'Selena: The Series': Jesse Posey says playing an angry Chris Perez was 'difficult', hints at emotional Part 2
Netflix's 'Selena: The Series' based on late singer Selena Quintanilla's life first debuted on December 4, 2020, and made waves. After Jennifer Lopez's 1997 'Selena,' a movie, this Netflix drop was the first series ever based on the Tejano singer's life. Since it's a premiere, many have been looking forward to a Season 2, which should be dropping this year in May 2021 and reports reveal that it has already been done filming.
Part 2 will most likely take a deep dive into Selena's marriage to guitarist husband Chris Pérez played by the talented Jessey Posey along with the singer's tragic death at the hands of Yolanda Saldívar (Natasha Perez) in 1995. In an exclusive interview with MEAWW, Posey reveals how he prepared to play the role of Perez and what he thinks the audience should take away from the series.
Posey revealed that he booked the role a few months after he had auditioned. "I was drawn to the story, through Selena's perseverance and ability to make it through every challenge she faced in her career. And the way she always remained a humble human being," he recalled. With the popularity that Lopez's 1997 'Selena' got, we wondered how it was like to play a role in a series that came right after. Posey said that it was "cool" considering there "wasn't much comparison" going on their set because, he said, they "knew that what we were doing was much different." He added, "We knew that we were doing our own thing and we wanted it to be unique. I'm glad we had the movie to pave the way for us but I think our show is more congruent with the real Selena story than it was the movie."
Speaking of how the movie and the series are different, Posey also explained how the series brought something else to the table. "I think it brought a much more in-depth look at her upbringing and a more in-depth look at Selena and Chris' story. We've got about 15 hours' worth of material as opposed to about 2 1/2 so there's a lot in there."
While Posey wasn't able to meet with Chris Perez in order to catch his idiosyncrasies, he was able to portray him in the series through all the research he had done. The actor said that he was glad he able to portray Perez through his research "rather than through getting to know him [Perez]." - "It seemed like the right way to go about it," said Posey. He added, "I did a lot of research watching him when he was young. I found a few videos shortly following Selena's passing and I was able to really see how much he loved her." The actor also revealed that the only challenging part was learning the guitar and making sure he looked like Perez whenever there was a performance scene.
When it came to challenges though, learning the guitar may have not been the only one. Posey revealed that doing scenes that involved Selena (played by Christian Serratos) and Chris fighting was "difficult." "There were things that my character would say that I never would. Not that he said anything terrible but it's hard to pretend to fight with someone you're close to and watch tears come to their eyes because of the things you're saying to them. Those were always stressful because we would do a lot of takes and we had to hold onto those emotions for a long time. I'd rather be happy," said the actor.
But, on a happier note, the actor revealed that working with the cast was "great" and that they were a "really fun group of people." Bringing up hilarious moments from the onset, Posey said that he and Gabriel Chavarria who played the role of AB Quintanilla, would look at each other accidentally during performance scenes and start "start uncontrollably laughing" - "I'm not sure how that started but it was the hardest I had laughed in a while," said Posey.
Selena's passing rocked the worlds of many people and both the 1997 film and the 2020 Netflix series touched a lot of hearts. Posey that if there was one thing he hoped the audience would take away from the story, it would be, "that your dreams and aspirations can come true no matter how big or small." He also added, "One other thing that I think people can learn from this is how to remain genuine and humble throughout your career. She [Selena Quintanilla] made it a point to be herself and to treat everyone how she would want to be treated all the way to the end."
Of course, we had to ask what we could expect from Part 2 of 'Selena: The series' and while Posey said "No spoilers!!!!", he did say that, "Part two will be great. There's a ton of emotion in it. You're going to see a lot of good performances from the cast." As for right now, Poset said that he is auditioning and getting himself "ready for whatever comes next."