Eva puts women, Latinos in focus with new show
Eva Longoria was so busy behind the scenes of the upcoming series Grand Hotel, that it took a bit for the actor to realise there was no part for her.
However, as an executive producer on the show, Longoria was in position to do something about it — she asked writer Brian Tanen to create something for her. The actor is playing a mother in four episodes of the show that takes place at the last family-owned hotel in Miami.
Longoria began filming about five months after giving birth to her first child, Santiago Bastón, whom she brought with her at a TV critics’ meeting on Tuesday.
“I was directing the show while I was breastfeeding. I was crazy,” she said. “The first time you see me I’m about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) heavier than the last time you see me because five months had passed,” she says.
Longoria is one of the seven women who direct on the show. The Desperate Housewives actor is proud that half of the writers are women and people of colour, nine of the 11 actors are people of colour, and women work in the roles of director of photographer, assistant directors and stunt coordinator.
“It’s still not common enough to have women behind the camera,” Longoria adds.
The show stars Demian Bichir, Roselyn Sanchez and Wendy Raquel Robinson. It’s based on the Spanish series Gran Hotel.