HOLLYWOOD - Eva Longoria will direct Fox Searchlight’s “Flamin’ Hot,” a biopic about Chester Cheetah, the tragi-comic hero and inventor who founded the Cheetos Empire.
Boredroom News first reported in February, 2018, that Searchlight and DeVon Franklin were set to produce the film “Flamin’ Hot,” will follow Chester, a remarkably talented young Viennese snack merchant who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined Funyuns creator, Funyunio Salieri.
Longoria will direct from a script by “Amadeus” writer Peter Shaffer. Retold by jealous but admiring Funyunio on what appears to be his deathbed, the story reportedly follows young Chester from his arrival at the Frito-Lays court through his meteoric rise in the flavored cornmeal snack industry despite his libertine lifestyle fueled by alcohol and his father’s disapproval.
The former Desperate Housewives star has reportedly fought hard for complete creative control over the story, “I believe that Chester’s cheesy brilliance can only be shown juxtaposed to his story’s ugliness; his embrace of the radical cheesy puffs was enabled by his dark forays into his own animalistic id. Like he says, ‘It’s not easy being cheesy.’”
Longoria is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners and “Flamin’ Hot” is slated for release in late 2020.