Just a couple of weeks ago, we talked about Dexter star Lauren Vélez and her long-time effort to fund an independent film on La Lupe, the legendary queen of Latin soul. In late September and early October, she put together an ambitious Kickstarter effort to raise $100,000 for the movie…and when we wrote about it, with less than twenty days to go and only $10,000 in the pot, things did not look good.
But she did it. With the help of almost 200 backers, most of them giving $100 or less, she put together just a hair more than the goal—$101,157–mere moments before the hammer fell.
The project has been a dream of Lauren’s for years. She’s done demo reels like the one below, given interviews and endless pitches…and now crowdsourcing has given an all-important boost to the project. (Latina Magazine has done a terrific job covering Vélez and her project, too, first with an article about La Lupe and Vélez here and then just this weekend, with a follow-up interview with Lauren here.)
Meanwhile, Vélez herself as plenty to do. Dexter is in the middle of Season 7, with one more season to go before its announced end with Season 8…and as far as Vélez’ involvement, she sincerely hopes to be there until the bitter (or bittersweet) end. As it is, “Maria LaGuerta” is at the center of a juicy story line this season, as she closes in on anawful realization about Dexter’s “secret life,” even as Dexter’s sister struggles with the revelation herself.
So finally, La Lupe moves forward. We’ll keep an eye on its continuing, triumphant development.
