Flamin’ Hot is deep in post-production, and Eva Longoria says the film is far from what anyone will expect. Based on the biopic of the Frito-Lay employee credited with creating the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto, Longoria suggests the movie will take movie-goers by surprise.
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“I have Flamin’ Hot coming out, that’s the other feature film I also directed during COVID,” the actor told the Associated Press. “It’s fantastic, a biopic about Richard Montanez, the man who created the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto. It’s a beautiful, inspiring story and it’s not what you expect. It’s not what you think. We’re in post now so that’ll be what’s coming out and then I’m doing Searching For Mexico with CNN.”
Interestingly enough, the story of Montanez was mired in controversy last year when an expose was run, suggesting the worker’s claims were nothing more than an urban legend. PepsiCo, the parent company of Frito-Lay—the company that, in turn, owns the Cheetos brand—eventually jumped back in supporting Montanez and his claim, saying he was part of a larger team that helped develop the spicy treat.
“A great deal has been recently discussed about the origin of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The information we shared with the media has been misconstrued by some, which resulted in confusion around where we stand, a range of emotions among our employees and consumers and a strain on our valued friendship with Richard Montanez and the Latino community,” Pepsi’s final statement on the matter said.
It added, “The sincere truth is, at PepsiCo, we believe in the strength and power of teams, and we attribute the launch and success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and other products to several people who worked at PepsiCo, including Richard Montanez. Different work streams tackling the same product without interacting occasionally occurred in the past when divisions operated independently and were not the best at communicating. However, just because we can’t draw a clear link between them, doesn’t mean we don’t embrace all of their contributions and ingenuity, including Richard’s.”
Flamin’ Hot has yet to set a release date. The movie is set to star Jesse Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, Emilio Rivera, Tony Shalhoub, Matt Walsh, Pepe Serna, Bobby Soto, Jimmy Gonzales, and Brice Gonzalez amongst others.
