Four years ago, in an interview with this newspaper, Eva Longoria greeted with a friendly and long “Helloooo!” That’s as far as her Spanish went. Today, however, she chats calmly in the language, she chooses it for the conversation, she claims to feel comfortable and even lets out a “fuck!” her while she laughs. The Texan actress (Corpus Christi, 49 years old) wanted to learn the language of her ancestors but, in addition, her need forced her. A Mexican husband, a bilingual son and above all a large audiovisual project where 85% of it is in Spanish have turned her into a Spanish speaker. Longoria opens on June 26 Land of Women on Apple TV+, a series in which he stars and produces and which comes from the Bambú label, one of the most recognized Spanish audiovisual production companies and creator of The cable girls either velvet.
Along with Carmen Maura and the young Mexican Victoria Bazúa, Longoria leads this family triad that has to flee their comfortable life in New York to settle in a small town among vineyards in Girona. The American woman wanted something light, a “dramedy”, as she defines it, but well done. “I’m already 10… wow, 12 years old, behind the camera, producing, directing, writing and I’ve forgotten that I’m an actress, yes, I’m an actress too,” she laughs during the video call conversation with EL PAÍS, remembering who hasn’t done a series as a performer in a decade. “For me, everything on television is very depressive, it gives me anxiety, when I’m watching the collapse of the future, when there is no government or when the zombie comes and the world is destroyed… And I thought I didn’t want to see that: I want to see a beautiful place, I want to escape with these characters. “I want to have fun with a series and I want to watch it with my mother, with my daughter… I wanted this tone, and I think there isn’t much like that on television today.” Hence, after her good experience with Bambú with the American version of Great Hotel (thanks to which he developed a good friendship with Ramón Campos, executive producer) that project arose.
The vast majority of Longoria’s writing in the series is in Spanish. It is shocking to see her speak with great ease a language that she has learned in recent years and, as she emphasizes, speak it in a comedic tone, even more difficult, because humor has a specific cadence that, if not respected, is lost. Added to this is that they filmed near Figueras: “My head was exploding with so much Spanish and also with the fact that we were in Catalonia, with Catalan. Another language! And I was like freaking out, like Oh my God! I think it’s too much (Oh my God, I think it’s too much).” Every day she had one coach who guided her and helped her in the process, and to Carmen Maura, who was her “second coach” he laughs, correcting her. And there is also her son, Santiago: “He was born in Los Angeles but we live in Mexico and he is always correcting me. Always! And he is six years old!
“I wanted to return to television with something very special, I wanted to act in Spanish and do a comedy, I wanted a challenge (challenge) for me, if I was going to return to television it had to be totally different from all the things I already did,” he explains. Hence his decision to film a project like this in Spain, lasting months and in which a continuation is open. ”We are already thinking about the stories, about what and where they can go. There is much more to say with these characters. And Ramón (Campos) is the driver of everything.”
Both in Land of Women as in his latest projects (such as his film directing debut with the Oscar-nominated Flamin’ Hot: The History of Hot Cheetos), Longoria is also a producer. Contrary to what many think, she is not an actress who has placed herself behind the camera, but rather the other way around. “I don’t do anything that I’m not producing,” she says, very clearly. “You need your voice in everything: casting, stories, the way we are recording, the cameras… I like to contribute with everything. I have a very valuable opinion. “I know how to make television and I want to put my brand, my voice.” 23 years ago he became a well-known face on television thanks to the 300 episodes of The Young and the Restlessand 20 who rose to global fame as the determined Gabriella Solís of the now cult series Desperate women. And he has also been producing since then.
If two decades ago you had been told how far that Latina girl from Corpus Christi would go today, would you have believed it? “Clear. I knew that. I entered Hollywood as a producer and director. I was doing a little bit of acting, but I love controlling a project from start to finish. I was working in production, I was working on the set, in the comedy clubs, producing a night of Latin comedians. As always behind the camera. And one day my life changed with those characters. But I always had the desire to produce, to direct. I used Desperate women like my film school. I learned it all there by asking, What is this? Why change the lens? And why do we have brands? I learned everything, everything, in Desperate women. He was the best Show in the world at that time. And it was very expensive, almost a movie a week. There was no better place to learn than a set like that. You had all the toys to play with.”
Furthermore, she wants to continue working in Spain. She now lives in Mexico, she explains, but she is based in her house in Marbella during the summer season, and she has projects in Europe. “The place where we were recording, in Figueras, Cadaqués and the Costa Brava, was beautiful, I was happy there. I was born and raised on a ranch with roosters, pigs and cows, and this was very rural, outside of Barcelona. I love living like this, I love that there is only one cafeteria there in the town, a place to eat that closes at eight at night… Also because I had my family with me here, my husband, my family from Marbella, my comadre (businesswoman María Bravo), Santi’s godmother, was with us. When I have my tribe I am happy. “I can be anywhere in the world.”
A few hours after the interview he left for Galicia. A few months ago he launched Searching for Mexicoa gastronomic program that explores the food and customs of different regions of the country, following in the footsteps of Stanley Tucci in Searching for Italy. “Stanley called me and told me they wanted to do a spin off. And I said: Let’s do Mexico. It was an incredible success, so much so that they wanted to make another country with me. They asked me if I wanted to go to Spain and it was like: Forks! “Of course!” she exclaims excitedly. There will be six chapters, of which she has already filmed the one in the Basque Country (where she has returned in love, especially with the food) for two weeks, and now she has “two weeks left in Galicia, two Madrid, two in Andalusia… throughout Spain,” he says, happily. “I love that all the communities in Spain are so different. Not just languages. The gastronomy, the food is so different and everyone thinks ‘ham, ham, ham’ about Spain. But there is much more.”
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