*Eva Longoria is speaking up about Hollywood’s hypocrisy and the challenges that Latino and BIPOC filmmakers face in the industry.
Longoria hit up the festival circuit at Cannes with her feature directorial debut “Flamin’ Hot” and during her Women in Motion panel, she admitted to feeling “the weight of my community” and “the weight of every female director.”
“We don’t get a lot of bites at the apple,” Longoria explained. Her forthcoming film, “Flamin Hot,” is the true tale about the Frito-Lay janitor who allegedly invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. “My movie wasn’t low budget by any means — it wasn’t $100 million, but it wasn’t $2 million. When was the last Latina-directed studio film? It was like 20 years ago. We can’t get a movie every 20 years,” Longoria continued.
“The problem is if this movie fails, people go, ‘Oh Latino stories don’t work… female directors really don’t cut it.’ We don’t get a lot of at-bats,” she said. “A white male can direct a $200 million film, fail, and get another one. That’s the problem.”
“The illusion is that Hollywood is progressive,” Longoria added. “The reality is that we’re still far behind in equal representation.” ‘
Longoria is making her feature film directing debut with two films, Flamin’ Hot and the previously announced “24/7” from Universal, EW reports. In the past 12 years, only one Latina has directed one of the top 1,200 grossing films, according to Stacy Smith’s USC Latino Inclusion Study.
“Flamin’ Hot’ received the Best Feature Film at this year’s 11th annual Annapolis Film Festival. The film is produced by DeVon Franklin and stars Jesse Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Emilio Rivera, Dennis Haysbert, Tony Shalhoub, and Matt Walsh. The film will debut on Hulu and Disney+ June 9.
“It’s a beautiful story about the Mexican janitor who worked at the factory and invented the hot Cheeto, and saved people’s jobs, and couldn’t read or write when he started,” Longoria told EW in 2020 about the film. “His whole life, he was told ‘no. That opportunity’s not for you, ideas don’t come from people like you…’ And he was like, ‘Why not?’ It’s a very beautiful story [about] the man and his journey and how he succeeded in a world that tells you no.”
READ MORE: Official Trailer Drops for Eva Longoria’s ‘Flamin Hot’ Biopic | Watch
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