In a comment that left many shaking their heads, Eva Longoria, star of “Desperate Housewives” and now a film producer and director, criticized Hollywood for not being “progressive” and “liberal” enough. Longoria, who seems to be swimming against the current by alleging a lack of opportunity for women and people of color in an industry known for its leftist bent, made these claims in an interview with Grazia magazine published on June 24.
“People think Hollywood is a liberal, progressive industry, but it’s not,” Longoria, now 49, declared. Her statements, which some might find baffling given Hollywood’s well-documented push for diversity and inclusion, suggest she believes there is still much work to be done.
Longoria bemoaned the lack of “gender equity,” stating, “It would be great to have gender equity in all positions, but we just don’t. We have fewer female directors and fewer Latinos in front of the camera than we did a couple of years ago. So, we’re actually going in the wrong direction, even though the perception is that we’re doing so great.”
This claim seems hard to square with the industry’s recent history, which has seen numerous initiatives aimed at boosting diversity. From the Oscars changing their rules to require diversity quotas for Best Picture nominees to the proliferation of female-driven and minority-centric projects, it appears Hollywood has been working overtime to be as inclusive as possible.
Longoria further complained about the disparity in opportunities between men and women. “Women are still not getting the same opportunities as our male counterparts,” she said. “What we do [in the industry] matters, it can change culture and, when you change culture, you can change policy, perception. You can change a lot of things with storytelling.”
The actress-turned-producer reflected on her own career post-“Desperate Housewives,” emphasizing her commitment to producing with purpose, particularly for the Latine community. “I want to tell stories for my Latine community. We have a lot of heroes, things to say, an amazing talent pool of storytellers. It’s refreshing and innovative — in an industry that keeps going to the same writers and creators for the same stories — to have a different perspective and point of view, because it changes everything, makes it more interesting, more relevant.”
Discussing her show “Land Of Women,” Longoria shared how she personally pushed for its creation. “I wanted to work in Spain and asked him to write me a show set in wine country. I told him a wish list of what I was looking for in a show and he came up with ‘Land Of Women.’ Apple bought it straight away and we went into production.”
Longoria’s critique extended to her film “Flamin’ Hot,” a movie about Cheetos, where she felt immense pressure to succeed on behalf of her community and female directors. “I felt the weight of my community, I felt the weight of every female director because we don’t get a lot of bites at the apple,” she said. “We can’t get a movie every 20 years. So the problem is if this movie fails, people go, ‘Oh, Latino stories don’t work.’ ‘Oh, female directors really don’t cut it.’”
Her grievance about limited chances for women and minorities in directing roles seems out of touch with the reality where many female and minority directors have made significant strides and received substantial opportunities. Longoria’s lament that “A White male can direct a $200 million film, fail and get another one” disregards the fact that the industry, like any other, is driven by profitability and proven success, not identity politics.
Speaking about the Cheetos movie, Longoria said, “We get one at-bat. We get one chance. I gotta make it right, I gotta do it well, I gotta work twice as hard, I gotta out-hustle everybody in the room, I gotta work twice as fast, I gotta do it twice as cheap … You really carry the generational traumas with you into the making of the film.”
While Longoria’s comments may resonate with some, they also reflect a broader trend of Hollywood figures who seem perpetually dissatisfied, no matter the strides made towards diversity and inclusion. In an industry that already bends over backward to appease progressive critics, Longoria’s claims might strike many as just another example of the never-ending quest for grievance, regardless of the facts on the ground.
