The first trailer for Eva Longoria’s directorial debut, Flamin’ Hot, has dropped and reveals Jesse Garcia playing Richard Montañez, a go-getting Mexican American who in real life claims he went from working as a janitor at Frito-Lay to inventing the successful Flamin’ Hot Cheetos snack product.
“Spicy? See, that’s how I got here,” Montañez says at one point as the Searchlight Pictures teaser recalls his youthful past in gangs and committing petty crimes, before Longoria’s rags-to-riches story has him inventing the salty Cheetos snack for Frito-Lay.
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The trailer, which Garcia narrates, shows the breakthrough moment when he discovers that adding chili seasoning to Cheetos will bring a delicious heat to the snack product and potentially woo a far wider U.S. market. “I got an idea. It’s a spicy chip. It’s gonna change everything,” Montañez tells his skeptical floor manager, played by Matt Walsh.
Other early naysayers include Frito-Lay CEO Roger Enrico, played by Tony Shalhoub, who questions Montañez during a phone call pitch: “And you’re a janitor?” Ultimately, the persistent inventor channeling his Mexican American heritage created the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos snack that disrupted the food industry and became a global pop culture phenomenon.
Flamin’ Hot also stars Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, Emilio Rivera, Pepe Serna, Bobby Soto, Jimmy Gonzales, Brice Gonzalez, Vanessa Martinez, Fabian Alomar, Mario Ponce and Hunter Jones.
Searchlight plans a simultaneous release on Hulu and Disney+ on June 9.
