Selena Quintanilla’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, recently opened up about the behind-the-scenes pressure their family faced when it came to the making of the 1997 biopic about the late singer’s life.
While promoting the 30th anniversary of Dreaming of You, Suzette appeared on the On That Note podcast with Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman and reflected on her sister’s legacy. During the conversation, she revealed that the family didn’t initially want to make a film—but felt they had no choice.
“We were forced to make the movie,” Suzette explained. “Literally months after she died, our lawyers got word that Hollywood was already going to start making a movie, and if you don’t have control over your own, it’s going to be whatever they want to put in it. So, that’s the only reason why my father [Abraham] had to make the decision to move forward and say, ‘We’re doing this movie.’”
She also noted that the timing was incredibly painful, as the family had no interest in putting out a film just two years after Selena’s tragic death. The beloved Tejano star was murdered in 1995 by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club.
“It wasn’t something that was on our radar at all; it was way too soon, to be honest with you,” Suzette said. “It came out literally two years after she died, and there was criticism over that.”
She added that the family faced backlash, with people accusing them of “being all about money,” despite their real motivation being about protecting Selena’s story from being misrepresented.
Despite the backlash accusing them of profiting off Selena’s death, Suzette Quintanilla says she has no regrets about the decision her family made—or the film itself.
Selena, directed by Gregory Nava and released in March 1997, went on to become both a commercial and critical success. Jennifer Lopez’s breakout performance as the Tejano superstar earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 55th Golden Globe Awards.
In 2021, the film received one of the highest honors in cinema when it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
