Selena Information

Selena is a 1997 American biographical drama film about the life and career of the late Tejano music star Selena, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico before she was murdered by the president of her fan club at the age of 23.

The movie stars Jennifer Lopez as Selena, in her breakthrough role. Her father, Abraham Quintanilla, Jr., is played by Edward James Olmos and Constance Marie plays Marcella Ofelia Samora–Quintanilla.

Plot

In 1961, a young Abraham Quintanilla and his band "The Dinos" are rejected by a white restaurant owner for an audition due to their "Whites Only" policy. They then perform to a Mexican audience at a nightclub called "Lerma's", but a riot ensues when they sing "We Belong Together".

In 1981, Abraham is married to Marcela Samora and now has three kids. When his young daughter Selena (Rebecca Lee Meza) sings with him while he is playing the guitar one day, he is amazed by her singing voice and decides to manage a band called "Selena y los Dinos" with Selena as the lead singer, his son A.B. (Rafael Tamayo; Jacob Vargas as an adult) on bass, and his other daughter Suzette (Victoria Elena Flores; Jackie Guerra as an adult) on drums. He soon opens a restaurant and there Selena sings in front of the customers, and is warmly received. Unfortunately, the Quintanilla family goes bankrupt and loses the restaurant. They move to Corpus Christi, Texas to live with Abraham's brother. There, Selena performs at a carnival and is poorly received, but one day, while the family is on the beach, Marcela hears a song on the radio and teaches Selena about a rhythm called Cumbia, which helps her and her band become more popular.

In 1989, Selena (now played by Jennifer Lopez) surprises her father when she wears and creates her first bustier. He gets upset, but Selena convinces him that "it's a cool thing." Selena meets a guitarist, Chris Perez, who after joining the band, develops a friendship with her. Abraham does not approve of Chris after his former rock band members trash a hotel suite even though he greatly helped in making music for the band. While Selena performs in Monterrey, Mexico, the crowd gets wild. Selena calms them down by singing her hit "Como La Flor". Chris and Selena's friendship grows into love and when Abraham catches them hugging on their tour bus, the Big Bertha, he fires Chris from the band and harshly threatens a heartbroken Selena that if she continues seeing him, he will disband the Dinos.

Selena and Chris continue seeing each other behind Abraham's back, but soon Selena becomes tired and tells Chris that she wants to marry him right away. In 1992, Selena and Chris elope secretly, but their marriage soon makes headlines on the radio. Selena goes to see her father, but he tells her that he is glad she did what she did, only wanting what was best for her (while at the same time tearfully confessing that he doesn't know how to let her go); also on the verge of tears herself, Selena comforts him. Chris is accepted into the Quintanilla family and returns to being the guitarist for Los Dinos.

During one of Selena's live performances, Jose Behar (the head of EMI Latin) and his music associates tell Abraham that they want to make an English language album for Selena. In 1994, Selena opens her first boutique called "Selena Etc.", which her fan-club president Yolanda Saldivar manages, and her album Selena Live! wins a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American album. As 1995 begins, she starts recording her crossover album, and Saldivar gives her a friendship ring, lying that it was only from her when it was really a gift from Selena's staff and her.

Later, Selena finds out from her father that Yolanda was stealing money from the fan club and a lot of business records have gone missing. On March 9, Abraham, Selena, and Suzette confront Saldívar about the evidence, she lies, saying she hasn't taken anything from Selena, even when the evidence is right in front of her. Selena continues to achieve fame and her concert at the Houston Astrodome on February 26 attracts a record breaking crowd of 65,000. However, just one month later, on March 31, she is murdered by Saldivar. Saldivar is later arrested after a brief standoff while Selena's fans, friends, and family are left grieving over her death.

The film ends with footage of the real Selena and her fans holding a candlelight vigil while the song "Dreaming of You" plays.

