Lance “Un” Rivera is known for his musical collaborations with Junior Mafia, Lil’ Kim and the Notorious B.I.G and now the Hip-Hop mogul-turned director is preparing to release his sophomore feature film, The Perfect Holiday.
The Perfect Holiday, which stars Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut and Katt Williams, is a romance comedy about a divorced mother, who’s daughter tries to hook her up for Christmas.
“I think it is the perfect family film for the holidays,” Lance “Un” Rivera told AllHipHop.com. “If you look, there aren’t really any Black Christmas movies and I knew when I wrote this film, that it would be one that would be great for the family and show you the real spirit of the holiday-giving.”
With his success on the music charts, a lot of fans are wondering why Rivera, who also launched the career of Cam’ron, made the crossover into film.
“I haven’t left the music business for film,” Rivera continued. “My passion had left for the industry, because record companies no longer are interested in the development of artists. It was a little discouraging and turned me off. With film, it was something that I was always interested in. I used to direct music videos, I did all of the early little Kim and Junior Mafia videos, so it was an easy transition for me. ”
Although The Perfect Holiday is the first film that Rivera wrote, it is actually the second film he directed.
He also directed 2004’s Summer comedy The Cookout along side Queen Latifah and partner Shakim.
“By hooking up with Queen Latifah and Shakim who were already doing films, it made it a lot easier [for me to crossover],” Rivera said. “She helped me by letting me intern with Flavor Unit, she helped me go from “Un” to Lance Rivera. I learned a lot from her and Shakim, so once I was ready she helped me really branch out there by allowing me to direct my first film, The Cookout. ”
Although Lance “Un” Rivera is directing feature films for Hollywood, he still has a hand in the music industry.
He is currently managing Lil’ Kim and helped her produce her upcoming mixtape Ms. G.O.A.T.
“This is going to be a great collaboration because [Lil] Kim has a lot going on musically and I know that just seeing her evolve as an artist has re-ignited my fire for the music industry,” Rivera said.
Besides the upcoming release of The Perfect Holiday and Lil’ Kim’s new mixtape Ms. G.O.A.T, Rivera is developing a TV show for BET with Katt Williams and Charlie Murphy titled Wifey.
“Wifey is a one hour drama series that I am working on for BET,” Rivera said of the upcoming project. “To me, it’s the urban Desperate Housewives and I really think that it will take off.”
The Perfect Holiday is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on December 12, 2007.
