For director Eva Longoria, Flamin’ Hot is bigger than the origin story of the Cheetos

The new film, Flamin’ Hot, which premieres Saturday in Austin, Texas, tells the story of Richard Montañez, who rose from janitor to CEO at Frito-Lay and long claimed to be the wildly popular Flamin’ Hot Cheetos who was invented. snacks with spicy taste. .

The film is Eva Longoria’s fictional directorial debut and will stream on Hulu on June 9. (Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.)

Starring Jesse Garcia as Montañez, the film follows the protagonist from his early days as a petty criminal to his menial job at a Frito-Lay factory in California, where he eventually makes a fateful phone call to the CEO of parent company PepsiCo, Roger Enrico Farm. (Tony Shalhoub). Starring Annie Gonzalez as Judy, Montañez’s wife, with Dennis Haysbert and Matt Walsh as fellow factory workers, the film is an energetic and lively modern fable about endurance, confidence and overcoming adversity.

It was also overshadowed by a massive Times story that refuted Montañez’s account of his role in making Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, which was released in 2021 when the film was already in development. Nevertheless, the project went ahead.

“That story never touched us,” Longoria said in a recent phone interview. “It feels like the LA Times has better sources for more important things.

“We never wanted to tell the story of the Cheeto,” she countered. “We tell the story of Richard Montañez and we tell his truth.”

As an investigation by a Frito-Lay company quoted in the Times story concluded, “We appreciate Richard’s many contributions to our company, particularly his insights into Hispanic consumers, but we do not write the development of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or otherwise .” Flamin’ Hot Products Not To Him.”

In particular, Longoria cited a statement from PepsiCo, released after The Times published the story as evidence of Montañez’s involvement, in which the company responded to public outcry over the story’s initial description as an “urban legend.”

But the statement, which validated Montañez’s other contributions to the company, did not challenge The Times’ reporting and reiterated that PepsiCo saw no “clear connection” between Montañez’s story and the team, whose “snappy product talk” became the market tested. . couldn’t pull. and found [its] in permanent products on store shelves, including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”

When asked for further comment on Longoria’s baseless allegations about Montañez’s version of the story and PepsiCo’s response, a representative of Searchlight Pictures, which produced the film, referred The Times to an interview with Longoria published by People magazine in January, in which she also said, “We never told the story of the Cheeto.”

Longoria prefers to focus on the indisputable fact of Montañez’s rise through the ranks of the company and his role in developing marketing specifically aimed at Latin American consumers: “His genius was the fact that he knew the Spanish market and knew how to mobilize it.”

“Richard’s story is our story. We are all Richard Montañez,” she said. “There was a time in our lives when someone said, ‘No, no, no. Ideas don’t come from people like you.’ ‘No no no. This job is not for someone who looks like you.’ ‘No no no. I don’t think you’re qualified for that.’ And so I think we’ll all relate to his perseverance and his belief in himself. Like he just said, “Why not?” He dared to ask: ‘But why not me?’”

The project was born around 2017 when producer DeVon was introduced to Franklin Montañez and determined to bring his story to the big screen. The project originated at Searchlight with script design by Lewis Colick. With dozens of directors competing for the project, Longoria eventually won the job. Author Linda Yvette Chávez, whose credits include the series Gentefied and the upcoming adaptation of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, was asked to revise the script.

While Longoria is best known as an actor, most notably on the series Desperate Housewives, she’s also increasingly active behind the camera. After directing several short films, she also directed episodes of numerous series, including Jane the Virgin, Black-ish, and Gordita Chronicles, and directed the documentary La Guerra Civil, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

For Franklin, Longoria was an obvious choice to lead the project.

“The last thing I wanted was to make a movie that didn’t pay tribute to the community we were trying to celebrate,” said Franklin. “And so Eva brought the specificity, the vision, and she also brought a commercial. Their vision was to make a commercial film with humor and heart.”

Despite knowing she was dealing with more experienced directors when trying to get the job, Longoria remained convinced she was the best choice for the project.

“I really felt like I was the only person who could tell this story because I’m Chicana, because I’m from the Mexican American community, because I understood the struggles the family faced and what we were as a community . ” she said. “As I approached the movie, whether it was launch or casting, authenticity was my north star. I thought, “This is my superpower.” i know this world

“I know we put tapatío on our spaghetti — it’s just something my dad does. The salsa verde goes on this taco,” Longoria said. “And some of those things people might stay and not really recognize, but the rhythm of the language, the culture of our spices and our food, the way we dress, those things were important.”

As portrayed in the film, the Mexican American community has forged a special bond with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos – including Longoria.

“I like to say it’s not PepsiCo’s product, it’s our product,” Longoria said. “The Hispanic community has popularized this product, we have made it a pop culture phenomenon. This is our product. This is not your product.”

Longoria added, “I don’t know if there’s a Mexican who doesn’t eat Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. I didn’t even know regular Cheetos existed. I grew up on Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. And one day I bought a bag and I thought, ‘Ugh, that tastes weird.’ And they were regular Cheetos. I thought, “Are there regular Cheetos?”