Eva Longoria set to direct Anita De Monte Laughs Last
Eva Longoria will helm the upcoming film adaptation of Xochiti Gonzalez's novel Anita De Monte Laughs Last.
Eva Longoria is set to direct Anita De Monte Laughs Last.
The 50-year-old actress - who made her feature film directorial debut in 2023 with comedy drama Flamin' Hot - will once again team up with Searchlight Pictures on her next project.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, she will be at the helm of a big screen adaptation of Xochitl Gonzalez's novel of the same name.
The author will adapt her own work, which follows the stories of Raquel, who is a first generation Ivy League art student, who discovers the genius - but forgotten - work of artist Anita, who died decades earlier in suspicious circumstances.
Raquel realises that their lives share some surprising parallels.
The book explores themes of love, art and power, while delving into who is allowed to be remembered, or who gets shunned by the elite.
Longoria is also set to direct Paula Penn's upcoming Netflix comedy The Fifth Wheel.
However, she previously admitted she struggled to get financial support for Flamin' Hot after pitching the movie about Latino Richard Montañez, a factory janitor-turned-marketing executive who channelled his Mexican heritage into the launch of the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto.
Last year, she told HELLO! magazine: "The biggest challenge in making any film is getting backing for it. No one has ever made a movie like this about Latinos, so it was important to me. It's based on the story of Richard Montañez, a Mexican caretaker who became one of PepsiCo's top executives, thanks, he says, to inventing Flamin' Hot Cheetos, a billion-dollar brand.
"Richard had very little education but he knew that his culture was a superpower."
Longoria previously recalled how there were “no efforts” to include Latinos in films when she started her career.
The former Desperate Housewives star told The Hollywood Reporter: “I’m like, ‘Well, I made one film, and we have a long way to go. Imagine when we have two films. Imagine when we have three films!’
“It wasn’t as big of a conversation as it is now. The word ‘diversity’ gets thrown around so much today. Back then, there were really no efforts or programs or initiatives.”
Meanwhile, Longoria admitted she was worried about being seen as a "dumb" actor as she started to make the move behind the camera.
She added: "The industry’s definitely wary of an actor coming in (to direct.) For me, it was about overcoming that. It wasn’t sexism or racism.
“It was like, ‘Here comes a dumb actor.’”
