Eva Longoria has revealed her fears over flagging support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the U.S.
The former Desperate Housewives star, director and producer, who is also known for her activism in support of the Latino Community, was responding to a question about the recent spate of DEI cuts in the U.S. in an onstage conversation at the Red Sea Film Festival.
“It’s funny, this kind of pendulum of DEI programs that are being cut back, and a lot of great directors and writers that come out of those programs will suffer. because they give opportunity where opportunity is not usually there,” she said.
“It’s much harder for women to break through in Hollywood, and it’s much harder for people of color to break through,” she said.
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“I don’t think there’s a studio exec in a tower going I don’t want to hire people of color. They just hire people with the most experience. They hire people who they’ve worked with their entire life. You know, they’ve worked with Tom and Bob and Frank, and they’re going hire Tom and Bob and Frank, because Tom and Bob and Frank know how to do it, but of course they do because they get a lot of experience. They get every movie, they get every chance.”
Longoria said that when she is producing or directing she looks at the potential of candidates for crew jobs, not only resumés.
“I really want to know how can I build pipeline of future talent so that when they go to the next job, they can say, “I just worked with Eva Longoria’, and somebody goes, ‘Oh, great, now I’ll hire you’. It’s about helping build the resumés of all of these talented women and all of these talented people of color, specifically for me, Latinos.”
Longoria said that when she was building the crew Flamin’ Hot, about the real-life figure of Richard Montañez, a former janitor who used his Mexican culture to rise up the corporate ranks of Frito Lay, she wanted the heads of department to be Latino, saying she felt it would help reflect the cultural specificity of the story on screen.
She revealed that this ambition had not been plain sailing after she received pushback against her move to hire Argentinian cinematographer Federico Cantini.
“He didn’t have a lot of film experience, but he read the script. We had a meeting, and he was as passionate and hungry about making this film and making the same film as me. I remember the studio – talk about vertical versus horizontal – made me meet with all these DPs, like Oscar-winning DPs. It just felt like they were going to do this little movie in between their big movie with me. For mem it was the big movie.”
Longoria said she stuck by guns and got her way after a fight.
“They finally said if you really believe in this guy, we’ll trust you but [it was kind] of like but if you crack the bed, that’s on you,” she said.
“I think I cried more when he [Cantini] got the job than when I got the job. I told him, ‘Look they don’t have a lot of confidence in us. Just know that they are very nervous.’ He said, ‘There’s not better position to be in than underestimated’.”
