nava assembled more than thirty thousand fans in the Houston Astrodome to re-create Selena’s concert on February 26, 1995, during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Jennifer as Selena in the first concert scene of the movie
When Jennifer stepped onto the stage to begin filming the concert scene, the audience cheered. And the most surprising thing was that many were calling out “Jennifer” instead of “Selena.”
That soothed Jennifer’s nerves. For 90 minutes, the audience stood and cheered for Jennifer’s Selena-like moves. She later talked about this experience, saying, “It was an incredible rush. I felt a lot of love from that crowd. It was a week into production, so we hadn’t had the time to feel comfortable and ready. And because of the controversy, I was afraid of what to expect. When I got the part I
didn’t realize how big this woman was and how many fans she had in the Latin press, in the Latin community both in this country and out of this country. I was a little overwhelmed.”
Interestingly, Jennifer was praised for her dazzling performance, but the film in general didn’t garner the same praise mainly for being a sugarcoated depiction of Selena’s life and her family.
Dallas Morning News write Chris Vognar noted that, “Selena’s legend is still quite fresh, and Ms. Lopez is up to the daunting task of bringing her back to life. She doesn’t disappoint, playing the budding star as a humbly dynamic figure capable of charming anyone.”
James Berardinelli, an online critic, couldn’t agree more. He said, “Jennifer is radiant as the title character, conveying the boundless energy and enthusiasm that exemplified Selena, which effectively copying not only her look, but her mannerisms. I wonder if Selena’s family, upon watching this performance, felt an eerie sense of déjà vu. It’s apparent from the clips of the real performer shown at the movie’s conclusion that Lopez has done a masterful job of re-creating a personality.”
Another film critic, Lisa Kropiewnicki, had only praises for Jennifer’s performance. “Jennifer Lopez delivers a breakout performance ...”
Even Jennifer’s co-stars in the film were effusive of their admiration for her. Edward James Olmos, who starred in the film as Abraham Quintanilla, commented, “She has a tremendous amount of glamour, which I haven’t seen in an actress for years.” The director agreed, saying that Jennifer is “just a complete wow!” He added, “Casting Jennifer gave me a head start as a director. She already had the heartbeat. Preview audiences love her for the same reason audiences loved Selena. It’s because she’s wonderful, her talent and humanity shine through, not because she’s Latin.”
For all of these accolades, Jennifer was nominated in the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
The movie was released in 1997 and hit number two. It earned over $11 million in its first week and grossed$60 million internationally. The film was a big winner at the 1998 American Latino Media Arts Awards where it was nominated for six awards and won four, including Best Movie of the Year. Jennifer was also nominated for Best Breakthrough Performance at the MTV Movie Awards.
While filming Selena, Jennifer had effectively entered the ranks of Hollywood’s new generation of movie stars. She has also become something of an icon to the Latin community. While the Mexican-American activists initially disapproved of Jennifer to portray Selena, they changed their opinions after seeing Jennifer’s portrayal of Selena. As a result, Jennifer received outstanding praise from her critics.
In November 1996, the first Spanish-language issue of People listed Jennifer among the top-ten hottest Latins in entertainment including Antonio Banderas,Salma Hayek, Thalia, and Enrique Iglesias.
Having been paid $1 million for her portrayal of Selena, Jennifer became the highest-paid female Latin performer in the history of Hollywood. And soon her fee per picture would increase. She would be paid $2 million for Out of Sight, $4 million for The Cell, $9 million for The Wedding Planner, $12 million for Maid in Manhattan and $15 million for Monster-in-Law.
With the filming for Selena completed, Jennifer looked to what the future held for her. In November 1996, she said that what she saw was not “the pinnacle of what I’ll reach” but “this endless hallway.” Indeed, there’s still so much for her to accomplish.
Chapter 5 – From Film Star to Pop Star
More Films
More often than not, there are singers who cross-over to acting. But in Jennifer’s case, it was the other way around. The cross-over is usually a difficult process, especially for a singer who wants to enter the world of acting but lacks the necessary skills to be an actor. However, for Jennifer who wants to cross over to singing, it’s a bit easy because she possesses the skills to sing and dance.
She was still filming Selena when the idea formed in her head. She wanted to include “singer” in her professional resume. And while filming, although she could sing Selena’s songs, the producers had asked her to lip-sync instead. During the filming of the concert sequences, Jennifer was actually singing but her voice wasn’t being recorded.
With the thousands of fans who showed up for the first show in the movie, Jennifer discovered how pleasurable it was to perform live. She said, “That week I told my managers that I want to record something. I’ve gotta record an album. I love doing it so much. So maybe that’s something to work on this year.”
