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As the holiday season unfolds, the festive signal from the renowned queen of Christmas, Mariah Carey, heralds its arrival. With her proclamation, the much-awaited time of celebration begins, marked by none other than the era of Christmas movies. This genre epitomizes festive delight, showcasing quaint small towns, an overflow of Christmas cheer, and an abundance of heartwarming holiday sensations! And now, perfectly timed for the season, emerges “Dashing Through The Snow,” a production by Will Packer, boasting a star-studded cast that includes Lil Rel Howery portraying Santa Claus.

BET.com caught up with Will Packer, Ludacris, Lil Rel Howery, and breakout star with main character energy, Madison Syke Validum, to chat about believing in Santa and their holiday spirits. We even got a few fun facts out of them. 

BET.com: In the movie, we see a lot of themes around believing in Santa and the spirit of Christmas. Can you talk about believing and how you continue to believe in things you cannot see in adulthood?

Ludacris: Man, that's so deep, and you're absolutely correct. Through adulthood, a lot of us tend to ride the line of non-believing or there's so many distractions where we forget. We need to restore our faith in many things because we have so many things that we're dealing with that sometimes it can get cloudy. A film like this reminds you of what's most important to be the best person you can be for everyone else. 

BET.com: What do you think is still magical about Christmas?

Ludacris: The magic within it is family coming together [and] loving on one another. There's so much going on in the world today that when you bring each other together, you eat meals together, you're able to speak and talk about what's going on internally [and] externally. It creates an environment that feels safe and it just promotes love. That's what the holidays are supposed to be all about.

Lil Rel: Making a movie like this, you can actually watch with the family. That's what's gonna be beautiful about this holiday season, especially for “Dashing Through The Snow.” I love Christmas, especially now we’re blending families–you know I'm engaged now–and last Christmas was so fun! We went and got a cabin and all of us have the same pajamas on and and that's what I love! I travel a lot and I work a lot, but I love the holiday time where I could just sit still, especially as a dad. I’m in that dad mode where I like to just sit in my chair and watch the kids. It's a beautiful thing especially if you've worked really hard and seeing your family benefit from it, it's such a beautiful day during the holidays.

BET.com: We’ve got to Black Santa in this film, and you know the world acts when something like that happens. What does that mean to you?

Ludacris: Change is happening. We just got done with two different strikes. We are seeing change happen before our very eyes and when you are able to see roles like this and in a way that we're not normally able to see them when we were growing up, but we can show our kids, then it evokes change. I'm all for that. I love the representation on this film.

Will Packer: When the script was brought to me, there wasn't any race. It was a Christmas movie. When people bring me scripts, a lot of times they say, ‘Well, Will Packer, put your flavor on it! How do you see it? Who would you cast in it? And how would you develop it?’  And I'm not shy about putting my flavor on it. When I was growing up, I saw a lot of Christmas movies, I did not see a lot of people that look like me. I did not see a lot of people that look like Madison. I didn't feel like those movies weren't for me. I just felt like I didn't see myself in those movies. I love the fact that now we've got a generation that are seeing exactly what you just said, seeing characters, main characters, front and center in these films that happen to look like them. This is a movie for everybody, but it happens to have a Madison Skye, a Lil Rel Howery, a Ludacris Bridges and I love that, I'm very, very proud of that.

Lil Rel: Being Black Santa, you’re right, it can start stuff. Being a dad, I've seen a lot of young people who're taking on different roles that weren’t always African-American, Little Mermaid…so I’m like ‘Yeah! Come to me. It's fine! Let’s do it!’ You got something to say? I'm Santa! What do you wanna do about it? [laughs] I love what that represents! Culturally, Black people, we are who we are, you know? We set the blueprint for things and it should have been a Black Santa. It should have been a bunch of Black Santas and hopefully after this, we will see a lot more! Black Santa is cool!

BET.com: One of the things that Rel’s character Santa does in the film is tell anyone who would listen some fun facts about himself. Could you give three fun facts about you that we may not have known already?

Madison Sky: I really, really hate flies. Seriously. You want to get me angry? Put me in a bottle of flies. I hate them. My favorite animal is cats. And then another fun fact about me is that I really like to dance and sing.

Ludacris: The best Christmas in retrospect that I ever had was a Christmas where I absolutely received nothing. It put everything in perspective for me about being able to provide and also about hoping that my kids never have to go through that. What's something else about me? The only thing I really know how to cook is tacos. Then, the third one is in this movie. I probably got on Lil Rel’s nerves because I wanted him to make me laugh off-screen every single day.

Lil Rel: Not really, but yeah. [laughs] Most people know this, but I love karaoke. I love 80s movie soundtracks. So I have a random playlist with songs from The Karate Kid…and I drive to this. 

Ludacris: He drove a different car to set every day, by the way. I'm not joking—every single day, in a different car. I thought I had money. I'm just saying. I don't know what's going on! What’s the third thing?

Lil Rel: [laughing] I love going to random Chinese buffets. Why? I don't know. I’ve been going to a Chinese buffet since I was like 17. When I travel, I look up Chinese buffets surrounding me. I go three times a week where I live.

Stream "Dashing Through The Snow" right now on Disney+.