WINFREY: We honor the memory of Selena today with her family.
As you just saw, she was an all-American girl,
Texas born, learned to speak Spanish for her fans.
The movie "Selena" has been a box-office sensation
since it opened three wakes--weeks ago,
and later we're going to meet the star of "Selena," Jennifer Lopez.
But first, we're pleased to have Selena's family in their
first interview since this movie opened.
Please welcome Selena's parents, Abraham and Marcela,
and her sister Suzette.
We're glad to have you here.
Ms. QUINTANILLA: Thank you.
WINFREY: I'm sure, as a--as a grieving family, you--there's not a day
that goes by where you don't think about her,
that the movie brings back all kinds of memories.
Mrs. MARCELA QUINTANILLA: Yes. It brings back good memories and,
you know, it's hard to watch.
WINFREY: Mm-hmm.
Ms. QUINTANILLA: I felt OK watching it.
It brings back a lot of good, good memories.
I try to not focus on the negative, you know...
WINFREY: Mm-hmm.
Ms. QUINTANILLA: ...which was the fact that she's not here.
But it--you know, ultimately, if she's not here,
and it--it hurts very much and it's hard to deal with,
but I try to focus on the good things.
WINFREY: What do you think she would have
thought of the movie?
Ms. QUINTANILLA: I think she would have loved it.
I think she would have liked playing herself,
because she wanted to get into that eventually.
WINFREY: Mm-hmm.
Ms. QUINTANILLA: Into acting.
So I think she would be very much pleased with it.
WINFREY: With what happened with the movie?
Ms. QUINTANILLA: Yes.
WINFREY: Well, you're a tough man, Abraham.
You say who--you shed many tears since Selena's death,
and for a long time, you held yourself somewhat responsible.
How? How was that?
Mr. QUINTANILLA: It's an emotional roller coaster, you know.
You go through a period of anger,
and then--then you go through a period like,
`Maybe if I would have chose this other path, you know, maybe...'
WINFREY: What other path?
Mr. QUINTANILLA: Well, that if I wouldn't have gotten
them involved in the music business...
WINFREY: Mm-hmm.
Mr. QUINTANILLA: ...that maybe this wouldn't have happened.
WINFREY: So you went through all those `what ifs.'
Mr. QUINTANILLA: Yeah. You feel guilt.
You feel angry feel, you know.
WINFREY: What has been the hardest part for you?
Did you want revenge?
Mr. QUINTANILLA: I ha--you know what?
No. I never felt that.
WINFREY: You didn't want--you never w....
Mr. QUINTANILLA: Never felt that.
In fact--and I can tell you from the bottom
of my heart, even today, I don't hate her.
I don't hate the girl that killed my daughter.
I hate what she done...
WINFREY: Really?
Mr. QUINTANILLA: ...the act itself.
WINFREY: Was it hard to see your daughter and
see her--hear her voice again or do you
play her music around the house all the time?
Mrs. QUINTANILLA: Sometimes I can hear it and see videos of her
and it makes me feel better.
WINFREY: Mm-hmm.
Mrs. QUINTANILLA: But there's times that I can't--I can't see her.
WINFREY: What did you think of Jennifer Lopez's portrayal?
Ms. QUINTANILLA: She did a--she did a great job.
Great person.
Mr. QUINTANILLA: She--in spite of not knowing Selena personally
but just watching home videos and all that,
she--I think she done an excellent job
of capturing Selena's personality and her spirit.
Ms. LOPEZ: Hi.
WINFREY: Great job.
Ms. LOPEZ: Thank you.
WINFREY: Really great job.
Was it hard for you to--to--to do this role?
Because I heard that the--that the p--family was there every day watching.
Ms. LOPEZ: The experts were there every day.
WINFREY: Watching.
Ms. LOPEZ: Yeah, it was tough, but I knew I had a tough
job ahead of me from the beginning,
because Selena was so loved and she had died so recently.
WINFREY: Mm-hmm.
Ms. LOPEZ: So it was tough.
WINFREY: Did you study her? What did you do?
Ms. LOPEZ: Non-stop. From the second I got the role, it was non-stop.
I was working on a m--another movie at the time, and in my trailer was,
like, music all day, videos all day,
just to really absorb who she was.
WINFREY: Absorb her. Uh-huh.
Ms. LOPEZ: You know, she was a very, very happy and alive person,
and I wanted to play her that way.
I couldn't play her, you know, with what the ending was.
