Searchlight Pictures, Eva Longoria reunite on ‘Anita De Monte Laughs Last'

Eva Longoria will direct and produce Anita De Monte Laughs Last based on the novel by by Xochitl Gonzalez about an Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death.

Gonzalez is adapting the screenplay and Longoria’s Hyphenate Media Group is the production company. Longoria serves as a producer alongside Cris Abrego and Jada Miranda.

Anita De Monte Laughs Last reunites Longoria with Searchlight after her directorial debut Flamin’ Hot, which debuted at SXSW 2023 where it won the audience award and earned an Oscar nomination for best original song. That film also became Searchlight’s first to debut on Hulu and Disney+.

Searchlight SVP of production Taylor Friedman and creative executive Daniel Yu will oversee the project for the studio, reporting to co-heads of production and development DanTram Nguyen and Katie Goodson-Thomas.

Longoria’s recent work also includes the eight-part CNN culinary series Eva Longoria: Searching For Spain, with a new show in the works that focuses on France. She has directed the boxing documentary La Guerra Civil for DAZN, which premiered at Sundance in 2022.

Coming up, Longoria will direct Netflix comedy The Fifth Wheel with Gloria Sanchez producing.

This story originally appeared on our sister site Screen