Jennifer Lopez faced a string of high-profile rejections for her ambitious film, This Is Me…Now. 

The On the Floor singer’s team reached out to stars like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and others for the musical project, but many turned down the invitation and said they were unavailable to participate in the movie.

The feature film—released in February—was packed with star power, including appearances by Jane Fonda, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Post Malone, Kim Petras, Keke Palmer, Jenifer Lewis, and more. Yet, it could have been even more extravagant.
For her This Is Me…Now film, Jennifer Lopez invited several celebrities to make appearances but faced a string of rejections
Image credits: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis
It was revealed in a behind-the-scenes documentary called The Greatest Love Story Never Told that the team considered an impressive array of celebrities, who turned down the invitation to be a part of the film’s cast list.

Nevertheless, the Atlas actress was unperturbed by the final result. She said there weren’t any “stars who got away” in playing the star-studded Zodiac Council of the movie.
“They were giving me a list of all these amazing people, and I was like, ‘Yes, I like all of those people, but that’s not what I want,'”

Image credits: Prime Video
“They were giving me a list of all these amazing people, and I was like, ‘Yes, I like all of those people, but that’s not what I want,'” she told Entertainment Weekly. “My first people were Jenifer Lewis and Jane Fonda, and they were like, ‘Wait, we don’t get it. This is like music. This is young.'” And I was like, ‘No. This is a council of people who I want to be very diverse. I want all different kinds of people.”

“These are people with all different personality traits from all different walks of life,” she continued. “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.”

Below are some of the stars who rejected an appearance in the film.

#1 Ariana Grande

While JLo and Ariana Grande haven’t worked together before, the latter was still one of the A-listers considered for a cameo in the film. But she couldn’t take up the role because she was in London filming for the forthcoming Wicked movie.

Image credits: Todd Owyoung/NBC

#2 Anthony Ramos

In the music video Rebound, which is part of the extended edit of the film, Anthony Ramos was initially supposed to portray the singer’s abusive dance partner.

However, he hesitated due to concerns about the concept being a reference to his friend and the hitmaker’s ex-husband, Marc Anthony.

“I’m never going to do anything that’s going to really pinpoint him out,” Lopez said as she tried to reassure him in the footage in the documentary. 

“What you’re playing is representative of many relationships, not one specific relationship,” she added, but to no avail. The role was played by dancer Gilbert Saldivar.

Image credits: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

#3 Bad Bunny (Pictured With Jennifer Lopez)

The Waiting for Tonight singer believed it would “be good to get Bad Bunny to do a little cameo as the bad kid,” she said in the behind-the-scenes documentary.

The two had joined hands to create her 2018 hit Te Guste and even shared the Super Bowl Halftime stage about two years later.

It is unclear whether the project team dropped the idea of casting Bad Bunny or whether the rapper turned them down after being offered a role.

Image credits: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

#4 Jason Momoa

Jason Momoa was among the stars who was said to be “unavailable” for the film.

The two stars have never worked together so far.

Image credits: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

#5 Jennifer Coolidge

Jennifer Coolidge, who shared the screen with Lopez for the 2022 film Shotgun Wedding, was also said to be “unavailable” for the film.

Image credits: Christopher Polk/Variety

#6 Khloé Kardashian

The Greatest Love Story Never Told documentary featured a clip of Lopez discussing how Khloé Kardashian was going to make a cameo appearance in the film but later backed out.

“People are scared, scared to put themselves out there,” she told her choreographer in the behind-the-scenes footage, speculating why Khloé and other celebrities were turning down the invitation.

“I get it. It took me a long time. I’m scared. I don’t act like I’m scared, but that’s the secret to my whole f*cking career,” she added.

Image credits: Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan

#7 Lizzo

Lizzo made her live-action acting debut alongside JLo in the 2019 hit Hustlers. However, she was also unable to join her for This Is Me…Now.

Image credits: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu

#8 Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg, who has never worked with the Let’s Get Loud singer, was said to be “not available, unfortunately,” according to a conversation in the documentary.

Image credits: Andrew Chin/Getty Images

#9 SZA

SZA was not mentioned among the names of celebrities who were “unavailable.” But a subtle clue revealed that she may have been one of the initial choices for the Zodiac Council.

In one scene in the documentary, a call sheet displaying the Council’s cast showed SZA assigned to the Scorpio character, but her name was scratched out. Ultimately, it was Lopez’s Hustlers co-star Keke Palmer who stepped into the role of Scorpio.

Image credits: Joseph Okpako/WireImage

#10 Taylor Swift (Pictured With Jennifer Lopez)

“Taylor Swift is a no,” a producer was heard saying in the documentary as they discussed available celebrities for the film.

The Lover singer has shared the stage with Lopez in the past for the Red Tour, where she emerged at an LA show to perform Jenny From the Block with her.

Image credits: Christopher Polk/MTV1415/Getty Images

#11 Vanessa Hudgens (Pictured With Jennifer Lopez)

Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, one of Lopez’s longtime producing partners, was captured in the documentary asking the team if they wanted Vanessa Hudgens to play a role.

Someone then mentioned that she was unavailable, prompting the producer to say, “Oh, never mind.”

Vanessa was initially pitched for the role of one of the pop diva’s friends in the film. The two celebrities acted together in the 2019 film Second Act.

Image credits: Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images