Richard Montanez Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Sophia Scorziello editor Eva Longoria’s fictional feature directorial debut “Flamin’ Hot” staring Jesse Garcia will open the 2023 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, announced Wednesday as part of the full festival lineup. This year, the festival will feature over 80 films, 19 world premieres and 100 student films. LALIFF will take place May 31-June 4 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Longoria’s film is based on the true story of Richard Montañez (Garcia), the Frito Lay janitor who used his Mexican American heritage to turn one snack into a global sensation. Closing the festival is the Los Angeles premiere of Julio Torres’s A24 feature film “Problemista” starring Torres and Tilda Swinton, which tells the story of an aspiring Salvadorian toy maker in New York City and the race against his work visa as he tries to realize his dreams.

Flamin’ Hot, directed by Eva Longoria, tells the origin story of a Frito Lay janitor who created the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos snack.

Eva Longoria's upcoming biopic, appropriately titled, The film is based on a memoir of the same name by Richard Montañez, a former Frito-Lay janitor who rose through the ranks at the company after he claimed to invent the now-iconic Flamin' Hot seasoning.In the first trailer for the film, which dropped on Wednesday, viewers see Montañez's journey to take the snack industry by storm.The film features  star Jesse Garcia as Montañez, and Annie Gonzalez as his wife, Judy — in addition to Tony Shalhoub, Dennis Haysbert, Emilio Rivera, Matt Walsh, Pepe Serna and more.While some controversy over the degree of Montañez's involvement in the creation of Flamin' Hot Cheetos has come under some scrutiny in the past few years — particularly after the  published an investigation digging into the snack's presumed creator — Longoria told ET at the Palm Springs International Film Festival earlier this year that it was important to her to tell the story of a migrant laborer-turned-PepsiCo executive.«This story was really important to me,» she shared. «Richard Montañez is a real person, so to do him justice, to do a biopic, is hard as well — and a period piece.

Julia MacCary editor Hulu dropped its first trailer for “Flamin’ Hot,” an Eva Longoria-directed film about Mexican immigrant and former Frito-Lay janitor Richard Montañez, who claims he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The film, streaming June 9, stars Jesse Garcia as Montañez, as well as Annie Gonzales, Dennis Haysbert, Tony Shalhoub, Matt Walsh and Emilio Rivera. Montañez’s story is that while he was working as a custodian at the Rancho Cucamonga Frito-Lay plant, he thought of spicing up Cheetos with chile powder. He contacted executives to pitch the snack and subsequently outsmarted corporate saboteurs, leading him to become a successful author and businessman.

Eva Longoria is on a mission to inspire with her upcoming movie, Flamin’ Hot.

Eva Longoria is on a mission to inspire with her upcoming movie, . In June, the actress will make her directorial debut with the film that tells the story of former PepsiCo executive, Richard Montañez, who began his career as a janitor in the Frito-Lay company and worked his way up as one of the minds behind the Flamin' Hot Cheetos snack. The film — based off of Montañez's memoir, with the same name — will focus on his journey from gang life in Los Angeles, to one of the most successful snack marketing executives. The film will not only celebrate Montañez but shine a light on a snack that Longoria said has been a staple in the Latino community. «I was sent the script and fell in love with the story,» Longoria said during a recent interview with. «It was really one of the only things where I was like, 'I am the only person who can tell this story.' I knew the community, I knew Richard.

Eva Longoria is getting ready to release her feature directorial debut “Flamin’ Hot”, which is set to have an unprecedented release debuting on both Hulu and Disney+ on June 9, 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the movie’s world premiere at SXSW, Searchlight Pictures’ Eva Longoria feature directorial debut, Flamin’ Hot, will stream on both Hulu and Disney+ on June 9. It’s the first time that a new movie has been made available on both of the Disney-owned OTT services stateside. The pic will stream on Disney+ overseas.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Eva Longoria’s upcoming movie “Flamin’ Hot” will premiere simultaneously on Disney+ and Hulu, marking the first feature film to debut on both platforms. Following its world premiere at SXSW, the Searchlight Pictures film will debut to streaming service subscribers on June 9. It will also be available on Disney+ internationally. “I’m so excited for the world to see ‘Flamin’ Hot’ on these two streaming platforms making this universal, inspirational story accessible to an even wider audience,” said Longoria, who directed the film in her feature filmmaking debut. “Now everyone can celebrate the joy, power and heart of this film that also happens to uplift Latinos both in front of and behind the camera.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” had audiences on fire at its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 11 — while deftly navigating the controversy surrounding the film’s subject without ever addressing it by name. The movie is based on the life of former Frito-Lay executive Richard Montañez, played by Jesse Garcia (“Quinceañera,” “Narcos: Mexico”), who has said that he was responsible for inventing the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos brand when he was working as a janitor for the company.  Before “Flamin’ Hot” went into production in 2021, however, Montañez’s claims were disputed by a Los Angeles Times report in which Frito-Lay stated that an internal investigation turned up no evidence that “Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market” in 1990. Instead, the Times’ story attributed a Frito-Lay factory in the Midwest with spearheading the Flamin’ Hot brand and credited Montañez for helping to bring to market the Flamin’ Hot Popcorn brand and a line of spicy products called Sabrositas.

