The Chaos Of J.Lo's Guest Stars In This Is Me... Now, Explained

Jennifer Lopez’s new movie, This Is Me... Now: A Love Story, is a hodgepodge of genres. As it’s soundtracked by her new, same-named album, it’s primarily a musical, but it also mixes in moments of sci-fi epic, rom-com, dramedy, and even horror.

Needless to say, This Is Me... Now is wonderful chaos, which is further embodied by her wide-ranging roster of guest stars.

J.Lo enlisted celebrities of all kinds for the film, from musicians Post Malone, Kim Petras, and Fat Joe, to actors Jane Fonda, Sofia Vergara, Jenifer Lewis, Keke Palmer, and Paul Raci. There’s also comedian Trevor Noah, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, life coach Jay Shetty, and spiritual leader Sadhguru. Not to mention her husband, Ben Affleck, who you may not recognize.

Many of these celebs serve as part of a Zodiac Counsel, which guides Lopez’s character on her journey. Most of them represent specific Zodiac signs — Post Malone, for example, plays a lion-dressed version of Leo — even if their characters don’t line up with their real-life signs.

It’s a lot to take in. To help make sense of the madness, Bustle staff writer Jake Viswanath and Elite Daily senior entertainment editor Sarah Ellis sat down to chat about the guest stars and break down their roles.

Sarah: I want to talk about the collection of people in this movie. What was the selection process for this cast list?

Jake: Were these the people who said yes?

Sarah: That was my first thought, because they all come on at once. There’s this roundtable of the most random group. I was like, “Is this everyone who’s been interviewed on Call Her Daddy in the last year? What is going on?”

Jake: Oh my God, you're going to make me spit out my water. I can only draw the connection between her and a few of them. Jane Fonda was in Monster-in-Law. They’ve stayed close since. Jay Shetty is kind of just around celebrities. He knows everybody.

Sarah: Jay Shetty is the ultimate “he’s just there,” and I don't know why.

Jake: But she’s never worked with Post Malone, Trevor Noah.

Sarah: They all played specific Zodiac signs, which don’t necessarily correlate to their actual Zodiac signs. Trevor Noah is a Pisces.

Jake: But he played Libra.

Sarah: Which was also the sign that got slandered.

Jake: Out of the gate, J.Lo was like, “F*ck Libras,” after her first relationship ended.

Sarah: Do we think Post Malone is her favorite because he played her Zodiac sign, Leo?

Jake: That’s a good question. Post Malone was fitting for Leo. He gives off very flirty, outgoing vibes.

Sarah: He’s a Cancer in real life.

Jake: And Keke Palmer was also the perfect Scorpio.

Sarah: She was, but she’s not a Scorpio. She has an album called Virgo Tendencies. It’s interesting that you would very publicly cast someone who is very publicly a Virgo as a Scorpio.

Jake: She felt like the lead of the Zodiac Council. She provided the most comedic relief and reasoning skills. She was the one who actually fixed J.Lo's life and put that plan into action, which was funny to see play out. It was a good performance, which is what Keke always gives.

Sarah: Keke will show up to the most random role of all time, playing a Zodiac sign that’s not hers, but she’s going to do it.

Jake: 100%. Of all these people that were asked, Jane Fonda could have played any of these Zodiac signs. She’s Jane Fonda. But her as Sagittarius has an unexpected edge that I loved.

Sarah: Jane Fonda actually is a Sagittarius, which is thrilling to me because she gives iconic Sagittarius energy. She’s fiery. She does her own thing.

Jake: She did her Sagittarius people proud. Now, let’s talk about the people who were slightly miscast.

Sarah: Sofia Vergara only had one line, “I think I can see my father’s house from here,” and then she was fixing her hair.

Jake: It’s so fun, so unnecessary, so random. She could have been used more, but that one line was hysterical. But you didn’t get a good idea of what sign she was.

Sarah: I was looking for Cancer because that’s my sign, but she didn’t really give Cancer. With that being said, Sofia is a double Cancer. She’s a sun and moon Cancer.

