Selena Actress Said She Dreamed of the Late Singer and Had Conversations With Her

Before filming the 1997 classic film Selena, Jennifer Lopez said she spent a lot of time with the Quintanilla’s and even slept in Selena’s bed to feel closer to her and the role she would be portraying. J.Lo said this special time with her family, and in her environment, helped her embody the role she would play and boy did it help!

Actress Maya Zapata, who recently portrayed the Tejano singer in Telemundo’s El Secreto de Selena, also said, like Lopez, that she felt a close connection to the late icon. While she didn’t sleep in Selena’s bed or have any contact with the Quintanilla’s (they didn’t approve of the film),  Zapata did get in touch with Selena herself.

“After I found out I was going to be Selena, I dreamed of her every night,” Zapata said in an interview with Telemundo. “I talked to her, had dialogues with her. I wanted to tell her story in a responsible way, I just wanted to be her vehicle so that she could share her story.”

Let’s just take that in for a second. Imagine if you could talk to Selena? What would you say? What would you ask her? We can undoubtedly say that if we had a conversation with Selena in our dreams, we’d definitely be telling the world about it. Unfortunately, the El Secreto de Selena actress did not elaborate about those dreams with Selena.

The 37-year-old actress did add that she felt a huge responsibility to portray Selena most honestly. She said she had no liberties in how she would portray Selena because she was a real person.

“There was a different thing with [Selena],” Zapata told the network. “She is a character who lived in real life, who had an extraordinary life, with an extraordinary light, is not a character invented or left from the imagination of a writer. She is a character of flesh and blood that died in a tragic way. So, the responsibility that fell on my shoulders was much bigger.”

Well, we are eager to watch El Secreto de Selena now more than ever. If Maya Zapata genuinely did speak to Selena in her dreams, we’re sure it’ll result in an incredible performance. The film, based on a book, will air on Telemundo, August 25. Will you be watching to get your Selena fix? Let us know in the comment section below.