Jennifer Lopez Handpicks De la Fuente And Varela

Leonor Varela and Cristián de la Fuente have officially signed on as part of the cast for the new mini series La Flor Pálida, produced by 37-year-old Jennifer Lopez for Univisión. According to Simon Fields, co-producer and business partner of Nuyorican Productions (Lopez's production company), the story contains autobiographical elements which lead us to believe that Varela will play a Lopez-like character in the series.

“I had already met with Jennifer and we got along well,” Varela, 34, told the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio. “She liked my work in the film Voces Inocentes and I've known (Lopez's husband) Marc Anthony for some time. As for the director of the series, León Ichaso, he's wanted to work with me for a while now and I was his only choice for the role. There was no casting, just a direct offer,” she added..

Her character, Sofía Márquez, is a famous singer who is constantly in the public eye and eventually becomes involved in a scandalous affair that forces her to leave her boyfriend and fall into the arms of an old flame, her true love.

Before that happens, Sofía will first become involved with a famous soccer player whose character is rumored to be based on actor Ben Affleck – A role which will be played by Cristián de la Fuente. “It's about two young people who are extremely famous and who experience conflict in their relationship over the fact that the soccer player finds it impossible to be with a woman who is far more famous than himself,” explained the 33-year-old actor to the Chilean daily Las Últimas Noticias.

There is no word yet as to who will play the second romantic lead in the series that will be directed by Ichaso, who also directed El Cantante, the biopic about the late Puerto Rican salsa singer, Héctor Lavoe, starring Lopez and Anthony and opening August 1st. “The series is currently in pre-production and we have no further information beyond that,” said Lopez's publicist Blanca Lasalle to Peopleenespanol.com.

The production is a five-part, one hour musical series that will include songs from Lopez's Spanish-language album Como Ama Una Mujer and is scheduled to begin shooting in Mexico on August 6th.