Cast

• Jennifer Lopez as Selena
• Jackie Guerra as Suzette Quintanilla
• Constance Marie as Marcella Quintanilla
• Alexandra Meneses as Sara
• Jon Seda as Chris Pérez
• Edward James Olmos as Abraham Quintanilla Jr.
• Jacob Vargas as A.B. Quintanilla
• Lupe Ontiveros as Yolanda Saldívar
• Pete Astudillo as himself, Dinos 1990s
• Ruben Gonzalez as Joe Ojeda
• Rebecca Lee Meza as Young Selena
• Selena Quintanilla-Pérez as Herself (singing voice) (archive footage)
• Victoria Elena Flores as Young Suzette
• Rafael Tamayo as Young A.B.
• Panchito Gomez as Young Abraham
• Seidy López as Deborah
• Ricky Vela as himself, Dinos 1990s
• Don Shelton as himself, Dinos 1990s

Production

On August 30, 1995, it was announced that Gregory Nava had signed on to write and direct Selena. The director was well-known for his previous films El Norte and Mi Familia, which "gave moviegoers a passionate, powerful look at Hispanic life" according to The Dallas Morning News. Selena's father Abraham Quintanilla was announced to executive produce the film. Abraham agreed to the film as "sort of a pre-emptive strike", and felt that it was better the film about Selena's life be made with him rather than someone else. Abraham had personally chosen Nava, stating: "I chose Mr. Nava because I think he's a good director and scriptwriter". The film was created with full participation from the Quintanilla family. The biographical film was focused on Selena's life instead of her death, Nava said "I don't want to attend to [her murder]", while her death is treated "at a distance".

Casting

In June 1996, it was announced that Jennifer Lopez was chosen to play Selena, in what was described as the "role of a lifetime", for a reported salary of $1 million. Also that month, it was announced that a 10-year-old girl originating from Harlingen, Becky Le Meza, was chosen from "thousands of girls who answered a nationwide casting call" to play a younger version of Selena in the film. Le Meza stated: "I'm really excited about this because I've never done anything like this before". Lopez, along with other actresses, had to undergo intense auditioning for the part, even though she had previously worked with Nava in the film Mi Familia (1995). The screen testing was described as "grueling", requiring "nine minutes of singing and dancing and eight pages of script." On August 8, 1996, the Los Angeles Daily News announced that Jon Seda and Edward James Olmos had joined the cast as Chris Perez and Abraham Quintanilla.

However, Lopez's casting was the subject to high criticism from fans of Selena, who weren't pleased that Lopez, a New York City native born to Puerto Rican parents, was selected to play Selena, a Texan of Mexican descent. They preferred an actress with Mexican roots. The Latino community began protesting for a re-cast. During pre-production, Lopez stated: "I know a few people were protesting, but in Corpus [Selena's hometown] everyone has been really supportive". Nava admitted that the backlash was "a little hurtful", and felt that the protesters "should be celebrating that we have an all-Latino cast and that Jennifer Lopez, one of our own, is becoming a star." Dave Karger of Entertainment Weekly noted that "nothing could have prepared [Lopez] for the hype attached to her million-dollar salary". Lopez perfected Selena's dialect while also "studying performance footage of the pop sensation" according to Nava. Lopez said "you need to do your homework on this gig" because Selena was "fresh in the public's mind". After seeing Lopez's portrayal of Selena, protesters revised their opinions and were more accepting of Nava's decision. Filming Selena inspired Lopez to begin her own music career.

Filming

Filming began from September 1996, in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Texas, Poteet Texas,Houston Texas and Lake Jackson, Texas. Nava used locals as extras for the film. Selena's real singing voice was used in the film, while Lopez would lip-sync to her songs. During filming, Jon Seda was unable to play the guitar the way Chris Perez did, as he explained on the film's DVD extra, Making of Selena: 10 Years Later. He then persuaded Perez to pay a visit to the set without telling him that he was going to have Perez play the guitar during the scene in which Chris auditions for Abraham, and the camera would zoom into his hands to make it seem like Seda was playing the guitar. Perez eventually agreed, and his hands were made up to match Seda's. In the noted stadium scenes, where Selena once performed, the producers used approximately 35,000 extras. The stadium scenes are arguably the film's centerpiece. Filming took place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, rather than the actual concert location: the Astrodome in Houston. Nava said he wanted to capture the "magnificence, beauty and excitement" of the concert. Abraham Quintanilla told Nava to remove scenes where Chris and Selena elope, because he didn't want to influence Selena's younger fans that eloping is right. However, Nava maintained that while this was true, the scene was inevitable because it was an important part to Selena's story. Abraham eventually agreed.

