Was that because they resented a New York Puerto Rican playing a Chicana symbol?
There was some of that. The day I did the Astrodome concert, it was filled with 33,000 people, and I really didn’t know how I’d be received. Up to then, the press had been really weird–not just because I was Puerto Rican but because it was Selena, you know what I mean? Any actress who would have been cast would’ve gone through the same thing, so I tried not to take it personally. But her fans were great once they saw me perform. I shook some hands, got to know them, and they got to know me. They saw I was a regular person, not somebody out there trying to make them forget Selena. In general, I think the Latin community is pretty happy that the project was made with a Latin writer-director, a Latin actress and an all-Latin cast and crew. Which doesn’t happen often. Any ideas why Latino cinema has had such a tough time getting established in the United States? African-Americans banded together and said this was something they were going to do, and I think it’s something the Latino commu
