Searchlight’s Flamin’ Hot trailer delves into the true story behind the popular (but messy) Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Jesse Garcia (Quinceañera) stars as Richard Montañez, the janitor at a Frito-Lay factory who helped turn the industry around by cooking up a spicy version of the cheesy snack food.
“My journey is the journey of billions of people,” said the real Richard Montañez. “Being Mexican, being born in a labor camp, I’ve been fighting my whole life. I don’t know what it’s like not to fight.”
Director Eva Longoria calls Montañez the godfather of Hispanic marketing.
“That was his gift: seeing that nobody was paying attention to the Hispanic consumer. His gift wasn’t making a recipe in a chemical lab. His genius and talent and where he broke through was saying, ‘You guys, there’s a huge segment of the population in the United States that nobody is paying attention to, who spend money just like everybody else.’ That has been our North Star in making this film,” explained Longoria.
In addition to Jesse Garcia as Richard, Flamin’ Hot features Annie Gonzalez (Gentefied) as his wife, Judy; Emilio Rivera (Mayans M.C.) as Richard’s father, Nacho; Dennis Haysbert (24) as Richard’s mentor, Clarence; and Emmy Award winner Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Monk) as PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico. Matt Walsh, Pepe Serna. Bobby Soto, Jimmy Gonzales, Brice Gonzalez, Vanessa Martinez, Fabian Alomar, Mario Ponce, and Hunter Jones also star.
Lewis Colick (October Sky) and Linda Yvette Chávez (creator/writer Gentefied) wrote the screenplay, based on the book A Boy, A Burrito and A Cookie: from Janitor to Executive by Richard Montañez. DeVon Franklin (Miracles From Heaven) serves as producer.
Longoria’s behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Federico Cantini, production designers Brandon Mendez and Cabot McMullen, editors Kayla M. Emter and Liza D. Espinas, and costume designer Elaine Montalvo.
Searchlight’s set a June 9, 2023 premiere date on Hulu and Disney+.
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