Eva Longoria wants her home state of Texas to do better in a lot of ways.
The former “Desperate Housewives” star and “Flamin’ Hot” director spoke to TheWrap before a screening of her upcoming film at the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, delivering a list of areas of improvement she wanted to see.
“Do better. Do better,” she said at the Wednesday night event. “I’m a proud Texan and I think my state can do a lot better for women’s rights, for Latino rights, for any person of color, for any person who is worried about the economy, worried about jobs, worried about healthcare, worried about quality education — like these are the things we care about. And my state can do a much better job at all of those things.”
Longoria was born and raised in Corpus Christi. Texas has adopted trigger laws that make abortion illegal, and it has previously been a hotspot of border policy as one of the main places immigrants cross over from Mexico into the United States.
Her directorial debut follows the true story of Richard Montañez (portrayed by Jesse Garcia) who brought Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into the limelight through his background as a Frito Lay janitor with Mexican heritage.
“Getting to the starting line of shooting a movie is the most difficult part,” Longoria told TheWrap. “Once the cameras were rolling, we knew this was gonna be an amazing experience, and going into post and finishing the movie and now marketing the movie. It’s a long process making a movie. So to be here at this moment at the Latino Film Festival and opening the film here is a dream I didn’t know I had.”
“Flamin’ Hot” lands on Hulu and Disney+ June 9.
Elijah Gil contributed to this report.
