Eva Longoria (‘Flamin’ Hot’) on being first Latina to direct a studio film in over 20 years: ‘We don’t get many bites at the apple’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Eva Longoria made her feature film directorial debut this year with “Flamin’ Hot,” an inspirational biopic about the rags to riches journey of Frito-Lay executive Richard Montañez (played by Jesse Garcia). The SAG Award-winning “Desperate Housewives” actress admits, “I love TV,” but she had already been directing in that medium for 10 years. When she was sent the script for “Flamin’ Hot'” she told her agent, “This one’s mine.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Longoria was told she “probably wouldn’t get the job” because it was a Searchlight production and more experienced directors were in talks to helm the film. “I worked really hard on a presentation,” she explains. “A huge deck. It was like a two-hour presentation of everything that I wanted the movie to be. So I did get the job.”

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“Flamin’ Hot” premiered in March at the SXSW Film & TV Festival where it won an audience award. For her work, Longoria was singled out as a Director to Watch at the Palm Springs International Film Festival earlier this year, a recognition she doesn’t take lightly. “We don’t get many bites at the apple,” she says of Latina directors. “I carried that with me every day. I can’t get this wrong, because if I get this wrong they’re gonna be like, ‘We hired a Latina that one time and she didn’t do well so we’re not gonna do it again for 10 more years.’ The last studio film that was directed by a Latina was 22 years ago. We can’t get a film every 22 years. That’s not cool. We have stories to tell!”

You can currently stream “Flamin’ Hot” on Hulu or Disney+.

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