Her plan to cross-over to singing didn’t come to fruition immediately because she was busy filming movies. She starred in Anaconda, a 1997 film where Jennifer played the role of director Terri Flores who, along with her crew, was trying to find a lost tribe on the Amazon River and instead were faced with the giant anaconda. The film received negative reviews, but nevertheless, it was a box office hit, grossing more than $136 million internationally.
A scene in the movie Anaconda with costar Ice Cube
Jennifer also worked on Oliver Stone’s film U-Turn, alongside Sean Penn and Billy Bob Thornton. Before the production of Selena began, it was announced that Jennifer was signed to costar in the film. And when she auditioned, Stone was immediately taken with her, but she didn’t find it exciting to be working with Stone because at the time, Jennifer was heading off to film Anaconda. She also learned that actress Sharon Stone was vying for the role in U-Turn.
U-Turn wasn’t much of a success in the box office and it was met with mixed reactions from critics. It was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director and Worst Supporting Actor.
Next, Jennifer appeared in the 1998 American crime film Out of Sight as Karen Sisco, and her role in this movie was one of her most acclaimed roles. Starring opposite George Clooney, Jennifer’s Karen character was a deputy federal marshal who falls in love with a charming criminal. She won rave reviews for her performance and the movie’s performance in box office cemented Jennifer’s bankability.
Jennifer starred alongside George Clooney in the 1998 film Out of Sight
Janet Maslin wrote, “Ms. Lopez has her best movie role thus far, and she brings it both seductiveness and grit; if it was hard to imagine a hard-working, pistol-packing bombshell on the page, it couldn’t be easier here.”
In the first week since the movie was released, it earned $12 million and eventually grossed $77.7 million worldwide. It was nominated the Best Film of 1998 as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay by the National Society of Film Critics. The Entertainment Weekly voted the film as the sexiest film ever on their “50 Sexiest Movies Ever” poll. In addition, Out of Sight was nominated for two Academy Awards and won the Edgar Award for best screenplay.
In 1997, just two years before Jennifer would embark on her own music career, she appeared in the music video of Puff Daddy’s Been Around the World. She and Puff Daddy performed a dance sequence in the video.
The Start of Music Career
In 1998, Sony Music’s Work Group announced that it had signed an exclusive recording deal with Jennifer Lopez. The company’s president and chief operating officer Tommy Mottola, who had recently split from his protégée Mariah Carey, said, “As great an actress as she is, Jennifer Lopez is also a gifted musical performer. Jennifer is going to surprise a lot of people who have never glimpsed this facet of her artistry.”
That same month, Cindy Adams suggested that Jennifer had her butt resculpted. Adams said, “It’s just that she had what she used to call a very well-developed booty, and since I am not exactly derriere-impaired myself, I don’t like to say too much, but when she stood sideways, it looked like a Dodge hatchback.” But Jennifer insisted that she was just getting into better shape.
She also found herself running afoul of some of her peers. In the February issue of Movieline, Jennifer gave a lengthy, straight-from-the-hip interview to Stephen Rebello. Rebello prompted her to say something about some actors. Jennifer referred to Salma Hayek as a “sexy b
ombshell” who was stuck playing a certain kind of role while she could “do all kinds of different things.”
Jennifer added that Hayek was a liar for claiming that she was offered the role of Selena in the film of the same name. She also said that Columbia executives asked her to choose between Anaconda and Fools Rush In, and that Hayek was given the latter after Jennifer chose Anaconda.
When talking about Cameron Diaz, Jennifer referred to her as a “lucky model.” About Gwyneth Paltrow, she said, “Tell me what she’s been in?... I heard more about her and Brad Pitt than I ever heard about her work.” She referred to her U-Turn costar Claire Danes as a “good actress” who was starting to do “the same thing with every character she does.”
Jennifer threw in some unflattering words about Jack Nicholson and Wesley Snipes, blasted those who issued her paychecks for underpaying her, and even said she couldn’t understand why Winona Ryder was “revered”. She found Madonna a “great performer” but one whose acting skills left a lot to be desired. On top of all that, she said that she was tired of hearing people say that acting is easy. She said, “Acting is what I do, so I’m harder on people when they say, ‘Oh, I can do that – I can act.’ I’m like, ‘Hey, don’t spit on my craft.’”
The effects from this critical commentary were predictable. Columnists took her to task, including some Latin journalists who had supported her in the past. Angelo Figueroa, the managing editor of the Spanish edition of People, wrote, “Her publicist called me and said, ‘How could you do this to Jennifer Lopez? You’re Latino, you’re her own people?’ I’m like, ‘I am not Jennifer’s publicist, I am here to report the news. And if Jennifer Lopez decides to say that Jack Nicholson is a legend in his own mind … and that, you know, Gwyneth Paltrow can’t act … she just really dissed a whole bunch of folks. If she says that, that’s news.”
Modern Divas Boxed Set Page 21