Selena is a 1997 American biopic musical play written and directed by Gregory Nava about the lives and careers of Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla-PÃÆ' Â © rez, a famous recording artist in the community Latin in the United States and Mexico before he was killed by Yolanda SaldÃÆ'var, president of his fan club, at the age of 23.
The film stars Jennifer Lopez in her escape role as Selena. Selena's father Abraham Quintanilla Jr. (who acted as a producer in the film) is played by Edward James Olmos and Constance Marie plays Selena Marcella Quintanilla's mother. Selena was released on March 21, 1997 in the United States for positive reviews from critics and viewers.
Video Selena (film)
Plot
The film began on February 26, 1995, with American music singer Tejano Selena performing a sold-out concert at Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Blinking back to Corpus Christi, Texas in 1961, Abraham Quintanilla Jr. young and his band, Los Dinos, were refused to audition by restaurant owners because of their ancestors in Mexico-America. Crushed, Abraham gave up his musical career.
In 1981, Abraham is now married to Marcella and has three children, A.B., Suzette, and Selena. One day Selena finds her father playing music and singing along. Fascinated by his daughter's talent, Abraham decided to start a band with Selena as the lead vocalist, A.B. on bass, and Suzette on drums, despite Suzette's protest that "girls do not play drums". The band, Selena y Los Dinos, often performs at a Mexican restaurant opened by the family, and receives a positive reception from the visitors. Eventually, the business went bankrupt, and the family moved to Corpus Christi.
The actions moved forward to 1989, where Selena y Los Dinos played a concert at the fair. Abraham was surprised when Selena took off her jacket and did a bead bra. She confronts Selena on the band bus, but she points out that her mother helped her make it, and other fashionable female musicians like Madonna and Janet Jackson also wore bustiers. Abraham relents, and Selena begins to design more clothes for his band.
When the band needed a new guitarist, A.B. recommend Chris PÃÆ' Â © rez, and audition him to his father. Abraham hesitated to recruit Chris because of his tough guy, the image of heavy metal, but A.B. shows that "It's just the musicians stuff". Abraham agrees to recruit Chris if he will cut his hair. Chris tidied her hair with Suzette's help and joined the band. The tour band stopped at a roadside restaurant, where Suzette heard the radio announcement that "Como la Flor" had reached number one on the music charts; band and family celebrate it when Suzette returns with the news. Selena and Chris begin to have romantic feelings for each other. Selena's mother supports, but Abraham angrily shoots Chris when she finds them hugging on the tour bus. Selena tears out, but an angry Abraham threatens to disperse the group if she continues to see it.
Chris and Selena kept looking at each other behind Abraham's back. Selena got tired of having to hide their love, and went to Chris's hotel room. She persuades him to elope, saying it's the only way his father will leave them alone. They married secretly on April 2, 1992. The happy couple returned home at the Selena converter, but a radio station announced their marriage and played "Como La Flor" in celebration. Selena and Chris decide to hide for a day so Abraham will have time to calm down. Selena comes home to explain to her father, and Abraham agrees to accept their relationship. Quintanillas welcomed Chris to their family and hired him back into the band.
Selena played a concert in San Antonio, supervised by executives from her Latin music label. The producers spoke to Abraham about his growing popularity and phenomenal sales record, and asked if he was ready to cross into the English-speaking market.
In January 1994 Selena decided to fulfill her other dreams and open Selena Dll, a clothing boutique that would showcase her design, and hire Yolanda SaldÃÆ'var, the president of her fan club, as a boutique manager. Later, Selena is delighted to win a Grammy Award for Best American American Album.
Back home, Selena learns from her father that Yolanda has embezzled funds from fan clubs. On March 9, 1995, Selena and her father, along with Suzette, faced Yolanda about the missing funds at a meeting. Yolanda denies this and says he will never take anything from Selena. Selena, angry and hurt by betrayal, asks Yolanda how she can do this to her, and to her fans. Yolanda asks for time to return the boutique's financial records and claims that she can prove that she has done nothing wrong. Selena and Chris discuss the prospect of starting their family when the crossover tour is over. The future looks bright with promise.
On March 31, after an argument over a lost financial document, Selena was killed by Yolanda at a Corpus Christi motel. Yolanda was arrested after a nine and a half hour standoff with police. When Selena's family, friends and enthusiasts mourn her death, a montage of Selena's original photos and videos played during the night candle flame, and the movie ends with Selena's frozen frozen frame.
