‘This is a story about us and by us’: Eva Longoria talks new ‘Flamin’ Hot’ movie

Texas-born filmmaker Eva Longoria understood the importance of telling an inspiring Mexican-American story with her new movie based on the origins of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

“Flamin’ Hot,” out Friday on Hulu and Disney+, tells the true story of Richard Montañez who as a Frito Lay janitor disrupted the food industry by channeling his Mexican heritage to turn Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from a snack into an iconic global pop culture phenomenon.

Many know Longoria for acting in “Desperate Housewives,” “Harsh Times” and “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.” But for “Flamin’ Hot,” the Corpus Christi-native went behind the camera to direct the spicy true story.

The movie stars Jesse Garcia as Richard Montañez and Annie Gonzalez as his wife, Judy. The trio were in Dallas to screen the movie and spoke with the Star-Telegram about the film.

Star-Telegram: My first question, Eva, is for you. What’s more nerve-racking: Making this movie or throwing out the first pitch at the [Texas] Rangers game?

Longoria: That is a great question. Equal pressure [laughs]. All my girlfriends texted me they’re like, “I couldn’t have done that, the pressure.” Apparently they boo you if you don’t make it across [home plate]. If I would have gotten booed, I would have died. But Mitch [Garver] helped me out [laughs], he kind of leaned in to save me. But this movie, we’re just so happy its out to the world. We’ve been with it for so long and it’s a love letter to the Mexican-American community. The way its been received, the reviews, like the intention behind making this film is landing with everybody. Portraying Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the light we’ve always seen our community, which is with love and heart and humor, and I think people are enjoying the ride.

S-T: Jesse and Annie, I know you both met Richard and Judy in real life before filming. I’m curious as to your approach as actors, how does it differ from playing a real person to a fictional character? Are you doing more research and doing more work to kind of mimic these people?

Garcia: Well, when I met with Richard I had a conversation with him that I wasn’t going to mimic him, that I wasn’t going to do an imitation of him. I was going to do my version of his story, which understandably he was a little nervous about it. But when he came to the set and saw what we were doing, he saw that we were doing his and Judy’s story right. But for me, I approach every one of them a little bit differently, but at the root of it I’m just trying to play an honest character and tell the story the way it should be told. I didn’t do this one that much different, other than they were was a ton of prep in hair, makeup, wigs and costumes.

Longoria: Jesse and I have a similar acting philosophy. We’re not the method actor, we’re not like, “Oh, lets take an hour to get into character.” We like reacting and putting ourselves in a circumstance of I might say something different and he’s going to have to have a different reaction. Or, he might do something different and Annie had a different reaction. I think that’s way more interesting than like hours of rehearsal and hours of prep, it just gets dull and stale and memorized. And it feels rehearsed. They were portraying real people and they knocked it out of the park because they are Richard and Judy. They shared in the same experience.

Gonzalez: Judy is a women who is similar to me and similar to a lot of the women that I was raised by. She reminds me of my tía a lot. I had a lot to draw from. Interestingly enough, I am a little more method so I take offense, no I’m just kidding [laughs]. But it was a masterclass in learning how to just drop in and trust the moment with these two in so many ways, because this is my first feature [film]. To be able to have an opportunity to play someone like Judy who is so close to my community, so close to my heart, it was a dream come true.

S-T: I think this is more than just a biopic about Richard and Judy. I think its a hero’s journey, a love story, a story about the power of community and being together. As director and actors, how do you wrangle all these themes and ideas to tell a singular tale?

Longoria: Yeah, I had a very specific vision for the film and so that’s part of the director’s job is to build the team that shares that vision. And that’s not only in front of the camera, it’s behind the camera. Our crew was almost entirely Latino, I wanted the lens to be authentic. We don’t get a lot of bites at the apple. We don’t get our stories told and when they are told, they’re not told by us. For me, I was highly aware of the fact that Hollywood defines what a hero looks like and they never look like us. They never look like Richard. So I knew I had an opportunity to lift up this hero of Richard in our community and show the world who we are as the Latino communities, the Mexican communities and as a female filmmaker. We’re complex, we’re intelligent, we’re driven, we’re hard working, we’re family-oriented. We don’t really see those positive portrayals on screen.