Music

An original motion picture Selena soundtrack was released by EMI Latin Records on March 11, 1997 debuting at 7 on the Billboard Charts and selling over 3,000,000 copies. The CD contains twelve tracks including Selena singing songs heard in the film. The only songs performed by Selena that were not heard on the film were "Is it the Beat", "Only Love", and "A Boy Like That", and the Selena tributes sung by other artists.

The only recordings by Selena heard on the film were the "Cumbia Medley", "Disco Medley", and "Where Did the Feeling Go?", which was played in the last half of the closing credits of the film. The Vidal Brothers' "Oldies Medley" was also on the film. Included are rare tracks, hits, and cuts like the "Disco Medley, Part II", recorded live during Selena's 1995 concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. All songs were recordings of Selena from concerts.

Release

Box Office

Following its August 1995 announcement, Selena was slated for an August 1996 release date. It was last pushed back to sometime at "the end of" 1996. Ultimately, it was released in America on March 21, 1997, after being pushed back several times. After its opening weekend, Selena grossed a total of $11,615,722 domestically, opening at No. 2 at the United States Box Office. In its second weekend, the film fell No. 3, grossing $6,138,838. The following weekend, it fell to No. 6, grossing $3,456,217. By April 20, 1997, Selena grossed a total of $32,002,285. Its total lifetime gross stands at $35,281,794. According to Box Office Mojo, Selena is the ninth highest-grossing musical biopic of all time.

Critical response

Selena received mostly positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, was impressed by the acting, and gave Selena three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "Young Selena is played by Becky Lee Meza, who has a big smile and a lot of energy. The teenage and adult Selena is played by Lopez in a star-making performance. After her strong work as the passionate lover of Jack Nicholson in the current Blood and Wine, here she creates a completely different performance, as a loyal Quintanilla who does most of her growing up on a tour bus with her dad at the wheel."

Film critic Lisa Kropiewnicki liked the film and wrote, "Jennifer Lopez delivers a breakout performance...[and] Nava's engaging script wisely mines his subject's life for humor and conflict, embracing Selena Quintanilla's passion for music." Film critic James Berardinelli also liked the film and the screenplay, writing, "It would have been easy to trivialize Selena's story, turning it into a sudsy, made-for-TV type motion picture." He believed the acting was top notch and wrote "Jennifer Lopez is radiant as the title character, conveying the boundless energy and enthusiasm that exemplified Selena, while 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."

Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan gave the film a mixed review. He wrote the film is part of a "completely predictable Latino soap opera." Yet, "there are chunks of Selena that only a stone could resist. This movie turns out to be a celebration not only of the singer but also (as "What's Love" was for Angela Bassett) of the actress who plays her, Jennifer Lopez."

Some film critics, however, did not like how the film appears like a sanitized Selena portrait. Critic Walter Addiego considers Nava's work a worshipful biography of her. Addiego, writing for the San Francisco Examiner, did have a few enjoyable moments viewing the film but wrote, "You can't help cheering for Selena, but the good feeling is diminished by the sense that her story's been simplified and sanitized." The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 64% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on thirty-nine reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, it has a rating score of 65, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".

Awards

Distribution

The film opened in wide release on March 21, 1997 (1,850 theaters) and sales the opening weekend were $11,615,722. Selena ran for 15 weeks domestically (101 days) and eventually grossed* 60,000,000 ($35,281,794 in the United States. The film sales worldwide were considerably more. At its widest release the film was shown in 1,873 screens. The production budget of the film was approximately $20,000,000.

A 10th Anniversary DVD edition of Selena was released on September 18, 2007 by Warner Home Video. The two-disc set contains the original theatrical version (127 minutes) and a director's cut version (134 minutes) of the film, which had been shown on several TV stations before. Extras include a Making of Selena: 10 Years Later featurette, a Queen of Tejano featurette, and nine additional scenes.