[music]

Alison Stewart: Eva Longoria makes her directorial debut with a new comedy/drama that tells a story of a Latino janitor who ascends to the corporate C-suite and did it by figuring out that an All-American snack could be even better with some Mexican flavor added. The food is of course a stand-in for the mixing and appreciation of cultures. The film is titled Flamin' Hot. Yes, as in the Cheetos. It draws inspiration from the Richard Montañez, oh, I'm going to say it right,` Montañez's memoir Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise From Janitor to Top Executive, where he claims to have developed Flamin' Hot Cheetos in an effort to save the Frito-Lay factory where he worked.

He was grateful for the job after a tough youth in gangs and out of school. Richard was smart, and he wanted more out of life than working at what he felt like was a dead-end job at the time. Let's listen to this little bit of the trailer to get a flavor.

Jesse Garcia: I'm the guy who helped bring the world the most popular snack it's ever seen. Are you ready?

[music]

Speaker 3: [unintelligible 00:01:16] I've been ready.

Jesse Garcia: All right. It was a little bit more like this.

Alison Stewart: We should know Frito-Lay told the LA Times, "We have interviewed multiple personnel who were involved in the test market and all of them indicate that Richard was not involved in any capacity in the test market. That doesn't mean we don't celebrate Richard," the statement continued, "but the facts do not support the urban legend." Before retiring Richard served as PepsiCo's vice president of multicultural sales and community promotions and he stands by his story.

In the film, Richard, who grew up in a migrant worker camp in the '60s, faces obstacles as he tried to support his family and avoid further interactions with the criminal justice system while dealing with stereotypes and micro-aggressions of Mexican Americans. An AP entertainment review states, "This is more than just a snack version of Rocky, with the filmmakers exploring the insecurity of factory shift workers, the stress of integrating into white culture, how hard it is for corporations to innovate, and the ability to silence voices in your head that urge you to quit. The film is titled Flamin' Hot and it comes out on Disney+ tomorrow after Jesse Garcia, which AV Club says delivers a standout turn as Richard, joins us today. Hey, Jesse.

Jesse Garcia: Hi.

Alison Stewart: Some people might hear this title and think, "Okay, this is going to be about Cheetos, but it really it's about so much more, it really is. The film is very thoughtful. What did you find alluring about the project?

Jesse Garcia: This story is a love story between Richard and Judy, and it's also a love letter to the Latino community and also to the film community in general to show what a universal story based on a Latino family looks like.

Alison Stewart: Your co-star, Annie Gonzalez, said she was really moved by many of the details and how director Eva Longoria, who is Mexican American, a lot of people know this, she has a master's in Chicano Studies, how she was very careful about the details in the home, the music that played. What was the detail or direction you were given that you think really helped this film feel authentic?

Jesse Garcia: Well, Eva did a really great job of casting all the key roles in the crew TV to be Mexican American or some sort of Latino origin. It was important for her and for us to have an authentic voice to each one of these departments, whether it's hair or art or set production and set design, so that when she had ideas, there wasn't a whole lot of translating. That's what we saw and that's what you see in the movie, the authentic story of Richard Montañez, and how it's easily portrayed as an authentic story.

Alison Stewart: How did Eva communicate her vision for the film with you?

Jesse Garcia: Well, her and I, I keep saying, have this cosmic connection. It's a pretty unique connection with her and I see almost the same thing. She didn't really have to explain a lot to me. The things that she did explain to me is that we were going to shoot this very fast. It was going to be shot in a TV schedule, because there was a very ambitious schedule, lots of scenes, the studio wanted to cut some scenes, but she goes, "No, no. We're going to make this happen. Watch this." It was important for us to tell Richard's story. This movie is from his viewpoint. This is his story. You see at the end of the movie, it's like no one's going to take his story or tell his story for him but him. It was very important for us to tell it in his voice.

Alison Stewart: What are the challenges of playing someone who is very much alive?

Jesse Garcia: Well, I had a chance to meet with Richard and his family a couple of few days before I flew out to Albuquerque to start shooting the movie and we talked about everything. We talked about his life and the family life and I would ask if they had pet names for each other, the kids, if Judy cooked for him to go to work, and what the family life was like at home. The main thing that I wanted, the conversation between me and Richard and Judy and the family was to assure them that we were going to tell their story with honor, that we were going to tell his side of the story because there's many sides to the story and his side is his truth.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Jesse Garcia. He is the lead in the film Flamin' Hot, which is due out on Disney+ tomorrow. His life story, it's extraordinary in many ways. He was brought up in a migrant farm workers camp in Southern California in the '60s. What was it about his upbringing that affected his perspective on the world, on himself before he really started to invest in himself?

Jesse Garcia: Well, Richard, he didn't have a whole lot of opportunities, like a lot of us don't have a whole lot of opportunities. We didn't have a lot of money when we grew up, so I could relate to it that way. He had to be innovative, he had to have initiative to go out and create his own opportunities. With the support system of his wife and his family, they did and that's where they've become today.