Maps Selena (film)
Cast
Pre-production
On March 31, 1995, Selena was shot dead by Yolanda SaldÃÆ'var, a former friend who has run the singer boutique of Selena Dll. Responses by the Hispanic community are comparable to the deaths of Elvis Presley musician John Lennon and US president John F. Kennedy. News agencies were invaded by people searching for items related to Selena. Eight unauthorized biographies were released and six documentaries and two major companies are in the process of releasing Selena movies, all without the consent of Chris Perez and the Quintanilla family. This caused Abraham to produce a film based on Selena within weeks of his death, a process he found difficult because he and his family were still mourning. He believed the official film would "put an end to all the false rumors" that circulated through the media at the time, and "silenced [the media] from telling the wrong story." He wants "the whole world to know the true story of [Selena]." A.B. voiced family concerns about the possibility of "misinterpretation [Selena], [their] family, and culture" by outside sources and their belief that it is important to release their own official film about the singer. He further said that the decision was imposed on them after learning about unauthorized biographies and films that could potentially mislead Selena's story. At the time of Abraham's decision, there was "gossip and crazy mad things coming from the press" about family plans on a movie. Abraham wants the film to perpetuate Selena "in a way that is truly positive and beautiful [and wants] to celebrate his life [and] be silent and put to rest all negative evils [the media has been described]."
News about Abraham's desire to release official films reached Hollywood, and American filmmaker Moctesuma Esparza. Esparza immediately approached Abraham in his office in Corpus Christi, Texas about a partnership to produce the film. He educated Abraham about the filmmaking process and support system he could give when giving authoritative control of Abraham over casting, the approval of the manuscript and the choice of director. On August 30, 1995 (the week after he and Abraham agreed to partner), Esparza returned to Corpus Christi from California and brought Gregory Nava. Abraham did not like Esparza's decision and expressed his concern about Nava's potential involvement. Abraham tells Esparza that he does not want Nava to become director for his ego, though Esparza assures Abraham that he is a perfect candidate. Producer Robert Katz later said Nava was chosen because of another film he directed "has a very encouraging and positive quality" and believes that they are dealing with "a very powerful and tragic element." The Dallas Morning News found Nava's work to give "passionate movie audiences, a strong look in Hispanic life". On September 8, 1995, Abraham told the media about his decision to partner with Esparza/Katz Productions and announce the film budget was in the range of $ 15 and $ 20 million. In the Entertainment Weekly interview, Abraham admitted to wanting the duo because they are "in harmony with our culture". Other Hispanic filmmakers are thought to direct movies including Luis Valdez and Edward James Olmos but have settled with Nava. Katz says the team has overcome "what most people think is a fatal contract" by entrusting Abraham's decision and having a working relationship with him throughout the film production: "work ahead so the studio knows exactly what we are proposing."
Production
Nava began writing the script after recording the Quintanilla family in their story about Selena. Suzette tells how Nava takes "hours of little stories about our lives and what we will do and how we feel." Nava explains how some of the stories "came out" during the recording sessions with the family and published the first draft on March 4, 1996. The incident in which Selena and Perez eloped was written in a draft declared by Abraham of disagreement. Citing the singer's popularity with children, she worries that they can get the wrong message about eloping as the best decision. Nava took a few days to persuade Abraham about the contents of the scene before he agreed to it, noting that Selena's elopement was the main part of his story. He further insisted that the painting of his character after the scene would overshadow a more positive tone after previous negative ratings on Selena and Perez's relationship in the film. Curious about how Nava knew about the elopement, Abraham asked the director and found out that he had interviewed Perez. Abraham discovered that Selena had persuaded Perez to elope; with the initial assumption that Perez had forced her to secretly marry.
Casting
Roger Mussenden was hired as a casting director, and casting throughout the United States including San Antonio, Texas, Miami, Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. The casting call began on March 16, 1996 and ended on March 23. Over 21,000 people auditioned for the title role, becoming the second largest audition since Scarlett O'Hara's search at Gone With the Wind (1939)). Casting turnouts reach 10,000 in Los Angeles and 5,000 in Chicago, while turnouts reach 8,000 in San Antonio. Mussenden chose Becky Lee Meza from 10-year-old Harlingen to portray the younger Selena, her acting debut. Mexican actress Salma Hayek was invited to test the role of Selena by Esparza. Hayek reversed the role; he says he feels "too early" to base his film on Selena and it will be emotional because Selena's death is still covered on US television. Abraham found an actress in Los Angeles and wanted her for a role as Selena, despite her inability to convince the casting crew. He then had a change of heart when American actress and dancer Jennifer Lopez appeared to audition. Lopez invented the audition process as a complicated procedure and was asked to sing, dance, and play the mating scene in front of the casting crew and Abraham. Within three runs, Lopez assured the casting crew who believed his performance was "among the strongest." Lopez previously worked with Nava in My Family (1995). Tests on the screen are described as "tiring" and require "nine minutes of singing and dancing and eight-page scripts." After the announcement that Lopez will play Selena, the news media and fans criticized Abraham for choosing Lopez, a native New York City born to Puerto Rico's parents, was chosen to portray a Mexican descendant of Mexican descent. Mexican media did not approve of the movie and was angry that Lopez was chosen for the title role. Lopez received a reaction from the media and fans because he was not a Mexican American. The Hispanic community began to protest to reconstruct. During pre-production, Lopez stated: "I know some people are protesting, but in Corpus [Selena's hometown] everyone is really supportive". Nava admitted that the reaction was "a bit painful", and felt the protesters "should celebrate that we have an All-Latin player and that Lopez, one of us, becomes a star." The announcement was described as "the role of a lifetime." of the news outlet and Lopez's salary for the film is reported to be $ 1 million, which makes Lopez the highest-paid Hispanic actress in history. Dave Karger of Entertainment Weekly notes that "no one can prepare [Lopez] for the hype attached to the salary of millions of dollars."
