Amanda Solis is as die-hard Selena Quintanilla fan. Recreating the late Tejano singer’s looks, moves and voice onstage, Solis, the Texas City native, has been issued the challenge to reenact Selena’s shooting for the hourlong documentary Murder Made Me Famous: Yolanda Saldivar.
Airing for the first time this Saturday at 8 PM on Reelz, it delves into the story that shocked thousands of fans worldwide. They go further into Selena’s death at the hands of fan club president Saldivar on March 31, 1995, at a Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi.
“There were so many emotions that I was feeling when I accepted this role because I knew going into this that it didn’t have a happy ending,” Solis says. After finding out about the film’s production during Hurrican Harvey, Solis was forced to film an improvised audition on her iPhone using props she found scattered around her house.
Within days, she received notice of landing the role, and filming began that same September in Dallas. The story focuses on the mindset and motivations that spurred Saldivar, who is currently serving a life sentence at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, to commit murder.
Besides acting out her death, Solis also got reenact various high points in Selena’s life, such as performing and getting married to Chris Perez. Talking about acting out the fatal shooting, Solis said, “I felt sick, nervous and scared. You want to rewrite the story; you want the ending to change. I didn’t want to think about Selena being gone.”
This article was inspired by CHRON // Texas City performer reenacts Selena’s life, and death, for ‘Murder Made Me Famous’