Eva Longoria's not interested in making empty-calorie films

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The “Flamin’ Hot” synopsis only gets it about half right.

While director Eva Longoria’s feature debut does relate the inspirational story of Richard Montañez, the Mexican American Frito-Lay janitor whose 2021 memoir recounts how he climbed the ranks at the snack food company and the part he played in the creation of its popular Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, an essential ingredient is missing from that summary.

In Longoria’s estimation, it is Judy (played winningly by Annie Gonzalez), Richard’s wife, who is “the heartbeat” of the film. Judy comes across as the voice of reason and encouragement, not to mention the glue that kept her Mexican American Southern California family bonded during the rough patches, including the Reagan era.

“Flamin’ Hot,” starring Jesse Garcia as Richard, is now available on Hulu and Disney+.

It didn’t take long for Longoria and screenwriter Linda Yvette Chávez to realize Judy’s influence after their initial five-hour meetup, one of many, with the Montañezs in Rancho Cucamonga.

“We knew right away,” Longoria recalls. “And when we left and got into the car we said: “This is a love story… . She’s going to be the emotional through-line and (chance) to see a major character you don’t normally see on screen. She’s strong and she has her own story and she’s integral to the plot.”

Longoria and producer DeVon Franklin, an Oakland native and motivational speaker, author and most recently an actor in the popular faith-based film “The Jesus Revolution,” visited San Francisco recently on the eve of the film’s premiere.

Franklin didn’t initially assume Longoria would be a lock for the “Flamin’ Hot” director’s chair when he heard she was interested in the job, since he knew her only as an actor not a filmmaker. (Longoria’s exceptional 2022 documentary debut “La Guerra Civil” — detailing how the Mexican and the Mexican American community was split over the 1996 Oscar De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez boxing match — hadn’t come out yet.)

But after he met with Longoria in 2019, his opinion changed and pronto.

“I had no expectation that she would come in and win the job,” he recalls. “But when she came in, she came in deeply prepared — the whole script in a binder, glasses on. We just met for about two hours, and she’s, like, with every page: ‘Here’s what needs to be fixed … . Here’s what I’m going to do here. And here’s how this needs to be better… .’

“At the end of it I was depressed… and inspired,” he said, both of them laughing. “Depressed because, man, I’ve been working on this for years and she just like tore it apart. It was clear that the director showed up.”

Throughout her wide-ranging career, Longoria has more than shown up, serving as a tireless champion for bringing underrepresented stories within the Latino community to the screen.

She’s asked, sometimes, why she picks only “Latin stuff.”

Her answer: “That’s where I feel the most inspired and that’s where I have the most to say.”

Celebrity Eva Longoria visits San Francisco, Calif., to promote the film “Flamin’ Hot” at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, June 9, 2023. Longoria debuts as film director with the story based on a Mexican-American janitor who convinced Frito-Lay to create the spicy version of Cheetos, Flamin’ Hot. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Fill producer DeVon Franklin, left, and celebrity Eva Longoria visit San Francisco, Calif., to promote the film “Flamin’ Hot” at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, June 9, 2023. Longoria debuts as film director with the story based on a Mexican-American janitor who convinced Frito-Lay to create the spicy version of Cheetos, Flamin’ Hot. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

She’s been moving that representation needle forward through producing and spearheading philanthropic projects as well. All this while she continues to act and, now, direct. She’s in the larval stages for directing a project with Kerry Washington.

The Texas-born star is perhaps best known for playing the resourceful Gabby for eight seasons on the sexy nighttime soap “Desperate Housewives.” Away from the cameras, she’s been an advocate for several causes and charities and been involved in projects that include her educational nonprofit for Latinas — the Eva Longoria Foundation. She’s also a well-known spokesperson for several brands, runs a TV/film production company, has published a cookbook and has the rare distinction of being honored as Philanthropist of the Year and being tagged often as one of the most beautiful women in the world.

She has a few acting roles in the pipeline, including a co-starring role in the film version of Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s popular YA gay-themed novel “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” (screening at Frameline47). Her recent CNN series “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico” was a ratings hit and served as an enlightening epicurean and cultural tour told in six parts.

Surprisingly enough, Longoria had a rather emphatic response when asked to direct the documentary, “La Guerra Civil.”

“No,” she said. “Not a boxing doc — like with jabs and punches? I had zero interest.”

But upon further reflection, the match and its impact on Mexican and Mexican American boxing fans typified the type of story she’s interested in telling.

“I love to direct something that has something to say,” she said. “And I think that’s the theme of everything I do.” That includes producing and directing the 2022 pilot for “The Gordita Chronicles” comedy series to a guest starring role on the ABC series “Grand Hotel.”

For “Flamin’ Hot,” Longoria wanted to steer far away from showcasing and glorifying Frito-Lay.

“That does not interest me at all,” she said. “But I do think this man’s life is very interesting and we have a lot to learn from it, and to have the opportunity to create a hero for us and our community. That is exciting to me.”

And it’s been a long wait to see a studio film offering a positive depiction of the Latino experience, Longoria says, highlighting how Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” resonates for children of color. She estimates that it’s been perhaps 20 years since a “major studio has done a story about us and by us.”

But Hollywood has the power to change that, she said.

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To that point, “Flamin’ Hot” shows that it was the Latino community that put ‘Flamin’ Hot’ on the profitable map.

“Look at Air (Jordan), it was the African American community that made that sneaker what it is, not Nike,” she said.

In turn, she adds, it helps for underrepresented communities to recognize the economic and cultural influence that they wield.

“You know,” she said, “people go — ‘Taco Tuesday!’ — there’s a reason.”

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