Jennifer Lopez is paying tribute to the musical icon whose life story helped rocket her to superstardom.
Lopez celebrated the 25th anniversary of her classic biopic Selena in an emotional social media post Monday, marking the date the Gregory Nava-directed film — which charted the rise of Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla before her murder in 1995 — first hit theaters on March 21, 1997.
“What a very special day … we’re celebrating 25 years of SELENA! Today we celebrate and honor Selena’s legacy and music,” Lopez wrote on Instagram alongside a throwback clip of herself from an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. “This movie means so much to me … Selena and her family mean so much to me, and I was so lucky to be chosen to play her. I’ll never forget this time in my life and it’s an honor as an artist to have been part of the magic that is this movie.”
In the video, Winfrey asks Lopez what it was like having Quintanilla’s family on set while she portrayed the singer, who’s often cited as one of the most influential Latino performers of all time.
“The experts were there everyday. It was tough, but I knew I had a tough job ahead of me,” Lopez told Winfrey at the time. “In my trailer was like music all day, videos all day, just to really absorb who she was. She was a very happy and alive person. I absorbed as much as I could of her and tried to understand what made her tick, what made her happy, what made her sad.”
Everett Collection Jennifer Lopez in ‘Selena’
A moderate critical and commercial success, Selena went on to score Lopez her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. She also earned a nomination at the MTV Movie Awards for Best Breakthrough Performance ahead of rise to become an international star thanks to films like Anaconda, Out of Sight, The Wedding Planner, Hustlers, and more.
In 2021, Selena was also added to the Library of Congress as a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant work of art.
Watch Lopez talk about Selena on the 25th anniversary in her Instagram post above.
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