By Iain Blair

After stepping into the spotlight as an actress on the series Desperate Housewives, Eva Longoria has since found success behind the camera as well, producing and directing a wide array of television projects, shorts and documentaries.

The multi-tasker’s latest project is the comedy-drama Flamin’ Hot, the inspiring true story of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia). As a Frito-Lay janitor, Montañez disrupted the food industry by channeling his Mexican American heritage to turn Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from a snack into a pop culture phenomenon. Her crew included DP Federico Cantini, ADF, and editors Kayla M. Emter and Liza D. Espinas.

Eva Longoria and her DP, Federico Cantini, on-set

I spoke with Longoria about directing her first feature, the post workflow and making the Searchlight film, which won the Audience Award at SXSW. Cantini and Emter joined the conversation.

What did DP Federico Cantini bring to the mix?
Eva Longoria: Before Fede got the job, I’d sent him the script, and he called me back in 30 minutes. He said, “I need to shoot this.” I had been interviewing DPs at the time, and he was the only one who wanted to make the same movie as the one I’d envisioned. All his references were the same ones I had. He’d say, “You know this part, where he’s a gangbanger? We should shoot that hand-held, as it’ll show the frenetic feel of his life at that moment.” And that’s what I’d thought too. Then he’d say, “For this era in his life, when he’s unstable, the camera shouldn’t be stable. Then, when his life becomes more stable, the look changes.” So we fully agreed on all the camera choreography.

Fede also brought all the lens choices for the different eras and different palettes and tones. The result is subtle but effective, as the original script delineated the different eras and jumped back and forth a lot, so we wanted the audience to know where they were by the visual cues of how it looked. Then in the edit, we decided to make it more linear.

What about working with Fede on the look?
Longoria: He’s a genius. His background is in commercials and music videos, and I love that background in a DP. Their sense of composition is always super-dynamic, and I knew I wanted dynamic framing and camera movement to help tell the story. The camera’s constantly on the move, although we kind of settle down eventually in certain scenes. And the pace of the edit is that way because of how Fede shot it. It’s like a page-turner that moves and moves. Fede and I talked about that approach a lot.

The big thing is that we’re both huge preppers. Sometimes you need a DP who is not a big prepper, who’ll be like, “I’ll see the room when we get there, and we’ll just run with it.” But on this it was the opposite. I wanted to know everything. What are we shooting? How long will it take? What size is the lens? And Fede’s exactly the same. We went over the directing plan five times, and then the day before we began shooting, he said, “We should go over it all one more time.” And I agreed. We had a lot of time to prep the film, so the actual shoot [60 days in Albuquerque, New Mexico] was so smooth. Because we were so prepared, there was nothing we didn’t get or had to drop. Our attitude was, “We’re going to make the days; we’re going to move fast.” And we did.

Fede, did you work on LUTs with the colorist before shooting?
Federico Cantini: Yes, the film has three distinct eras, so we designed a specific LUT with Company 3 senior colorist Walter Volpatto for each lens and mood, inspired by film stock from each era. We had three different lens series. For the ‘60s, I used Xtal Xpress anamorphic lenses. We used them for all the childhood scenes to get that dreamy look. Then we used Canon Super35 lenses for his gang years, as they’re a bit harder, and we shot this part in the middle of the day to have sharper contrast. We also shot all his house scenes with this lens… the ones before he gets the job. Then we shot Panavision Panaspeed large format, completely customized for the movie and modified to replicate the high-speed look from the ‘80s and ‘90s. We used that for the factory and his house after the job. We also had two Panavision large-format zooms — an 11×1 and a 4×1 — with the same modified look.

What camera did you use?
Cantini: The Sony Venice, and we chose it specifically because, at the time, it was the only camera that let you shoot Super 35mm 4K and large-format and anamorphic 4K. For the ‘80s and ‘90s scenes, we changed the size of the sensor. For the first two parts of the film, we used the sensor in Super 35 size, and when he gets the factory job, we changed it to a large-format sensor. That’s a great thing about this camera. It gave us the visual contrast between his house before and after the job. It’s the same house, but it just feels bigger and airier.

Eva, how was this post schedule different from ones you’ve had before?
Longoria: I’ve posted pilots where I had to do everything in a more condensed way, and when I saw this post schedule, and thought, “Why’s there so much time for color?” Fede said that once he does the DI with the colorist and shows it to me, I would definitely have notes.