WINFREY: Uh-huh. And so did you--did you have
to practice accents and everything?
What'd you do?
Ms. LOPEZ: Everything. She was from Texas but American.
Her first language was English.
She had, like, a Tex-Mex accent, Tejano.
And, you know, I'm from New York, so that's
a totally different thing.
And it was just capturing her essence, which was a big thing.
WINFREY: Well, we saw you on--I was just talking to
you backstage about--you did ma--you
were--did a presentation at the Oscars.
Ms. LOPEZ: Guh!
WINFREY: And they mentioned the movie.
And how nervous were you?
There's that moment--I--I was saying that even though I'm on TV every day...
Ms. LOPEZ: Oh, knowing...
WINFREY: ...there's that moment where you can feel your heart, like--it's...
Ms. LOPEZ: It's sick. It is so sick, the Oscars.
You have no idea. You walk out.
Everybody's there. And I don't know.
I mean, I do--I was on stage in front of 33,000 people.
WINFREY: But look at you. You were beautiful.
Ms. LOPEZ: Oh, God.
WINFREY: You were beautiful.
Ms. LOPEZ: There was--you know, when we did the "Selena" movie,
there were 33,000 people who showed up for her--the--the
re-enactment of the Houston Astrodome concert.
And I was totally calm that day, yes?
I was pretty calm.
Ms. QUINTANILLA and Mrs. QUINTANILLA: (In unison) Yeah. Yeah.
Ms. LOPEZ: I go up for the Oscars. It's like taping anything.
My heart was in my--I was sick.
I was so sick. I could have thrown up.
WINFREY: But you didn't.
Ms. LOPEZ: N--but I didn't.
WINFREY: Because I was saying--no, honestly, because
people remember it that you either look good or you didn't.
Ms. LOPEZ: Exactly. That's all they care about.
WINFREY: If you had thrown up, they would have remembered that.
You had a question? Yes.
Unidentified Woman #1: I was wondering if--as the group
progressed, if there were any sibling rivalry.
Ms. QUINTANILLA: Never. Never. We were all treated
the same and I never viewed Selena like that
or Abe or anybody. By the way, hi, Abe.
We're--we're--he's at home. My brother's at home.
He couldn't be here with us. So--no.
WINFREY: OK. You wanted to ask?
Unidentified Woman #2: Yes. Is it true that the group
is going to get another singer to--or just
to get the croup--the group going?
Ms. QUINTANILLA: No. That's not true.
Since Selena passed away, we have not rejoined
and everybody's doing their own little thing.
So--matter of fact, Chris is recording an album.
I'm taking care of Selena's businesses.
Abe is my brother.
He's producing other groups and different singers.
So we all have different things that we're doing in--in our lives.
And I don't think that--maybe a tribute tour in the memory,
you know, for her and--and in honor of her,
but I don't think that we'll ever rejoin,
and there will never be another Selena.
WINFREY: Even though Jennifer did a great job.
Ms. QUINTANILLA: Even though S--Jennifer did a great job.
Ms. LOPEZ: There'll still never be another Selena.
WINFREY: Even though Jennifer--because, you know,
actually, that's a hard thing to do,
because as an actress, you have to really, you know,
hold that line between not mimicking the other person...
Ms. LOPEZ: Oh, yeah. That was a...
WINFREY: ...and bringing from your own self.
Ms. LOPEZ: Yeah.
The thing is, is y--you do the homework,
you do all the research, you do as much as you can
and then you go there and you hope for the best, you know.
Y--you do your job and, you know, you can't become somebody, you know.
WINFREY: Right.
Ms. LOPEZ: That's not acting.
It's--it's literally--you're acting. So--but, you know,
I just absorbed as much as I could of her,
tried to understand what made her tick, what made
her happy, what made her sad, the things that
were important in her life--family, work, her husband.
WINFREY: So having them on set as sort of--knowing
they were there and knowing that they could be critical or not...
Ms. LOPEZ: No. Don't get me wrong, it was nerve-wracking.
WINFREY: It was nerve-wracking.
Ms. LOPEZ: But it was--but it was nice to have their support.
WINFREY: Uh-huh.
Ms. LOPEZ: You know, it would have been something
else if they didn't show up to the set,
and then I would have thought to myself, you know,
`Why are we doing this? What is this all about?'
WINFREY: Uh-huh.
Ms. LOPEZ: But having them there and having them care
about the project was a beautiful thing for me,
and I--I feel enriched by even having been involved.