A biopic of the late iconic Mexican-American singer-songwriter, actor, producer and women’s rights activist Jenni Rivera is in the works, producers Javier Chapa and Simon Wise (Mucho Mas Media) and Donald De Line (De Line Pictures) announced Tuesday.
The companies have secured the life rights to tell Rivera’s story as one of the most influential Latin artists who won multiple Billboard Music Awards, 22 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 18 Lo Nuestro Awards and four Latin Grammy nominations.
Kate Lanier, whose credits include the Tina Turner biopic “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and “Set It Off,” is attached to write the script, which will focus on the Banda Ranchera mega-star who touched not only her Spanish-speaking fan base, but also successfully crossed-over into the U.S. and global markets.
Rivera was born in Long Beach, California, after her mother crossed the border on foot while pregnant with Jenni. She drew worldwide fame for her music, but also became a spokesperson for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence after batting personal experiences dealing with domestic and sexual violence.
Rivera is not only known as one of the best-selling regional Mexican artists of all time, but also for crossing into Banda, a male-dominated music genre and eventually into pop music.
“My sister dreamt of a biopic of her life for many years, we are thrilled it will come to fruition,” Rosie Rivera, Jenni Rivera’s sister, said of the film project. “We never imagined such an amazing producing and writing team like Donald De Line and Kate Lanier would join together with us to help make her dream a reality. We are overjoyed and excited to begin this process. It’s taken time to get here because we had to trust Jenni’s story in the right hands — and we are confident that we made the best partnership with Mucho Mas Media and this creative team.”
The project was negotiated between Anjelica Cohn on behalf of Jenni Rivera Enterprises, her family and the producers. Lanier is represented by Bob Hohman of The Gersh Agency.