EXCLUSIVE: Annie Gonzalez is making her official debut as Jenni Rivera, the legendary Regional Mexican singer recognized adoringly by her followers as La Diva de la Banda, within the official trailer for the ViX Authentic Movie, Jenni (above). The biopic will premiere through the TelevisaUnivision streamer and choose theaters within the U.S. and Mexico on December 6.
From a screenplay by Shane McKenzie and Kate Lanier, Jenni follows Rivera’s journey from the start of her profession in her hometown of Lengthy Seashore, California, to her meteoric rise within the music trade as much as the final days earlier than her tragic and sudden loss of life in a 2012 airplane crash on the age of 43.
The undertaking additionally tackles the struggles she endured in her private life and the way she persevered and located power from inside. This story of resilience and bravado exhibits the constructing blocks of what made Jenni Rivera who she was and the exceptional legacy she left behind.
“After I learn the script, I used to be drawn to the lady behind the microphone. It was her coronary heart and soul that made her who she was and what the story is about,” Gonzalez tells Deadline about what attracted her to the function.
“The story takes place earlier than her fame and what led to that, which I recognized with. There’s rather a lot in there that I both skilled or know individuals who have. It felt like such an vital story as a result of we see Jenni as this chingona, this peleona, this fighter, this drive. However what we don’t see behind each sturdy lady normally, is all of the shit that they needed to undergo and battle to turn into somebody like Jenni. [To portray her], I simply pulled from my very own life,” she added.
Gonzalez displays on the expertise additional by sharing how this journey with Rivera was “cathartic” for her in a private manner. “It gave me an opportunity to completely expertise myself via this. This undertaking has freed me in so some ways,” the star of Flamin’ Scorching reveals.
Jenni Rivera performs on the eleventh annual Latin GRAMMY Awards on November 11, 2010, in Las Vegas
Kevin Winter/Getty Pictures for LARAS
When Deadline announced the project was greenlit at ViX in 2023 with Gonzalez taking the lead function and making her official debut as an govt producer, there have been questions on whether or not or not the movie would replicate Rivera’s actual life—the black, white, and the gray. As is clear within the trailer above, the manufacturing didn’t shrink back from something.
“There’s not a lot sugar coating happening right here. It is a actual alternative to convey her followers nearer to her and her coronary heart which lives on. It additionally helps individuals who may not have recognized a lot about her, the f***ing magic she was, and introduces them to her music. There’s quite a lot of grit to this movie,” Gonzalez shares.
She continues, “After we inform tales of people that have handed, particularly our icons, we create a sophisticated model of their lives. We as a society immediately are uninterested in the polish. Give us one thing actual in order that we will aspire to one thing trustworthy. Life isn’t about being excellent, it’s about being who you’re.”
Whereas her fame catapulted her to the higher echelons of success, Rivera was clear about how her life and family members have been tainted by home violence and sexual assault. In 2008, she based the Jenni Rivera Basis and have become an advocate for anybody who skilled abuse, particularly girls and youngsters. So together with such subjects in her biopic could be very on-brand for Rivera.
Gonzalez proudly shares how she was chosen for the function by the surviving members of the Rivera household following a prolonged audition and interview course of. She was additionally entrusted to sing a lot of Rivera’s greatest hits, however followers might be positive they may also hear their Diva’s vocals spotlighted within the movie’s soundtrack. Gonzalez’s hope for audiences is that they may join with “La Mariposa del Barrio” and discover inspiration.
“There’s a lot magic in Jenni due to her battle. She fought for who she was each second of the best way. She provided grace to girls around the globe who confronted adversity. I hope individuals see it and are impressed to battle the best way she did. She taught me how you can battle,” Gonzalez emphasised.
Annie Gonzalez as Jenni Rivera within the ViX authentic movie Jenni
ViX
Alongside Gonzalez, the movie stars Manuel Uriza as Pedro Rivera, Jenni’s father and Regional Mexican entrepreneur; Cinthya Carmona as Chiquis Rivera, singer, TV character and the oldest daughter of Jenni; Jero Medina and Miguel Angel Garcia as Trino Marín, Jenni’s first husband and father of her three oldest kids, at later and earlier phases in his life, respectively. Gabriela Reynoso performs Jenni’s mom Rosa Saavedra; J.R. Villarreal as Juan “Cinco” Lopez, Jenni’s late second husband; and newcomer Tatiana Alicia Beltrán portrays the younger Jenni Rivera.
Jenni is produced by Javier Chapa and Phillip Braun of Mucho Mas Media and Alec Meachem from De Line Footage, with Gigi Saul Guerrero (Tradition Shock, Bingo Hell) serving as director.
In gentle of the latest election and different equally vital world information, Gonzalez hopes Jenni audiences benefit from the journey and are impressed.
“We’re confronted with adversity throughout us that would make us really feel defeated or like victims, whether or not private or skilled. And as you’ll see within the movie, Jenni took all the things that occurred to her and understood that the villain and the victor lived inside her. I hope this evokes extra humanity on the earth and fewer judgment. We’re all attempting to do the very best we will with the instruments that now we have,” Gonzalez concludes.
This interview has been edited and condensed for size and readability.