Alison Stewart: This film is heartbreaking at certain points, because Richard, he had a rough youth, involved in gangs, he got in trouble with the law, but at one point, he's like, "I'm going to get a job. I've met this amazing woman, I'm going to get a job." He's really having a hard time just even getting past the front door, and he seems defeated by it all. Why is he so defeated? Why does he have all the self-doubt?

Jesse Garcia: Well, I think it's like everyone's felt like the underdog. There's a lot of obstacles and, again, nothing was given to him, so he has to find a way to get through those obstacles, around them, over them, under them and you have to get a little bit creative sometimes. I've done it, I'm sure you've done it, and my family's done it. I think it creates character and it creates a strength that you would have if everything was given to you.

Alison Stewart: Once he gets this job as a janitor, and the way you play him, I really liked that it wasn't like he's just a janitor. No, he's a janitor. He's psyched about his job. He's excited about where he works, and he doesn't seem to want to buy into the idea of being just a janitor. How does this sense of self ultimately help him?

Jesse Garcia: I can't remember who he said told him, but he says, "The floors, they were never going to be shinier, the machines were never going to be shinier." If he was going to do it, he was going to do it right. To me, and I relate to it that way, too. When I decided to become an actor in the film industry, I was like, "I'm going to do this right. I'm going to find a way to make this happen," and like Richard, you have to get a little bit creative with it. Richard persevered and he made friends and he asked a lot of questions, even if he was embarrassed or people put him down.

When you ask questions, you learn. He has this hunger for learning, he has a-- I forget, entomology I think that's the study of language and words. You can ask him, you can say a word and he goes, "Oh, that's the root word of this and this and it comes from this and da, da, da." He's really smart. What he doesn't have in a formal school education, he makes up for it.

Alison Stewart: In the film, we get a window into the obstacles that he has. For people who haven't seen the film yet, what's an example of the overt racism that Richard faced and then some of the more subtle microaggressions?

Jesse Garcia: Well, I think for us when we were shooting the film, even I had a conversation about it that it was important for us to let the audience feel the challenges for themselves. We didn't hit anybody over the head with any of this stuff. We let the audience experience what he's experiencing. We're not waving that flag, we're not hitting these nails with a big hammer. We allow the audience to experience that. I think that's why the audience has responded so well to it that every audience member has experienced all the emotions by the time the end of the movie, the credits roll. I think we did a really good job of showing all the colors and showing all the challenges without making it a preachy story.

Alison Stewart: We're talking about the film Flamin' Hot. It comes out on June 9th on Disney+. I'm speaking with its lead, Jesse Garcia. We also get into the real making of the story of the Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Let's listen to a clip. In this scene, Richard is working on the snack flavor with his wife and kids, and his younger son is played by big TikTok star, Brice Gonzalez, he's the taste tester, and this is his youngest son testing the product. This is from Flamin' Hot.

[music]

Brice Gonzalez: [screams].

Richard: Burns good or burns bad?

Brice Gonzalez: It burns good.

Richard: [screams] [unintelligible 00:11:06] .

Alison Stewart: I like that line, it comes up a couple of times, "It burns good."

Jesse Garcia: It burns good.

Alison Stewart: Aside from just the food, Richard really felt like he was on to something about the marketing and about the narrowcasting of the marketing at this company. What did Richard figure out?

Jesse Garcia: Well, I think he figured out that the Latino community, they're innovative. We know, for one, and just to go to the theme of the movie that they like heat, they like the spice and they put it on everything. They put it on the fruit, in their corn, and their tacos, and their sandwiches and beans and everything. The supply and demand, and if you have a demand, you present a product and he knew that this product would sell. He knew that the Latino community would support it if it was presented. He had to get really creative and innovative, again, to make sure that the people knew about the Hot Cheetos.

The fun fact is he actually presented several other flavors, and I can't really remember, there's the one, buñuelos, which is like a fried tortilla with cinnamon and sugar and honey. There were several other ones that he presented, but I think the real magic of what the presentation showed the execs is that Richard has a finger on the pulse of the Latino community, and that's what was lacking in Frito-Lay and the Hot Cheeto was the perfect vehicle for it.

Alison Stewart: What's something that you learned on this set or learned from this production that you'll take forward and you think will be useful to you as an actor?

Jesse Garcia: Like Richard, I have to get creative, too. I have to get innovative and creative about the choices that I make, and that with a strong support system like he has with Judy and like I have with Eva and I have with my team, you keep at it and you keep your support system strong, we can achieve anything.

Alison Stewart: The name of the film is Flamin' Hot. It is being released tomorrow on Disney+. I believe you can see it on Hulu, too. Jesse Garcia is in the lead. Jesse, thanks for making the time today.

Jesse Garcia: Oh, thanks for having me.

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