Jennifer Lopez may be one of the biggest names in music. But she couldn’t get every A-lister in entertainment for her film This Is Me… Now. For one, Taylor Swift turned down appearing in the film. Other performers also said no or weren’t available, per Entertainment Weekly.
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Lopez’s team reportedly reached out to Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, Lizzo, Ariana Grande, and Snoop Dogg about appearing in the film. However, they either were busy or weren’t interested. Additionally, High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens almost played Lopez’s sister in the film, but things changed.
The film tells the story of Lopez’s romance with her husband Ben Affleck through the years. Despite several stars saying no, many others said yes. The film looks to be jam packed with a host of familiar names from all different walks of life.
Jane Fonda, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Post Malone, Kim Petras, Keke Palmer and Jenifer Lewis will appear alongside Lopez in the film. Lopez intentionally said she reached out to an assortment of celebrities.
Jennifer Lopez Opens Up About Film
She told Entertainment Weekly, “They were giving me a list of all these amazing people, and I was like, ‘Yes, I like all of those people, but that’s not what I want. My first people were Jenifer Lewis and Jane Fonda, and they were like, ‘Wait, we don’t get it. This is like music. This is young.’ And I was like, ‘No. This is a council of people who I want to be very diverse. I want all different kinds of people.”
Jennifer Lopez explained that each celebrity involved brought their own experience to the project.
“These are people with all different personality traits from all different walks of life,” Lopez continues. “But they all have something that affected me in some way — their philosophy on life, on love, on the universe, on music. That was the list that I made.”
Lopez had no hard feelings when a certain celebrity wasn’t available. She understands that the industry keeps people busy.
“The casting director and the other producers came in and they were like, ‘How about this person? This person’s not available.’ And they started saying all these people. If you see me sitting there, that’s not what I want. What I want is people who represent a certain thing, who could understand what I’m trying to do here. And that’s what it took, because they needed to trust me, and at the end of the day,” she says, laughing, “I think it was a big leap of faith for some of them.”
[Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images]
