Eva Longoria pulled out all the stops for her appearance at the 2023 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on Wednesday.
The 48-year-old showed off her sculpted legs in a semi-sheer black dress that featured a thigh-high side split that almost exposed more than Eva had planned. The frock also boasted a plunging neckline with a collar and see-through sleeves.
The Desperate Housewives actress added height to her petite frame in a pair of sky-high, open-toed stilettos and kept her accessories simple with subtle drop earrings and some rings. She wore her dark hair in a half-up style with curtain bangs and rocked a smokey eye, sunkissed cheeks, and a pink glossy lip.
Eva's appearance at the festival was in honor of her directorial debut, Flamin' Hot, which tells the true story of Richard Montañez - a janitor who claims to have invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
During Cannes Film Festival last month, she spoke candidly about the underrepresentation of female directors in Hollywood while discussing her feature debut during the Kering Women in Motion talk. "I felt the weight of my community, I felt the weight of every female director because we don't get a lot of bites at the apple," she shared.
Eva, whose directorial portfolio includes episodes of Black-ish and Jane the Virgin, highlighted the significant time lapse since the last studio film directed by a Latina. "We can't get a movie every 20 years," she asserted. "So, the problem is if this movie fails people go, 'Oh, Latino stories don't work. Oh, female directors really don't cut it.'"
Eva pointed out the disparity between opportunities given to her and her white male counterparts. "A White male can direct a $200 million film, fail and get another one. Right?" she said.
With the debut of Flamin' Hot, she felt the immense pressure of this one chance. "I gotta make it right, I gotta do it well, I gotta work twice as hard, I gotta out hustle everybody in the room, I gotta work twice as fast, I gotta do it twice as cheap … You really carry the generational traumas with you into the making of the film," she confessed.
Despite the challenges, Eva remained determined and positive. "I was just like determined and excited for the journey, and we have a beautiful film," she said.
Flamin' Hot, according to Disney+, is an inspiring narrative based on Richard's 2013 memoir, A Boy, a Burrito and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive. It tells the captivating story of Richard, a Frito Lay janitor who revolutionized the food industry and went on to assume an executive role at PepsiCo as well as become a motivational speaker.
The film stars Jesse Garcia, Tony Shalhoub, Dennis Haysbert, Emilio Rivera, and Annie Gonzalez.
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