Eva Longoria is gracing the red carpet!

Biopics, especially those that err on the side of mainstream and are helmed by a major studio, can and do go wrong. From bad casting to lacking scripts, to directorial faux-pas and even sensational stories that muddle the truth, the world has had its fair share of flawed glimpses into the lives of history’s most compelling people.

There can be no doubt why Searchlight Pictures was excited to bring Flamin’ Hot, the true life story of the man known as the ‘godfather of hispanic marketing’, to the screen. Premiering today at SXSW, the life story of Richard Montanez — a high school dropout from a struggling Latino family who worked as a janitor in a Southern California Frito-Lay factory for 10 years — is, at its heart, really a Rocky-style inspirational tale perfect for the Hollywood treatment. He eventually realized the American dream and rose to one the highest ranks of the company,

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Americans can’t get enough of processed corn. They eat it for breakfast, in cereal form, and all throughout the day, snacking on cookies and crackers and chips, often washing it down with soda (sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, naturally). Premiering at the SXSW Film Festival, “Flamin’ Hot” tells the backstory of Frito-Lay’s insanely popular, ultra-spicy line of snack chips — the ones that singe your taste buds and stain your fingers a radioactive red — as marketing guru Richard Montañez lays it out in his memoir, “A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive.” After a rough start selling drugs and hustling on the streets of East Los Angeles, Montañez got a job cleaning the machines at Frito-Lay’s Rancho Cucamonga plant and worked his way up to head of Multicultural marketing. Along the way, he may or may not have invented the recipe for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Doritos, et al.

EXCLUSIVE: Dennis Haysbert, known for his role as President David Palmer in Fox’s hit series 24, among many other credits, has signed with A3 Artists Agency for representation. Haysbert received two SAG Award nominations as well as a Golden Globe nom for his performance in the role.

EXCLUSIVE: DeVon Franklin is staying in business with CBS Studios. The producer, motivational speaker and bestselling author has re-upped with the studio with a multi-year overall deal.

Eva Longoria is proud of the work she did on The multi-hyphenate star spoke about the challenges of her feature film directorial debut about Richard Montañez, the man mainly credited for creating the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, following the controversy surrounding his credibility.«I think probably the greatest challenge was making sure we stayed true to the theme of the movie, which is opportunity is not distributed equally,» she told Mark Malkin on this week's episode of podcast.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorEva Longoria laughs when asked about the toughest challenge she faced when shooting “Flamin’ Hot,” her feature film directorial debut about  Richard Montañez, the man largely credited with the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.“The New Mexico heat,” Longoria says of shooting for five months in the Southwestern state.

Eva Longoria’s feature film Flamin’ Hot wraps production! According to Searchlight Pictures, the movie produced by DeVon Franklin for Franklin Entertainment with a script by Lewis Colick and Linda Yvette Chávez is ready.

Eva Longoria lets out a big laugh while out to lunch with a few friends in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon (May 28).

its story on Frito-Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Cheetos this week, thereby conceding that the Los Angeles Times’ look into the snack’s origins was more accurate. “This episode centers on a claim that Richard Montañez invented a product that came to be known as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

PepsiCo just released a statement to clarify the controversy brewing about who created Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterPepsiCo issued a lengthy new statement on the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos controversy on Friday, in which the company expressed support for Richard Montañez, the former Frito-Lay executive whose claims to have invented the snack were debunked by the Los Angeles Times.The new statement comes as Eva Longoria is preparing to direct “Flamin’ Hot,” a biopic based on Montañez’s life, which is set to go into production this summer.

published an explosive article digging into the snack's presumed creator, Richard Montañez. In their investigation, Frito-Lay claimed that the former janitor did not create the product.The news came on the heels of Searchlight Pictures and Franklin Entertainment's announcement that they had found their two leads for the upcoming biopic, set to be directed by Eva Longoria.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe screenwriter of an upcoming film about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos defended the project on Tuesday, after a Los Angeles Times report challenged the central character’s claim to have invented the snack product.Lewis Colick argued that Richard Montañez, the hero of “Flamin’ Hot,” still has an inspiring story to tell of rising through the corporate ranks at Frito-Lay.“I think enough of the story is true,” Colick said.

The story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos is getting itself a movie — yes, really — but according to parent company Frito-Lay, what we end up seeing on the screen may not actually be the truth!

Richard Montanez is speaking out.

Frito-Lay has refuted the claims that Richard Montanez invented the infamous Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and are calling it an “urban legend”.