Jake: Neil deGrasse Tyson was Taurus. How do we feel about that?

Sarah: He’s a Libra in real life. I actually would’ve switched Neil and Trevor Noah, who played Libra, because I could see Trevor being really obnoxious as a Taurus, in a good way.

Jake: Maybe she respected Neil deGrasse Tyson too much and didn’t want to give him Libra after that outburst about Libras.

Sarah: Libra men, this is a tough moment for them.

Jake: We need help right now. I have a hot take about Kim Petras.

Sarah: Oh my God. Kim Petras was amazing. All she did was hop in and say, “Slay. Work. Go off.”

Jake: My hot take is that they wanted Paris Hilton for it, but she wasn’t available, so they gave it to Kim. Paris is not a Virgo, but they obviously wrote Virgo as the “yas slay” character. It makes no sense because that’s not a Virgo tendency at all.

Sarah: Virgos are very meticulous, thoughtful, and grounded. Virgo being the “yas slay” character was the most off-kilter decision from the roundtable. All respect to Kim Petras because she did what she came to do, but if you’d taken away their Zodiac signs, I wouldn't have been able to tell you who she was playing.

Jake: Exactly. Now, do you know who Sadhguru is?

Sarah: No. I had to look this man up.

Jake: My Indian family loves him and goes by everything he says. My question is, how did J.Lo discover him? What does he have to do with anything in this movie? Why is he officiating the wedding at the end?

Sarah: Sadhguru plays Pisces, which was not made clear to us whatsoever. Even so, I’m actually obsessed with this astrology panel. I want my life to be this.

Jake: Is it miscast? A little. Do I want them to control my life? Yes.

Sarah: I would sign my life away to these people in a heartbeat.

Jake: Especially Keke Palmer and Jane Fonda.

Sarah: Absolutely.

Jake: We have to talk about the last two guest stars who weren’t a part of the astrology panel. I think Fat Joe was the MVP of this entire movie.

Sarah: Fat Joe was awesome.

Jake: He is the heart and soul. He’s been with J.Lo since the beginning, since the first time Bennifer broke up, and he’s collaborated with her over the years. It makes so much sense.

Sarah: I love that the only constant in this movie was that Fat Joe kept reoccurring as a voice of reason.

Jake: He would’ve been a very fun presence on the Zodiac Panel, but him as a therapist? I couldn’t have written it better myself.

Sarah: With that being said, why wouldn’t they cast Sadhguru as the therapist and put Fat Joe on the panel? And why is Sadhguru officiating the wedding at the end?

Jake: Fat Joe could have officiated.

Sarah: You would think.

Jake: We need to devote some time to Ben Affleck.

Sarah: I got to the end of this movie and thought the only glimpses of Ben we got were on the motorcycle and when he walks up to her at the end. He’s kind of like the muse that shows up at the end.

Jake: Yeah, he has a ghostly presence. The two of them riding off on his motorcycle together made a lot of sense.

Sarah: He was this presence in her life because they dated so young. She went and did all this other stuff for 20 years, and then there he is again. So it did made sense to me that he was this otherworldly presence. But then the reveal that he’s the newscaster?

Jake: Whoever did his makeup and prosthetics deserve an award, because I did not recognize him whatsoever.

Sarah: That was the biggest shock of the whole thing.

Jake: It reminded me of Christian Bale in Vice. He went through this whole transformation to play Vice President Dick Cheney, but did nothing the entire movie, except in the last 5 minutes, where he gave this monologue as if he were a newscaster.

Sarah: I feel like Ben just wanted to f*ck around and do something funny, and they were like, “Sure you can be a newscaster.” It gave Anchorman vibes.

Jake: It was Donald Trump meets Anchorman.

Sarah: He gave us everything and more, and played himself as a shrouded figure. So, who do you think represented God in this movie, if anyone? Fat Joe or Ben Affleck?

Jake: Both of them, in a way. I’m never going to recover from this. I’m not the same.

This has been edited and condensed for clarity.