Eva Longoria will direct an adaptation of Xochitl Gonzalez’s novel “Anita De Monte Laughs Last” with Searchlight, reuniting the multi-hyphenate Hollywood star with the studio that released her directorial debut “Flamin’ Hot.”
Gonzalez’s 2024 novel tells the story of a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death. Searchlight describes it as “a propulsive, witty examination of power, love and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.”
Gonzalez will write the screenplay off of her novel and produce with Longoria, the latter of whom is producing through her Hyphenate Pictures banner. Cris Abrego and Jada Miranda are also producing.
SVP of production Taylor Friedman and creative executive Daniel Yu will be overseeing the project for Searchlight Pictures, reporting to co-heads of production and development DanTram Nguyen and Katie Goodson-Thomas.
Longoria, who most recently hosted the CNN travel shows “Searching for Spain” and “Searching for Mexico,” is set to host a third season of the series set in France and is also set to direct the Netflix comedy “The Fifth Wheel.” She is repped by WME, Linden Entertainment, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich, Goodell & Gellman.
Gonzalez, who is a Pulitzer Prize finalist staff writer for The Atlantic, adapted her 2022 debut novel “Olga Dies Dreaming” into a pilot for Hulu. She is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360 and Granderson Des Rochers, LLP.