On August 8, 1996, Los Angeles Daily News announced that Jon Seda and Edward James Olmos joined the cast as Chris Perez and Abraham Quintanilla, respectively. After Lopez accepted the role, she decided to stay with Suzette at her home to learn her character in the recordings and recordings that her family shared with her. Lopez feels that the spirit "and spirit [Selena] are very similar" echoed by the singers' families who discover that Lopez mimics similar personality traits from Selena. They believe that Lopez's body language, laughs, and how she speaks is identical to Selena's. Lopez has constant dance practice for the film and tells how he will arrive at the studio at the end of the day after completing filming for another role. Families often have all the major movie players for dinner and will pay attention to how they will watch them in their interactions with each other and the way they eat. Edward James Olmos, who took on the role of Abraham, was asked to earn  £ 40 (18 kg) for the film. The players found Olmos to be a father figure for them and often gave advice to the players during filming. A.B., finds out Olmos's description of his father to convince especially in the scene where Abraham was angry after finding out about Selena and Perez's relationship. Suzette discovers that Jackie Guerra, who plays her in the film, keeps wearing it and asks her family if she has done that before where the family responds that she is not aware of doing it. The band member Pete Astudillo, had to do a screen test for the movie himself and tell how he should improvise in some scenes because he has little dialogue in the movie. American actor Jon Seda plays Chris Perez in the movie and often spends time with Perez for character development. Seda said how he spent time with Perez at the house he shared with Selena and found a price sticker in the bathroom with doodled letters reading "Selena and Chris, I Love You" and expressed how it inspired him further to "show love [ first] in the film Biography film focuses on Selena's life rather than death Nava says, "I do not want to attend [his murder]", while his death is treated "at a distance".
Filming
The subject of photography began in September 1996, in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Poteet, Houston, and Lake Jackson, Texas. Nava used locals as an adjunct to the film. Selena's singing voice was dubbed into the movie, with Lopez syncing the songs. During the opening of the Selena Dll boutique scene, Suzette believes Lopez is dressed in Selena's outfit for her unbelief that the costume crew member has mimicked the singer's suit. Costume designer Elisabetta Beraldo reinforced the Selena dress she wore when she won a Grammy Award in 1994. Suzette says how she was overwhelmed with emotion after seeing Lopez in the dress. During the elopement scene, Perez explains how he reminds the event as if he was "transported back to the past" and remembers how he did not disturb signs and heard a knock on his door. She found the scene to be one of the most difficult to observe after recalling the moment when Selena told her that elopement was their only resource and that they would never have the marriage she dreamed of. Perez refused to visit the set and explained that he did not want to participate in the film process. Seda convinced him to visit for a scene where auditioning his character for a role as a new guitarist for the band. After researching on how to do a riff on the guitar and get a lesson from Perez, Seda feels that the scene will not be authentic because he can not imitate Perez's guitar riffs. He tricked Perez into visiting the scene so he could play the riff and ask the director to shoot from his close for a movie. Seda said how after the film was released that people believed he could play the guitar, he said he told fans how Perez was actually doing the riffs on the scene.
Nava showed how he wanted the scenes in the movie to be "integrated into the drama and to reflect what emotional trajectory and what Selena was experiencing emotionally at the time." He further explains how he wants the Astrodome scene to be a movie opening to show viewers at the peak of his career and then return to show how he got there. The scene was shot at San Antonio Alamodome on September 15, 1996 and advertised in a newspaper that garnered 35,000 people. Lopez said how nervous he was for the scene because it would be his first time performing in front of a crowd of that size. He further states how unbalanced he is because of the criticism he receives and is not sure how the fans will accept it. Jackie Guerra voiced how during the scene she saw Selena's parents crying, the players then said how after the scene was over they were overwhelmed with emotion. That night, fans approached Lopez to cry that he looked identical to Selena and the public perception about Lopez changed after his appearance. The death scene was shot once, the players explained how after their emotional they went on after the director announced the taking. Guerra said how he was physically and emotionally drained after the death scene was shot. He explained how he "could not imagine what it was like to be [the Quintanilla family]" and further said how he had to live with pain for four months but found it envisaged by the pain his family had suffered since Selena's death. Lopez talks about how the scene makes him more respectful of life, while the Seda states that working on a movie is one of the most difficult for him in terms of leaving the players.
