Eva Longoria has called out the double standards and sexism in Hollywood, especially regarding female-helmed movies failing at the box office over those directed by men.
The former Desperate Housewives star is making her feature film directorial debut with Flamin' Hot, which is centred on the true story about the son of a Mexican immigrant who, while working as a cleaner at the food company Frito-Lay, invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos, which is now a staple, world-famous snack.
Speaking at the Kering Women in Motion talk at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the 48-year-old Latina actress explained to Variety that she “felt the weight of my community” and “the weight of every female director” when it came to directing Flamin' Hot.
Eva Longoria explained that she especially felt the pressure given that Hollywood doesn't go easy on female directors if their movie flops, and the reaction to a women's directorial debut can tarnish the reputation and expectation of their future work. She added that the same cannot be said of male directors.
Speaking of Latina female directors, Eva explained: “We don't get a lot of bites at the apple. My movie wasn't low-budget by any means — it wasn't $100 million, but it wasn't $2 million. When was the last Latina-directed studio film? It was like 20 years ago. We can't get a movie every 20 years.”
She continued: “The problem is if this movie fails, people go, 'Oh, Latino stories don't work…female directors really don't cut it.' We don't get a lot of at-bats. A white male can direct a $200 million film, fail and get another one. That's the problem. I get one at-bat, one chance, work twice as hard, twice as fast, twice as cheap.”
Instagram content
“You really carry the generational traumas with you into the making of the film. For me, it fueled me. I was determined,” she added.
During the talk, Eva was joined by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, a professor and researcher at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
The academic praised Eva for "walking the walk", especially when it came to her work on The Inclusion List, which highlights the producers, films and distribution companies working on increasing inclusivity in the film and television industry.
The famous St Andrews University fashion show is being depicted on screen.
Smith said: “This was a collaborative effort to reward folks that are doing well on-screen when it comes to representation across multiple categories: gender, race, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, as well as people with disabilities and over the age of 65.”
Eva's film Flamin' Hot, which stars Jesse Garcia and Annie Gonzalez, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March.
The movie will be available to watch on Disney+ on 9 June.
