Eva Longoria has revealed that Flamin’ Hot will be different from what people are expecting. The star, best known for her role as Gabrielle Solis on the long-running series Desperate Housewives, was announced to be directing the Flamin’ Hot movie back in 2019. Written by Linda Yvette Chávez and Lewis Colick, the film tells the story of Richard Montañez, played by Jesse Garcia, a Mexican-American who has been credited with inventing Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The product revitalized the brand and produced billions in revenue for PepsiCo. Prior to her attachment to Flamin’ Hot, Longoria made her feature directorial debut with the upcoming comedy 24/7, and has also led a number of episodes for popular television shows such as Black-ish and Jane the Virgin.
In addition to Garcia, the film is set to star Tony Shalhoub, Matt Walsh, Dennis Haysbert, Annie Gonzalez, and Emilio Rivera, among others. Plans for Flamin’ Hot were first revealed a year before Longoria was brought on to direct, after Searchlight Pictures won the rights to it and began the development process with producer DeVon Franklin. The film will not only show how the popular snack flavor came to be, but will also explore Montañez’s Mexican-American heritage, and how he worked his way up from being a janitor at Frito Lay to holding an executive level position within parent company, PepsiCo. While no Flamin’ Hot release date has been given yet, back in August, Searchlight shared that the biopic had wrapped production.
Now, speaking with the Associated Press, Longoria is teasing that Flamin’ Hot is not what people think it is. The director calls the film “fantastic,” and describes the story of Montañez as “inspiring,” and “not what you expect.” Longoria goes on to explain that Flamin’ Hot will be the next project of hers to come out, and that it is currently in post-production. Check out Longoria’s comments below:
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It will be interesting to see whether the recent challenges that Longoria faced when making Flamin’ Hot end up forming the unexpected element she refers to. The actor/director recently revealed that it was a challenge to “stay true to the theme of the movie,” which she says is the idea that opportunity is not equally distributed. An “underdog” like Montañez, Longoria explained, had to work much harder than others to achieve the level of success that he did. Longoria also voiced her support of Montañez in light of accusations that he embellished his involvement in the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, so it’s possible that the element of the movie the director says is “not what you expect” could address this controversy.
As Longoria continues to stand by Montañez’s account, it will be interesting to see how the accusations affect the film’s performance and reception, if at all. Despite the opposing claims, the movie’s “American dream” theme stays the same, as does Longoria’s goal of telling an inspiring story. The director, whose last acting credit was in 2021’s Boss Baby 2, will be seen on screen again in a handful of upcoming projects as Flamin’ Hot awaits a release date, when audiences will see Longoria’s take on this real-life story.
Source: Associated Press