S-T: Speaking on the authenticity, there’s a good scene where Richard is going to work and Judy is making breakfast for him and there’s a tortilla on the comal there. Instead of grabbing a tool or whatever, you flip it with your fingers.

Longoria: Yeah, Annie really did that. The flame had to be on. Some people do heat up tortillas straight on the flame, but she wasn’t heating up a tortilla, she was making the tortilla. That’s like a natural thing.

Gonzalez: By the age of five, you’re learning how to flip the tortilla with your fingers [laughs].

S-T: Eva, I was curious: As a director of television for the past 10 years, this is your first feature film. Was there more challenges or freedoms between the two?

Longoria: Yes, I mean there’s always challenges. I don’t know if they’re bigger, because I’ve done big TV shows. I think for me, it was thanks to my TV experience that we did this movie because we moved at a TV pace. That’s the difference between TV and film, in film you have way more time to really build scale and scope and do really cinematic stuff. I did that and had to move at the pace of TV. I wanted the scale and the scope and the cinematography, but I approached the schedule more elastic. These days are going to be really fast, I want to shoot this and on these days we really have to let Jesse and Annie breathe.

S-T: You’ve been touring with the movie this week and doing press in the past. I know making a film is very personal and you’re in it and you’re there with your crew. What’s it been like to take the movie on the road and show people?

Longoria: It’s funny because we were talking about this yesterday of all the attention Jesse and Annie are getting because they finally get a movie where they can show their range of talent. And people are like, “Oh, oh.” And you’re like, “Yeah, I’ve been this good for a while.” [laughs] So that to me is something I’m very proud of. But its been great to have the support, not only of a studio like Searchlight who believed in the movie and my vision, but also the support of our community. The reason we’re doing all these screenings is because there’s this want and desire to see it. We’ve done Chicago, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, New York and San Antonio. We’ve done Houston, Albuquerque and of course many in Los Angeles. We want to show up for our community because this is a story about us and by us. We want our community to be proud of it and also have the megaphone to tell everybody else to go watch the movie. When you push play on Hulu or Disney+ on June 9, you’re not just watching our movie, you’re telling Hollywood this is my vote. This is my voice because I want more stories like this.

S-T: I think that was the feeling at the [Dallas Angelika theater] screening last night. Someone asked a question about how the movie was their father’s or grandfather’s story. Could you talk about the feeling of being able to tell such a great Mexican-American story?

Longoria: I’m probably most proud that the movie is landing with the intention of how we made it, a love letter to our community. A love letter to our tíos, our tías, my mom, my dad, my sisters, the cholo community. The fact that we all keep hearing testimonies from our friends, or families who felt that they saw themselves. That’s the point, you want to see yourself reflected back in media and the fact that this movie does it for us is pretty good.

Garcia: But it also translates cultural lines. We did international press for French, German, Irish and Australia [publications]. This dude from Australia said we don’t have hot Cheetos down here and they’re like $15 a bag if you want to get them.

Longoria: Yeah and he ate one and almost died.

Garcia: Poor fella [laughs].

S-T: This is my last question here. Eva, I know you’re from Corpus Christi. When you come back to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, are there any spots like you like to hit up?

Longoria: I love Javier’s [Gourmet Mexicano]. That’s my jam, we went there last night. I threw out the first pitch for the Rangers last night, that was my first time at the new stadium. So nice. I want to go to that gym every day and that training room.

Gonzalez: We got to play ping pong.

Garcia: You think they’ll give us like an honorary membership or something [laughs].

Longoria: But it was so fun. My ultimate favorite is [AT&T] Stadium. So to be right next door, I was like, “Oh my god.” I wanted to pop over there because I’m the biggest Cowboys fan.

“Flamin’ Hot” starts streaming Friday on Hulu and Disney+. This interview was edited for clarity and length.