Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making Of “Selena”

Her Death and then the Movie

Selena passed away in March of 1995, and in March 21, 1997, four days shy of the two year anniversary of her death, the movie was released. And it was actually pushed back. The movie was supposed to come out in 1996. They announced in August, the same year of her death that Selena was going to come out in the fall of 1996. It was pushed back several times several time afterward and finally opened in 1997. So we can assume that conversations about the biopic started very soon after her death. Abraham Quintanilla, Selena’s father, said in response to questions that perhaps he was exploiting his daughter’s death to make money, that since the movie was going to be made, it was important that he be involved in the project. Furthermore, he referenced Selena’s own entrepreneurial spirit and said “If people criticize me for making money on Selena, I don’t know about it. And if they do, I don’t care. I don’t care what other people think. I never have.”

Who’s going to play Selena?

There were more than 20,000 women and girls who auditioned for the lead role. Many of these hopefuls were children hoping to portray the younger version of the Tejano starlet. Of the thousands, there was a woman named Leticia Miller, an unknown, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Selena. There was a Mexican soap opera actress named Bibi Gaytán who starred on the soap “Dos mujeres, un camino.” According to IMDB, Selena had once guest-starred on the soap. Most famously, Salma Hayak was also considered for the role. But Hayek declined the role because she wanted to portray Frida Khalo, the famous Mexican artist, and she didn’t want to play two Mexican heroines.

Jennifer Lopez 

Jennifer Lopez ultimately got the role at the approval of Selena’s family members, including Selena’s father who liked her immediately. In addition, Lopez had worked director Gregory Nava on another movie. And while the family approved, once the announcement had been made that Jennifer would be playing the role, there was immediate backlash. Selena fans were upset that the a New York born Puerto Rican-American actress would be playing a Texas born and raised Mexican-American. Jennifer Lopez said that she’d heard of the criticism but focused on the support she received from people in Selena’s hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas. Initial critics of the casting eventually came back and admitted that J-Lo was the right choice. She was too good to deny.

Preparation

In preparation for the role, in addition to studying every piece of tape and film of Selena in action she could get her hands on, Jennifer Lopez spent two months living with the Quintanilla family. Surprisingly, Lopez said learning Selena’s steps was one of the most challenging parts of the role. “It’s very hard to unlearn everything your body is accustomed to doing and that it does naturally. I had to learn what Selena did, which is very different from my own dance instincts.”

Initially, Lopez thought Chris, Selena’s husband, would be the person who would be able to provide the most information about who Selena really was, considering he knew her differently than the rest of her family. But that wasn’t the case. In another Film Scots interview, she said:

When I first got the part, I thought to myself Chris was the real insight into the way Selena was, because he knew her away from the family. But once I met Chris, I felt like I didn’t want to bother him; he had a great loss and he’s still dealing with it. He’s very quiet, as he is in the movie, and very sweet. I just didn’t to push that. Greg had interviewed Chris in depth for the film, Jon Seda, became very close to him, so I got a lot of my insight on Chris through Greg, Jon and their relationship. I just did not want to press that button. I thought I was a reminder for him and I just didn’t want to go there, you see what I mean? I talked more often with Abraham, Marcella, Suzanne, the rest of the family and friends. Of course, they have different views. Obviously, she was a wife to one person, a lover, and to Abraham, she was his little girl.

Lip Synching 

When she initially signed on to be a part of the biopic, Jennifer Lopez was under the impression that she was going to be providing her own vocals, singing Selena’s songs. But ultimately folks behind the scenes decided it was a better idea to use Selena’s vocals since her voice and image were still so fresh in the minds of her fans and they probably wouldn’t approve of hearing anyone else in her place. So Lopez was trained extensively by a vocal coach on how to lip sync.

The Other Cast

Brother

The actor who portrays Selena’s brother, Abie is Jacob Vargas. Vargas was personally selected by Abie to play the role. In an interview, Vargas said, “Abie told me he wanted me to do it. He said, ‘I’ve seen your work. I trust you.’ So it’s a great honor to have been chosen by Abie himself.” 

Sister

Jackie Guerra is the actress who plays Selena’s sister Suzette. She was so eager to get the role that she lied during her audition, saying she knew how to play the drums. She had never played drums a day in her life. Once the producers learned that she didn’t know how to play the drums, the real Suzette gave her private lessons to make her look more believable on screen.

Mom

Actress Constance Marie played Selena’s mother Marcella Quintanilla. In actuality, Marie is just four years older than Lopez and had to wear makeup to make her look older.  Marie says that before the movie came about, she’d never heard of Selena. But that didn’t keep her from auditioning for the title role. In preparation, she started listening to her music and watching her performances and said she became a fan. 15 years after the movie was released, Marie told NBC : “I watched videos of her over and over and became a fan while watching them.Then all of a sudden I had the thought ‘Oh my god, she’s not with us anymore!’ I became a fan and realized she was gone all in a week, and I began to cry.”