Postproduction
Nava confessed in 2007 that Selena was the most emotional film she ever made. Selena's filming inspired Lopez to start his own musical career.
Music
An original film of Selena soundtrack released by EMI Latin on March 11, 1997 debuted at number 20 on the US Billboard 200. The CD contains twelve songs with Selena singing audible songs in the movie. The only song that is not in the movie is "Is it Beat," "Just Love," and "A Boy Like That," and Selena's praises are sung by other artists.
The only recordings heard in the film are "Cumbia Medley," "Disco Medley," and "Where Does the Feeling Go?", Played in the last half of the movie cover credits. "Oldies Medley" Vidal Brothers is also in the movie. All other songs, including rare songs, hits, and pieces like "Disco Medley, Part II" (recorded live during Selena's 1995 concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo), are recording of Selena in concert.
Release
box office
After the announcement in August 1995, Selena was scheduled for the August 1996 release date. It was last pushed back to sometime in the "end" of 1996. In the end, it was released in America on March 21, 1997, after being pushed back several times. After the opening weekend, Selena earned a total of $ 11,615,722 domestically, opening at # 2 at the US box office. On her second weekend, the movie fell # 3, top-selling $ 6,138,838. The following weekend, falling to number 6, grossed $ 3,456,217. On April 20, 1997, Selena earned a total of $ 32,002,285. The lifetime total gross totaled $ 35,281,794. According to Box Office Mojo, Selena is the 12th best-selling musical biography of all time.
Critical response
Selena received most of the positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, was impressed by acting, and gave Selena three and half stars and wrote, "Young Selena is played by Becky Le Meza, who has a big smile and a lot of energy, Selena adolescent and adult is played by Lopez in a show of stars.After her strong work as a passionate Jack Nicholson lover at this moment of Blood and Wine, here she creates a very different show, as the faithful Quintanilla who did most of him grew up on the tour bus with his dad behind the wheel. " Entertainment Weekly believes Lopez perfect Selena's accent while" studying performance recordings from pop sensation "according to Nava. Lopez says "You have to do your homework on this show" because Selena is "fresh in the public mind".
Film critic Lisa Kropiewnicki loves the movie and writes, "Jennifer Lopez is performing a run... [and] Nava's witty script wisely mines the 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 must be easy to underestimate Selena's story, turning it into a tasteful film made for TV." She believes her acting is top notch and writes "Jennifer Lopez beamed as the title character, conveying the infinite energy and enthusiasm that Selena exemplifies, while effectively copying not only her appearance but also her behavior." I wonder if the Selena family, after watching this performance, feel the fear of dÃÆ' Â © jÃÆ'vu . "
Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan gave this movie a diverse review. He wrote that this film is part of "a predictable Latin soap opera". However, "there are pieces of Selena that can only be rejected by a rock.The movie turned out to be a celebration not only of the singer but also (like" What's Love "for Angela Bassett) of the actress who plays it, Jennifer Lopez. "
Some critics, however, do not like how the film looks like a sanitized portrait of Selena. Critic Walter Addiego considers Nava's work as a worshipful biography of him. Addiego, writing for the San Francisco Examiner, did have some fun moments to watch movies but wrote, "You can not help cheering for Selena, but the good feeling is diminished by the feeling that the story is simplified and sterilized. "Aggregator reviewer Rotten Tomatoes reported that 64% of critics gave positive reviews on the film, based on thirty-nine reviews. At Metacritic, which gives a normalized rating of 100 to reviews from film critics, it has a rating score of 65, which shows "A favorable overview".
Awards
Distribution
The film opened widely on March 21, 1997 (1,850 theaters) and the opening weekend sale was $ 11,615,722. Selena lasts for 15 weeks domestically (101 days) and ultimately loses * 60,000,000 ($ 35,281,794 in the United States) Worldwide sales of films are far more abundant In the broadest release, the film aired on 1,873 screens.The film production budget was about $ 20,000,000.
The 10th Anniversary DVD edition of Selena was released on September 18, 2007 by Warner Home Video. The two disk sets contain the original theatrical version (127 minutes) and the director's cut version (134 minutes) of the movie, which has been shown on several previous TV stations. Extras include Selena's Selena Creation: Next Ten Years featurette, Queen of Tejano featurette, and nine additional scenes.
References
External links
- Selena on IMDb
- Selena in Mojo Box Office
- Selena at Rotten Tomatoes
- Selena in Metacritic
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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