#TBT: Scenes from 'Selena' filmed around South Texas towns in 1996
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A version of this article originally published May 5, 2016.
As everything ’90s makes a comeback and original power-couple Bennifer ties the knot, it's strange to realize how little Jennifer Lopez was known when filming the biopic "Selena" back in 1996. When a reporter and a photographer from the Caller-Times traveled to Poteet to cover the filming, the photographer included a note on one image of Lopez performing onstage: "Jennifer Lopez (I think is her name), the actress playing Selena."
Following Selena Quintanilla Perez's tragic death on March 31, 1995, her life story was making the rounds in unauthorized books only a few short months later. So her family began to plan for a movie to commemorate her life. They eventually teamed up with writer and director Gregory Nava, who spent two months living with the Quintanillas and shot the film over a four-month period in 1996.
More:THROWBACK THURSDAY: Corpus Christi hosted a special movie premiere of 'Selena' in 1997
About 25,000 people showed up to recreate Selena's famous performance at the 1995 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. On Sept. 15, 1996, fans filled the Alamodome in San Antonio, cheering and screaming as Lopez entered the stadium in the iconic purple pantsuit. The filmmakers even hired comedian Paul Rodriguez to entertain the crowd in between filming.
Locals were eager to appear in the biopic of their beloved star. Casting calls for extras were held at several spots around Corpus Christi, such as Carousel Café and Bakery in Six Points and Craig's Record Factory in Moore Plaza. Thousands showed up or turned in applications, and filming took place around the area in November 1996. One scene had more than 3,000 extras recreating a candlelight vigil at Hector P. Garcia Park the night of Selena's death. Another had extras in black tie and sequins to show Selena's 1994 Grammy win, with Del Mar College's Richardson Auditorium filling in for New York's Radio City Music Hall.
Fans from around the area also made the trek to Poteet in October to serve as extras in the scene set in Monterrey, Mexico, when eager fans crowded the stage almost to the point of collapse, clamoring for Selena to sing. Caller-Times reporter Ellen Bernstein and photographer David Adame went to the small town south of San Antonio to watch the filming.
"There's got to be a feeling like everybody's going to riot," Nava told the extras from the stage in both Spanish and English. The crowd obliged, surging toward the stage, chanting Selena's name and waving homemade signs. "Incredible. Gracias," Nava yelled.
More:#TBT: Fans have flocked to Selena statue on Corpus Christi bayfront since '97 dedication
"I think the Selena fan phenomena is deeper than anyone knows," Nava told Bernstein later in the day. "How can you understand an Elvis, a Marilyn? It's big."
In the scene, Lopez as Selena calms the crowd by singing a slow introduction to "Como la Flor."
While Lopez has had an impressive music and film career since starring in "Selena," she lip-synced to Selena's music for the entire movie — except this scene. In a cast interview on Leeza Gibbons' talk show in 1997 after the movie's release, Lopez confirmed the three words were the only ones sung with her own voice.
Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: #TBT: Scenes from 'Selena' filmed around South Texas towns in 1996
