Jennifer Lopez is a world-famous recording artist with a number of hits under her belt, but her latest visual project may just be her biggest and boldest yet. Lopez just put out her latest album This Is Me…Now which catalogs her journey with her husband Ben Affleck. She also made a film that serves as a companion piece to the album called This Is Me Now…A Love Story. It is a surrealist movie filled with metaphors and love-related themes throughout. Additionally, it features a number of cameos from other superstars. It was a huge endeavor and a big swing for JLo, and it turns out, many of the people she initially asked to be in the film turned it down, including Jason Momoa and Taylor Swift.
Lopez recently released a documentary on the 2024 movie schedule called The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which chronicled the making of This Is Me… Now: A Love Story. While JLo is a massive star, and several A-list friends were included in this project, many said no. The documentary features a scene where the producers of the movie told her which artists declined to work on the project, like Lizzo and Jennifer Coolidge, in addition to Swift and Momoa. While Lopez was visibly disappointed, she said she wanted whoever participated to be enthusiastic about it:
I don’t wanna force anyone to do this who doesn’t go ‘This is gonna be fun.’
However, the no’s did seem to rattle Lopez’s confidence in her vision a bit. She felt that some of the rejections were a reflection of the actual project itself, rather than the availability of her peers as she was told. She explained in the documentary:
Nobody wants to say no to me […] I get that, but when an actor doesn’t like a script, and doesn’t think it’s good enough or is worried about it, that’s what they’ll say. I know that. I’ve done it.
She continued to reflect on the rejections while rehearsing some of the dances for the movie, as the film features several music-video-style dance numbers to correspond with tracks from her new album. She stated she was getting rejected because many of her peers were also scared to participate in such a bold, out-there, and deeply personal project. She admitted her own nervousness in the process, saying:
People [are] scared. Scared to put themselves out there. I get it. Took me a long time. I’m scared.
It makes sense why actors and singers may have been scared after reading the script for the first time. This Is Me…Now is certainly unique and at times a bit strange. For example, at one point, Ben Affleck was disguised as a pundit named Rex Stone giving a news report. The choice to hide Affleck had a creative basis, however, elements like this could have been bizarre for some of Lopez’s friends and former colleagues.
While Lopez and the people she asked to participate in This Is Me…Now: A Love Story may have been scared, JLo and her producers kept moving forward. It seems like her efforts paid off, because she was eventually able to assemble an all-star cast of actors that included Jane Fonda, Sofía Vergara, and Keke Palmer. Also, her musical fantasy received some positive reviews, so everything worked out in the end.
You can see This Is Me…Now: A Love Story, as well as The Greatest Love Story Never Told documentary with an Amazon Prime subscription. Fans of Jennifer Lopez should also check out her companion album, This Is Me…Now, which is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.
