Everyone knows Eva Longoria as a TV and film actress, most notably her long run on the hit ABC series Desperate Housewives and so many other roles. But she has quietly been building up another career behind the camera as a director, having helmed numerous episodes of such shows as Black-ish, Devious Maids and Jane the Virgin. This year, she made her feature directorial debut with Searchlight/Hulu’s Flamin’ Hot, which had its premiere at SXSW and went on to acclaim and big numbers as it became the first film to simultaneously debut on both Hulu and Disney+.
Flamin’ Hot tells the inspirational true story of Richard Montanez, who went on to a successful career as a major marketing force behind Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and other products at Frito-Lay after initially starting as a janitor at one of their plants. Longoria joins me for this week’s episode of my Deadline video series Behind the Lens to talk about this significant turn in her career and why it was important not just to make this film for the Latino community, but also to make it with them, both in front of and behind the lens.
The film also features a new song, “The Fire Inside” written by Diane Warren and performed by Becky G, and Longoria shares a hilarious story of just how the prolific 14-time Oscar-nominated Warren insisted she write a song for her movie — even when the film didn’t even exist.
To watch our conversation and go “behind the lens” with Eva Longoria, watch the video above.
Join me every Friday during Oscar season for another edition of Behind the Lens.
