The journey to This Is Me… Now: A Love Story's release is worthy of its own movie, but Jennifer Lopez's newest project provides plenty of food for thought already. Premiering on Prime Video at the same time as her latest album (appropriately titled This Is Me… Now) becomes available on streaming platforms, the movie comes steeped in J. Lo's personal history. Though not a documentary or even strictly biographical, This Is Me… Now deals directly with Lopez's high-profile relationships and more indirectly with the road that led her to her husband, Ben Affleck.
This Is Me… Now: A Love Story is directed by Dave Meyers, who worked on several of Lopez's music videos from her two-decade-old album, This Is Me… Then. The reunion is a significant one, seeing as the celebrated actor's album is a spiritual sequel to the previous one. It also serves as Meyers' feature film directorial debut, though viewers may debate if it is indeed a feature film. The new project touches on themes from her acting work as well (such as 2022's Marry Me), but the end result is something entirely new and specific to Lopez as an artist.
Screen Rant interviewed Meyers about the surprising challenges that arose during the filming of This Is Me… Now and how Lopez rose to the occasion every time. The director also shared how Affleck showed up for his partner and reflected on his hopes for future feature-length collaborations.
This Is Me… Now Is Not Quite A Movie, But Much More Than A Music Video
Screen Rant: Something that Jennifer says a lot is, "This is not a music video." Music videos, however, are where you live. How different was your approach to this? What did you have to shift the most?
Dave Meyers: At the very start, we wanted it to be a narrative. What I zeroed in on when I met with Jen was her vulnerability and the story she was telling of this journey. I kind of extrapolated that, but there was still a utility that she has an album coming and there was these songs, so there was a little bit of telling the story and then realigning which songs go with which parts of the film that create this cram box of Jen.
That's how I designed most of my stuff, whether it's a video or commercial or whatever else. This was meant to take all of what I see Jen to be and what she's offering in this moment in time and try to put that to the test. So, she's an action star in the opening; she's vulnerable in the Love AA [meeting]. I'm leaning into different emotional challenges that aligned with the story she was telling me.
The video side of me, I suppose, is the natural [impulse] just to create a spectacle out of things, and to create movement and rhythm. But I haven't really had the chance to exercise it over a long form. I see lots of musicals coming out, and I'm always like, "Well, God, they're so out of date to me." Not the content, but the way that they're shot is very traditional, 1950s kind of stuff. I just really thrived off the opportunity to create what Jen spoke about. In the music video space, we interpret music in at least a little more unexpected way, I guess.
Ben Affleck Was Jennifer Lopez's Rock During This Is Me… Now Filming
I know the budget was a challenge, but even outside of that, it feels like a living, breathing entity, where things have to change on the spot. What part of the movie would you say evolved the most from when you first set out to film it?
Dave Meyers: Funny enough, the bones of the movie are exactly the same as the treatment I sent her the first week in, from Fat Joe therapy to the Heartbreak. I looked at them as headliners that traveled through the journey of her 20 years and going into the darkness. You start splashy, and you just get into the depth of what she's going through, which is where the middle of the film starts to go.
What changed? Topically, the zodiacs changed the most because we shot them all separately. Each time one did one, we would edit that in, and then we would do our own voices. Me and Jen would read the zodiacs and edit it together, and then the next one would come in and then we'd have to change [things]. Trying to understand what the zodiacs were meant to be and say, particularly because we wanted each of the people that participated to speak in their voice. We didn't know who we had; they came one at a time. That was probably the most challenging changing aspect. We probably had 50 drafts of the zodiac scripts. If you asked the zodiacs that were early on, they would be like, "Wow, that's not what I read." But the rest of the movie was noodled; the specific dialogue on each day.
Jen is so much more, obviously, than just the star of this. It's also her truth, and she was dancing her heart out. Even with as much time as I was getting from her, which was impressive considering how much she was taking on, she also had another movie going on. She's a very busy person. But I found each morning of, we would go over what we were trying to achieve. And although we had spoken about it when we were writing together, we would make little tweaks, like therapy. She's like, "Oh, well, this is what I actually went through," and then we would try to figure out our hyper-stylized fiction and align that with some of her truth day by day. But that was pretty much on course with what we expected to happen.
And then we had blessings from Ben Affleck. As certain scenes came up, Jen would be able to get him to have a review and do a little tweak here or there. [He was] kind of a ghost mentor. It was really a blessing to have him watching out for both of us really, and it was there. I don't know how much Jen wants to talk about that, but it was a beautiful part of this, especially since generally the movie is about love and the pursuit of love, to see them so happy. We didn't want to make the movie about Ben, but it's clear to the real world, and obviously in the [BTS] piece you spoke about, that there's a real strong, always-meant-to-be love that's going on there. I think the public may have their own opinions, and I think they'll hopefully have a nice time realizing the truth of their love.
Director Dave Meyers Is Ready For His Movie Career To Take Flight After This Is Me… Now
You mentioned the fun of seeing who's going to be part of the zodiac. How involved were you in that casting process? Was there anyone that you were really rooting for?
Dave Meyers: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. It was kind of like me and Jen at the house just fielding the chaos of this. She probably never will admit this, but it was definitely bold for her to be able to shine the light on herself in this way. I commend her courage for that. I'll leave it to her to speak to just how terrified or not terrified she was, but we had multiple castings. Me and Jen both went through our Rolodexes, and there were lots of nos and lots of yeses that became nos, and it was a journey. That's why we couldn't really organize it. I think four or five of the zodiacs we shot long after we actually shot the film, once we were in editing and stuff.
I guess I'll take credit for Neil [deGrasse Tyson]. When I was seeing how it was shaping, Neil was someone that I just felt was an obvious choice. Once we saw the full picture, Jen agreed, and I think she loves what Neil did. But it was really just like two kids in a sandbox, talking and dreaming together, so I guess the zodiacs were a manifestation of that.
There was a consideration for the types of voices, and that we cover the perspectives of the various zodiacs; that they represent a wider swath of culture. Because they were meant to be a loose metaphor for the social media and outside commentary on Jen's life. Some loving, some random, some a little more judgmental. It was an interesting scene to take on, and it's really fun to watch it now because it does look like they were all together.
Now that you have had this musical movie experience with Jen, are you thinking of branching out further in your directing and doing more feature-length films, with or without her?
Dave Meyers: I would love to do a feature-length film, and I would love to do another one with her. I would love to do one where it's not spending her own money because I think she and I would have just a little less stress. Although she never stressed me out, I could feel the encroaching challenges that were on her doorstep. We had so much fun making this that I can only imagine what it would be like when we can really just focus on character and eccentrics and whatnot.
Yeah, I'd love to make a movie. It's been hard to get permission to make a film that has my fingerprint, I guess. I'm very proud of this film. It very much carries my fingerprint. I don't mean the music video aspect of it, I just mean the imagination in it is much more indicative of how I see myself, and I think sometimes you need that showpiece in order to get the conversations going. So, I hope I see you again in a period of time.
About This Is Me… Now: A Love Story
This Is Me…Now: A Love Story is like nothing you’ve ever seen from Jennifer Lopez. Alongside director Dave Meyers, Jennifer has created a narrative-driven cinematic odyssey, steeped in mythological storytelling and personal healing. Dropping in tandem with her first studio album in a decade, this genre-bending Amazon original showcases her journey to love through her own eyes. With fantastical costumes, breathtaking choreography, and star-studded cameos, this panorama is an introspective retrospective of Jennifer’s resilient heart.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
