Jennifer Lopez’s new musical/rom-com/visual album (delete as applicable, we’re still trying to get our heads around exactly what it is she’s gifted the world) has been dominating the pop culture conversation for the past few weeks thanks to its OTT performances, dramatic twists and turns and seriously A-list cast.
This Is Me… Now: A Love Story serves as a visual accompaniment to J-Lo’s latest similarly-named musical offering, which was released earlier this month.
And as star-studded as the project ended up being (Jane Fonda, Post Malone and, of course, Ben Affleck all put in appearances over the 65-minute running time) it turns out the Let’s Get Loud singer originally eyed even more stars to join the project.
In the new documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, Jen admits she struggled to sign up names to appear in her film for a number of reasons.
One scene sees a producer telling J-Lo that Taylor Swift had turned her down for an undisclosed part, while Ariana Grande, Jason Momoa, Lizzo, Snoop Dogg and Jennifer Coolidge were all unavailable at the time of filming.
A close shave for them, you might say.
Khloe Kardashian, meanwhile, apparently backed out of a cameo after originally saying yes, as did SZA, according to Bustle.
Anthony Ramos – with whom Jen is currently working on a big-screen adaptation of Bob The Builder (not a joke, we promise) – also pulled out of the project over concerns about his friendship with the Get Right singer’s ex-husband Marc Antony.
Most of the celebrity cameos in This Is Me… Now centre around the so-called “Zodiacal Council”, with 12 different stars portraying star signs, including talk show host Trevor Noah, podcaster Jay Shetty, screen legend Jenifer Lewis and all-round icon Keke Palmer.
“These are people with all different personality traits from all different walks of life,” Jen told Entertainment Weekly of the diverse Zodiacal Council.
“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.”
Former collaborator Fat Joe portrays Jen’s therapist in the film, while her eventual life interest is played by her real-life husband, Ben Affleck, who inspired some of the songs on J-Lo’s latest album.
The collection, Jen’s ninth, peaked at number 55 in the UK upon its release earlier this month.