This story makes me think about the fact that while I know who invented the telephone and who invented bifocals (for example), I have no idea who invented any of my favorite snacks or desserts or other foods. One of Eva Longoria’s upcoming directorial projects will introduce the world to the inventor of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Richard Montañez. Deadline has the exclusive:
Multi-hyphenate Eva Longoria has landed the directing job for Flamin’ Hot, the Fox Searchlight biopic about Richard Montanez [sic], who created the spicy Flamin’ Hot Cheetos snack. DeVon Franklin will produce the pic under his Franklin Entertainment label, which is currently under a production deal at Fox.
Longoria reportedly beat out multiple directors for the job after impressing Franklin and Fox with her authentic approach to portraying the inspiring story of Richard and Judy Montanez [sic]. Richard rose from humble beginnings to achieve the American Dream: The son of a Mexican immigrant, Richard was a janitor at Frito-Lay when he came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. His creation, inspired by the flavors of his community, revitalized the company and disrupted the food industry, creating a pop culture phenomenon that continues today.
Charlie St. Cloud and October Sky scribe Lewis Colick penned the script. Zahra Phillips is overseeing the project for Franklin Entertainment, while Taylor Friedman will represent the studio. Samuel Rodriguez is the executive producer.
This is so cool! I’m not a Cheetos fan (I don’t hate them or love them), but I love learning about interesting people whom I’ve not heard about. Also, given the atrocities being sanctioned by this administration against immigrants and other marginalized groups, Eva’s film could provide an excellent, compelling counter-narrative. Eva had mentioned two of her upcoming directing projects when she was presented with the HollyRod Humanitarian Award: A movie co-starring Kerry Washington and a story that she said was about “the Latino community.” Deadline also reported that Eva is producing My Daughter’s Quinceañera and pointed out that “only one Latina in the past 12 years has directed one of the top 1200 grossing films.” I wanted to find out who: Patricia Riggen, a Mexican director, who helmed 2007’s Under the Same Moon. In January, the most recent USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that Riggen was “the sole Latina among 1,355 directors attached to the 1,200 top-grossing films released between 2007 and 2018.” I hope that Eva’s directing career takes off, and I hope that Flamin’ Hot does well.
Deal with it, #hotgirls.
What's making your summer Flamin' Hot? Tell me and maybe I'll send you some Flamin' Hot Cheetos. #FlaminHotFridays pic.twitter.com/xHJ6YDTmzP
— Chester Cheetah (@ChesterCheetah) August 16, 2019
photos credit: Backgrid, Getty and via Instagram
Are Cheetos famous in the world? Really asking because I don’t remember ever seeing them in the European countries i visited…
I don’t know how well it could sell to international markets (I mean the movie)
We have them in Portugal, we’re fans off chips and these snacks.
Alright! Thanks
YES! I used to live in Asia and Cheetos were everywhere. I used to live in CDMX and cheetos were definitely ubiquitous (but no Flaming Hot or Jalapeno, boo!). I live in Spain and Cheetos are a staple product in alimentacions.
Good to know Cristal! I’ll pay more attention when I shop for snacks haha
In the Middle East, yes!
As a Kiwi… I know of them from US tv/film and the internet, but we don’t have them here
Doritos however, YES 🙂
Not in germany.
Only biopic I’ve ever been interested in
Now if someone would invent a way to deal with Cheeto dust and the dreaded Cheeto fingers.
Chopsticks work well for this.
This is exactly why I don’t buy them, I don’t like feeling like my fingers are dirty when I’m eating them,otherwise they are super addictive and I would eat them much more.
I’ve never had Flamin hot cheetos because I don’t like spicy things. But I know so many people, particularly women for some reason, who are obsessed with them lol. Like obsessed, favorite snack, go-to indulgence. They really are a big deal!
The 8th graders I teach are obsessed with them. OB-SESSED.
I used to live in Dallas in the early 90’s. They had a Frito Lay plant there. One day my friend brought me my first bag of Flamin’ Hots and I was in love! They were apparently testing them out in Dallas and you could only find them in gas stations for years, they weren’t in grocery stores. I love that a janitor invented them, he was brilliant!
I hate regular Cheetos but the flamin’ ones are addictive. I don’t eat them anymore (I actually read the ingredients and they turn your poop red and burn your butt if you eat too many), but I miss them.
For those asking about worldwide Cheetos popularity: I don’t know about Cheetos brand, but Mexico has Takis, which are a beloved snack with similar flavor profile.
I was going to comment on Takis! We live in a community that has a lot of Hispanic people and my son’s bff is Mexican. He’s now absolutely addicted to Takis. I can’t say I’ve ever tried Flaming Hot Cheetos since Takis is our fave but I might try just to see the comparison.
Flaming hot cheetos are the literal 💣. They are hard to find in my part of Canada. Jalapeño seems more readily available here and I only seem to be able to locate the tiny snack sized bags which makes them like little treasures. Send more Flaming hots to Canada!!!
Good for her! And yes, a quiet fun way to humanize this community.
I really hope he made and continues to make A LOT of money for creating flamin hot cheetos !!
I’d not been a fan of hers until I went to see “Dora and the lost city of gold” (or whatever it’s called) with a friend’s daughter (really cute movie, btw). For some reason I really liked her in that movie and I like that she is picking interesting projects to attach herself to. She’s growing on me. And she looks great – softer somehow).
I never liked her much when she was on Desperate Housewives, that show got on my nerves and I stopped watching, and Eva seemed SO INTENT on being mega-famous.
But I have to say, I really respect what she’s done post DH – education, producing, and now directing. She’s doing really well.
I don’t like Cheetos, and have never tried the flaming hot ones, no thank you! But it sounds like an interesting story.
I’m looking forward to the movie! When flaming hot Cheetos came out, they reminded me so much of snacks from Mexico. Sooooo good!