Eva Longoria Credits ‘Desperate Housewives’ With Her ‘Film School’ Years Before Directing ‘Flamin’ Hot’

Eva Longoria may just now be making her feature film directorial debut Flamin’ hotbut he laid the groundwork for nearly 20 years, leading up to his starring role in Desperate Housewives.

After a decade of directing TV episodes for shows including Blackish, Joan the Virgin AND Chubby ChroniclesLongoria noted that for Flamin’ hot “All of my TV experience has paid off because we move at a very ambitious and fast pace and this film was very ambitious in our schedule. I really think wow, all my 10 years on TV have prepared me for this moment, which is a movie set.

“And I used Desperate Housewives like my film school, that’s where I really learned everything,” he continued at Friday’s Los Angeles premiere of the film, which tells the story of Richard Montañez, a janitor at Frito Lay who says he came up with the idea to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” We’ve had so many directors come through and so many episodes; 10 years on a set and I paid attention. And speaking of the hit series, the carpet served as a mini Desperate Housewives reunion when Jesse Metcalfe stopped by to give Longoria a hug and pose for photos together.

The film’s stars also sang Longoria’s praises as a director, with Jesse Garcia (who plays Montañez) applauding her for being “very specific about the story she wanted to tell, being very passionate about telling Richard’s story.” Annie Gonzalez (who plays Montañez’s wife, Judy) added that Longoria was “a performer through and through — we’ve seen that from her philanthropic work, she has nonprofits, she’s produced TV shows, she’s directed a TV which was brilliant, this is no different. When Eve does something, she does it totally and she does it in a surprising way.

Amid Montañez’s heroic story — which he documented in his book, detailing his eventual journey to become vice president of Frito-Lay’s parent company, PepsiCo — questions arose about his narrative. THE Los Angeles Times published a story in 2021 claiming that Montañez did not actually invent the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto, reporting that an internal investigation by Frito-Lay had revealed that another segment of the company had been developing the product and had no record that Montañez was involved in creating or testing the market. The story broke shortly before Flamin’ hot started shooting.

Shortly thereafter, PepsiCo released a statement that “the information we shared with the media was misunderstood by some” and attributed “the launch and success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and other products to several people who worked at PepsiCo , including Richard Montañez”. He also added, “We have no reason to doubt the stories he shares about taking the lead in creating new product ideas for the Cheetos brand.”

Producer DeVon Franklin said The Hollywood Reporter that the report never imperiled the film as “I had gone to meet with executives from PepsiCo and Frito-Lay in 2019, years earlier. I sat down with them and got all the information I needed; a lot of information was already in the article, so we had already incorporated a lot of the information we got into the script,” she said, confirming that no updates have been made to address the Los Angeles Times history.

“When the article came out it wasn’t like there was anything we didn’t already know, which is why when people see the movie they’re going to see the real story,” Franklin continued. “They will see how all these things worked together. Frito-Lay and PepsiCo saw the movie, they’re proud of the movie, and they think we didn’t just do Richard justice, but Hot Cheeto as well.

Montañez himself walked the carpet along with wife Judy, noting that they haven’t read the story but have heard the details. “I’ve been used to fighting all my life – from the day I was born I fought, I’ll probably fight until the day I do, and this is the story of the person who comes from where we come from. It’s always a struggle,” he said in response. “But I’m so happy for the movie because it gives answers to all the questions you might have about it, so I’m happy with that.”

And in a movie where Hot Cheetos play a central character, how many were consumed on set?

Longoria said he opted for White Cheddar Cheetos since Flamin’ Hots was not actively part of the shoot until after the film was finished; Garcia revealed: “I ate exactly five. I had my first Hot Cheeto on the take where I taste the Hot Cheeto off the line, and we did five takes.

Diane Warren, who wrote the original song “The Fire Inside” (performed by Becky G) for the film, joked that she was even inspired by the snack: “When I saw the rough cut of the film I ate a bag, and it was pretty spicy, like oh “The Fire Inside”, OK.It really was.

Flamin’ hot is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.