I recently got a chance to see an advanced screening of Jennifer Lopez’s upcoming genre-bending musical-inspired cinematic odyssey Amazon Original film, This is Me… Now: A Love Story. That is being released on Prime Video, this Friday, Feb. 16th. That is a very personal and resiliently introspective heartfelt and emotional, as well as fun look into Jennifer Lopez’s love life. That we have never seen from JLo before. With plenty of great cameos throughout the film and fun musical numbers that will remind you of a lot of the classic musicals and dramatic movies that Lopez and us grew up on. That inspired this never before seen look into her storied and iconic career. Which Lopez and director Dave Meyers touched on a little in a virtual press conference I got a chance to take a part in about a week ago for the film that was moderated by Janelle Riley.
Some highlighted questions that were asked being How the album drove the idea for Jennifer for this cinematic original and why now is the perfect time to share such a vulnerable project with the world? To which she responded that it wasn’t done purposely. That this was just really something that was just inspired by the music and a moment in life. That she really wanted to capture cause of how magical and surreal at times it seemed that it was happening. When she was done with it she thought there’s something more to this story and there was something bigger she wanted to do with this music. She didn’t just want to go through the normal just put out a video and promo you regularly do for an album. It felt like there was a bigger message. So she called Dave and they sat down and talked about it. That she played him some of the music and told him she wanted to do something that she didn’t even really know at first what she wanted. Which is how they actually came up with something that’s never really been done before. That didn’t quite fit into any one category and wasn’t really a film or video, but was still a story. Which was still very original. With Dave really honing in on what the story is from his and Jennifer’s conversations about the music and her even singing some of the song’s to him. Dave saying how that along with a lot of the personal time he spent with Jennifer becoming part of the genesis of the film. A lot of the truth and personal stuff, as well as passion from the music. How they figured out how to spin it all into a story that the world would want to explore and experience with Jennifer. Another highlighted question being how Jennifer drew the line between what is real and what is fiction cause how viewer’s may interpret a lot of the film as being autobiographical. Even though a lot of it’s hyperstilized and fictionalized. To which Jennifer said how there’s never really been a project, whether it be music or movies that she hasn’t put a bunch of her life and personal experiences into. As an artist that is all you ever really have to draw on. Your personal experiences and the experiences of the people around you. It seemed like such a turning point in her life that as a person and artist she could really could really look at all of the things she is good at and the things she knew and felt about herself. To really put into this project. Both professionally and personally. There’s parts of it that are really autobiographical, but a lot that are meta. Where it was not exactly what happened, but some of the feeling of what did is there in ways. There was parts that were very honest and true, but parts that were really just entertainment to enhance the storytelling of the film. That mix of it being personal, but also being fantastical, surreal and magical. Making it able to be moving, entertaining and also real.
I myself was able to ask a question too. Which was to Jennifer. That “Was there certain musical films that inspired you or you drew inspiration from when you were making this?” To which she responded, “Everything I have ever seen. I am a huge fan of musicals and my mom was a huge fan of musicals. I grew up on them. So between that and growing up in the 80’s and 90’s with MTV and all the epic music videos. That were made at that time and combining all of these experiences together. We were really able to make something that is really fresh and new, but definitely every musical. From Funny Girl to West Side Story to The Music Man. To every Disney movie that I’ve seen that has music in it. Beauty and the Beast, all of those. It was touches of all those things in there. Plus the acting in the dramatic films that I grew up on. My mother again was a huge movie buff and like I said just the music of the MTV generation. That really inspired and with growing up in the golden age of music videos. The golden age of cinema. There was a different kind of imagination and idea that I have about these things. That I wasn’t willing to let go of and trying to make something even more epic in a way. David the perfect partner in that because he’s such a kind of visual genius. What he did on this film. From taking a lot of these scenes that were shot in green screen to what they ended up being. Was nothing short of miraculous. On the budget we had. We had a sizeable budget, but it also wasn’t the budget of a $50 or $60 million film. Which to me it kind of looks like that with how good the special effects are in this.” Dave then picking up from that and what Jennifer said by saying, “Obviously Jen performs all that inspiration in the film. From all the various musicals that have inspired her. For me the sort of abstract storytelling technique. With Pink Floyd’s, The Wall, was really the last narrative driven film, I drew from. There’s very few films that take on music and emotion and storytelling. Classic musicals still have a very strong narrative. This one is a little bit more playful. You add that thing on what Jen said and that’s how we got what we got.”
All that said. You can be sure to check out Jennifer Lopez’s genre-bending musical-inspired story driven cinematic odyssey Amazon Original film, This is Me… Now: A Love Story. That Dave Meyers directed and she starred and produced on. Which many will enjoy and should watch when it comes out on Prime Video, in the couple of days on Friday, Feb. 16th. Jennifer’s first new album in nearly a decade, This Is Me… Now: The Album. Also being released that day as a companion piece.