“Hollywood gets to define what heroes look like, and they never look like us,” said Longoria, a Mexican-American native of south Texas.
SAN ANTONIO — Corpus Christie native Eva Longoria was back in south Texas Sunday for a pre-screening of her new film: “Flamin’ Hot.”
The movie, which headlined at South-by-Southwest, is Longoria’s narrative feature film debut as a director.
“I like to say this story chose me.” Longoria said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, everybody has to know this story.’ And being a Mexican-American, I was really embarrassed that I didn’t know the story.”
The movie is janitor-turned-marketing executive Richard Montañez’s account of the development of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
“I came in with an idea of what I wanted to do… to figure out the most entertaining and best way to honor his life,” said Jesse Garcia, who portrays Montañez in the film.
“I had an idea coming in, and we kind of molded it from there,” he said.
Annie Gonzalez, who played Richard’s wife Judy in the film, said she spent time getting to know the real-life Richard and Judy ahead of the seven-week shoot.
Once I read the story and understood Judy’s contribution and almost her detachment from the idea that she was a contributor: She was just like, ‘I support you. I see you. I understand the power of partnership,’” Gonzalez said. “Once I saw that she was the heartbeat of the story, it was easy to find more of the human moments and nuances
For Longoria, it was a chance to share the story of a Mexican American people could look up to.
“Hollywood gets to define what heroes look like, and they never look like us,” she said during a Q&A session after the screening.
In recent years, elements of Montañez’s story have been called into question, but Longoria says that’s not why his story matters.
“Richard wasn’t the food chemist that put Maltodextrin with whatever, but he was the genius who knew how to get it out to our market. And so his contributions to the number-one snack in the world is recognized by all. And it’s going to be celebrated and applauded by all,” she said.
Flamin’ Hot begins streaming on Hulu and Disney+, June 9th.
[embedded content]
Original News Source
Running For Office? Conservative Campaign Management – Election Day Strategies!