The new biopic Flamin’ Hot tells the story of Richard Montanez, the man responsible for the invention of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while he worked as a janitor at Frito-Lay during the early 1990s — or at least that’s how the legend goes.
The film has been met with controversy for dabbling in fabrication and half-truths after Montanez’s claims for the spicy inspiration were disputed by over a dozen former employees, the company’s archival record, and Frito-Lay itself, per an investigative report by the Los Angeles Times in 2021.
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Whether you love or hate Cheetos, here is everything you need to know about Flamin’ Hot.
Based on Montanez’s memoir
The film drew creative inspiration from Montanez’s memoir of the same name, which detailed the Mexican American’s rise from a lowly custodian to one of Frito-Lay’s top executives. In the book, he claims the snack company failed to give him due credit for his alleged creation.
Montanez continues telling his version of events to this day through speaking engagements and, now, a new film.
Conflicting accounts challenged the feel-good story
After Montanez started telling his inspirational story in 2007, the public largely believed it. It wasn’t until a decade later that some of his retired colleagues, the ones who were directly involved in the development and naming of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, heard of his assertions.
“It is disappointing that 20 years later, someone who played no role in this project would begin to claim our experience as his own and then personally profit from it,” said Lynne Greenfeld, a former Frito-Lay employee.
A public endorsement of Montanez’s account from a former Frito-Lay executive named Al Carey further muddied the waters, though he was the only one at the company to support Montanez over the years. For the most part, many still have their doubts about who’s telling the truth.
The White House promoted the film
The White House announced President Joe Biden would host a special screening of Flamin’ Hot in an effort to promote the Latino story, according to Fox News. The event took place Thursday night on the South Lawn and was open to the press.
The film released June 9.
Directed by a prominent Democratic donor
Eva Longoria, a Hollywood celebrity known for her campaign ties to Biden and the Democratic Party, made her feature directorial debut with Flamin’ Hot. The political action committee, Latino Victory Fund, an advocacy organization Longoria co-founded, donated roughly $9 million to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.
When asked by Entertainment Weekly about the kind of story she was hoping to tell, the film’s director admitted her purpose in making the film.
“That article had zero effect on the movie we were telling,” Longoria said, referring to the Los Angeles Times investigation. “We’ve always been telling Richard Montanez’s story, and we’re telling his truth. We weren’t making a movie about the history of the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto. We’re telling the story of Richard Montanez.”
Schools removed the snack
One little-known fact is that some schools banned Flamin’ Hot Cheetos due to their increasing popularity among young children.
Pasadena, California, schools, for example, prohibited the snack in 2012 for being too distracting to students.
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Reviews of the film have largely been positive, with both critics and audiences enjoying it, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics wrestled with the ethics of telling a revisionist story and wondered what the point was.
Flamin’ Hot is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.