Eva, can you talk about the color grade?
Longoria: We had this amazing colorist, Walter Volpatto at Company 3 here in LA. He’d show me a scene and then toggle between what he did and what it had been, and I was blown away by how it made me feel. He’d warm up a room or a wall but not touch the actors, and it would make the scene feel different. I was blown away by how color can manipulate what the audience sees and feels, and I found the color grade the most fascinating part of post. Color was the biggest learning curve for me.

What about audio post?
Longoria: I love all the sound and mixing, which we did on the Sony lot. I’ve mixed pilots and TV shows, but this process was that on steroids because it’s on the big screen, and you see and hear everything. I would ask, “What does the fridge sound like? What does cooking a tortilla sound like? Wait, we should be hearing the kid’s footsteps when he walks in.” I remember there was a shot of a tortilla on the stove, and in the mix, I heard it sizzling. I asked the sound team, “What is that sound?” and they told me it was the tortilla cooking. I pointed out that a tortilla doesn’t make that sound. It doesn’t make any sound because you’re not frying it. That was something culturally specific that they wouldn’t have known. But anyone else watching it would wonder why we put that sound on top of the tortilla. I loved dealing with all that, and I loved the whole post process.

You had two editors: Kayla M. Emter and Liza D. Espinas. How did that work?
Longoria: Liza was on location with us for the whole shoot and did the first assembly. She’d get quick turnarounds and check if scenes were working or if we’d missed anything and needed to go back. She got it to a point where we could really start working on it. Then Searchlight said, “Can we try a new editor to get it to the end?” That’s when Kayla came on.

Our first cut was around 2 hours 20 minutes, so it wasn’t crazy-long, and we knew we could cut it from there. Kayla’s first cut was 99 minutes and very close to what the movie is as a final. She didn’t lift anything. I was asking, “What scenes are we going to lift out if we have to cut that much time?” But her magic in post was about pacing and condensing scenes, not losing them. She took the [excess] air out of the edit and brought it down to 99 minutes, and we didn’t miss anything. When I sent that cut to Fede, he immediately said, “That’s the movie.”

Editor Kayla Emter

Kayla, tell us about the editing workflow. What gear and storage did you use?  
Kayla Emter: We used Avid Version 2018.12.8 for our editing, and our editorial storage was on a Nexis system. While my main workspace was at Pivotal Post in Burbank, we embraced remote editing as well, making frequent use of Evercast and the Jump system. As workflows continue to evolve, I’ve embraced modifying my past habits to support the needs of each individual project. I believe there’s real value in expanding our knowledge and staying open to advancements, which can benefit us.

What were the big editing challenges?
Emter: I try to approach my work without being too precious, and I always challenge what is needed to advance the story and character. In this case, because Richard’s story spans a lot of time, we had several scenes portraying the highs and lows he experienced on his journey. We had to make some tough editorial choices in order to keep the pace moving and guide the audience to the final climax.

For example, if the celebration of Richard and his family finally cracking the recipe became too big, it would diminish his next win of getting the meeting. We didn’t want to emotionally fatigue the audience too early. By continually refining the montages, we also found smart and efficient ways to sustain the film’s momentum while still showcasing Richard’s drive, intelligence and moments of struggle.

Tell us about editing with Eva. What was the process like?
Emter: Eva had a very clear vision of the story she wanted to tell, how she wanted to portray her community, and the feelings she hoped the audience would have after watching. Even with such a clear vision, she was very open-minded to big ideas and wasn’t afraid to challenge what we already loved to ensure we found all those genuine moments that brought the scenes to life.

Fede, what was involved in the DI with Walter Volpatto?
Cantini: We spent about two weeks, and he’s so fast and efficient that we didn’t have to spend time on the small stuff.  Most of the time, we were looking to express the emotions of the film creatively through the use of color and mood. For instance, Eva didn’t want any red color anywhere in the film until you see the first Flamin’ Hot Cheetos come off the production line in the factory, and then it’s like this neon glow.

Eva, I hear you’re set to direct two more features — the workplace comedy 24-7 for Universal and the female action-comedy Spa Day for Sony. Do you want to direct more than act now?
I still love acting, but I like to do both. I like to direct what I’m acting in, and Fede and I are chomping at the bit to do our next project together.

Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.