SEE ALSO

• Diddy’s Defense Admits Violence But Denies Sex Trafficking In Opening Statements
• Wowzer! 10 Sex Games To Build Trust And Intimacy With Your Partner
• Here’s Why You Should Never Pee In The Shower, According To Health Experts
• Why Women Get The ‘Ick’ More Than Men — It Might Just Prolong Their Lives
• Why Actress Amber Iman Calls ‘Goddess’ A Love Letter To Black Women In Theater [Exclusive]

The Money 

We don’t need to tell you that this was far from a cheap production. There was a rumored $20 million budget for the film. And at the time with $1,000,000 Jennifer Lopez became the highest paid Latino actress. It all paid off, The film brought in $35 million during its opening weekend and by the end of its box office run, Selena had grossed $60 million.

Yolanda

While the movie depicts Yolanda Saldívar as significantly older than Selena, in reality she was only eleven years older than her. Yolanda has an interesting story. She was a registered nurse who had adopted three children, one of them her niece. She became a fan of Tejano music and approached another artist, Shelly Lares, about starting a fan club. Lares’ father declined the invitation. Afterward Saldívar’s friends encouraged her to try Selena even though she didn’t like the singer because she dominated the Tejano Music Awards. After going to one of Selena’s concerts, she called Abraham repeatedly until he gave in to her requests. She was eventually promoted to manager of Selena’s clothing boutiques. And the fan club grew from 1,500 members to 5,000 by 1993. As the movie depicts, they learned that Saldívar was stealing money from the boutiques and fired her. Three weeks later, Selena agreed to meet so she could turn over records she had been withholding. Oddly, Saldívar claimed she had been raped. Selena drove her to the hospital and they found no signs of rape. When Selena returned back to the hotel, she asked for the documents again and that’s when Saldívar shot her in the shoulder. Selena ran towards the lobby, collapsed and a clerk called the ambulance. All the while Yolanda was still chasing her, calling her a bitch. Selena died in the hospital from a loss of blood. Yolanda was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility for parole in 2025. Due to several death threats from Selena fans, Yolanda was placed in isolation. She spends 23 hours a day in a 9×6 cell. She purchased a radio and is allowed to visit with friends and family for two hours each week.

The Questions

Any time there’s a tragedy, we always wonder how things could have been different. Even J Lo had those questions, and she made them known. In an interview with FIlm Scouts, she explained:

“When I first heard Selena had been murdered, I remember thinking, ‘What was she doing alone?’ But that was the kind of person Selena was. She was in her home town, she felt totally comfortable. 

It did bother me, though, and I asked her sister Suzette. She said to me: “Look, Jennifer, your best friend from the second grade now works with you as your assistant. Suppose you found out Arlene was stealing money from you, you guys had a fight, and Arlene said, ‘Jen, I have the proof I didn’t do it.’ Wouldn’t you go to the hotel by yourself?”

I said, “Yeah.” 

“Well, that’s what Selena did with Yolanda.” 

The murder omitted

You’ll notice that many of these details were omitted from the film. That was a very intentional and calculated move. In a 1997 interview with Caller-Times Interactive, Director Gregory Nava said he wanted the film to be a celebration of life rather than focusing so heavily on Selena’s death.

In terms of dealing with the death, I decided to go back to the most ancient template that there is for dealing with violence. I think it is, perhaps, the best still and that is the ancient Greek tragedy where you do not see the actual act of violence. It always takes place off stage and what you see is the consequences of the act.

When people speak about the depiction of violence in movies and television that we see today, many say, “Historically, violence has always been depicted.” That is not true. Historically, be it the ancient Greeks or Shakespeare or whatever, when violence is depicted, you see and understand the consequences of an act of violence.”

So he wanted to focus on showing the emotional impact her death had on the family. But he had to fight with the family to include them, specifically the scene in the hospital where they learn she has passed away.

The elopement

The family, specifically Abraham, was very concerned about making sure Selena’s image was protected. And because he realized that Selena was a role model, he wanted to omit the elopement between she and Chris because he didn’t want to send the message that that’s what young people should be doing. But Nava convinced him that it was a part of her story and important to show the way Selena asserted her independence.

The director

Speaking of the director Gregory Nava, in preparation for the movie Nava lived with the Quintainillas for two months the year before he started working on the film. Nava who says that he, being Latino, is drawn to telling those type of stories, says he’s more concerned with telling stories that speak to the universal experience. After Selena he went on to direct another biopic you may have heard of, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, the Frankie Lymon story.

Selena on Set 

Jennifer has said that she felt, on several occasions, that Selena was there watching over the process and the director agreed. In that same interview with the Caller-Times, he said:

“I don’t necessarily believe in those things,” Nava said. “But I felt Selena’s presence at several times during this movie. I hope and feel that her spirit was with us in some way.”
The real Selena appears in concert footage and snippets of home movies at the end of the film in a sequence Nava calls “the tribute.” Using the image of the real person is both a reminder to the audience that “Selena” is a true story and a glimpse at the enormous talent that was lost. `But I wish I hadn’t had to make this film. I wish I were making a movie with Selena, not about her.”