For an industry created by immigrants, Hollywood has often liked nothing better than an inspirational rise to the top story of an ethnic community’s underdog beating The Man’s system at its own game. And in the case of the true-life story of “Flamin’ Hot,” it’s how Chicano Frito Lay janitor Richard Montañez saved a floundering company by showing it the light, and temperature of his spice-loving culture in the form of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It’s a street to the boardroom tale that’s particularly American in its Mexican community’s colors, a thoroughly charming film that’s no more ironic in how accessible it is given today’s anti-immigrant political climate.
There are many reasons to fall in love with “Flamin’ Hot” from actress-turned-director Eva Longoria’s humorously inventive, tall-tale filled direction to the hangdog performance of Jesse Garcia. But what’s particularly catchy is the vibrant historical tapestry that shows off Latino music by way of LA’s barrio and Mexico at large, a mix of energetic rhythm, jazz, spaghetti western grooves, retro funk, Spanish guitar and moving symphonic drama, all courtesy of the Brazilian jack-of-all scoring styles Marcelo Zarvos.
Nearing 100 soundtracks under his belt along with an Emmy for HBO’s “You Don’t Know Jack,” Zarvos made an indie splash with 2000’s “Tully” and “Kissing Jessica Stein” before his studio break in with his strikingly lyrical score for 2004’s “The Door in the Floor.” Since then, Zarvos has kept company with a way-too-old high school student (“Strangers with Candy”), investigated the murder of Superman (“Hollywoodland”), done a hip take on a tale as old as time (“Beastly”), unleashed a zombie virus (“The Bay”), perilously journeying to America (“Sin Nombre”) and went down to the wire with the country’s financial meltdown (“Too Big To Fail”). He’s been the go-to composers for actors stepping behind the camera from Jodie Foster (“The Beaver”) to Denzel Washington (“Fences”) and now a Desperate Housewife who’s anything but as a filmmaker.
Nimbly avoiding musical typecasting all the while, Zarvos now does a delicious deep dive into the rich world of Latin music in general, and Mexican rhythmic pride in particular in a way that incorporates his own flair for cultural pride and emotion. It’s an energetic potpourri that’s its own cookbook for a wealth of Latin grooves and lyrical scoring that effortlessly switches between laughter and poignance – all with great, distinctive taste given Zarvos’ seemingly infinite scoring recipes.
What was your musical upbringing like in Brazil, and what led you to composing?
I fell in love originally with music through film scores and The Beatles. By the time I was 13 I started playing pop music in the 80s in my native city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. There was a big explosion of Brazilian rock during that time which coincided with the end of a 20-year military dictatorship and my band Tokyo was signed to Epic/ CBS and released two records and toured extensively all over the country. By the time I was 17 I decided to quit the band and applied to the film scoring program at Berklee College and promptly moved to Boston as soon as I graduated high school. Ironically once I got there, I felt it was too early to focus on film scoring and felt that I wanted to be exposed to different kinds of music making. I ended up going to CalArts and spent my 4 years of undergrad work honing my skills as a classical and jazz pianist. I also started writing original compositions that blended jazz, contemporary classical and world music.
Tell us about your own musical rise in Hollywood, and what led to scoring art films like “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “The Mudge Boy” to becoming major Hollywood films like “Fences” and television shows like “Ray Donovan.”
After I graduated from CalArts I moved to NYC and although I was very interested in film scoring and spent quite a few years playing out on clubs around New York and started to perform a lot of my own music with my group in various jazz venues, art galleries, embassies and wherever I could get a chance to show my work. A director heard one of these performances and asked me to score a short film called “A Soccer Story” about the great Brazilian soccer player Pele. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the short film category. It’s no exaggeration that I can trace practically everything I did to that first short film. The first feature I did was called “Tully” after a fellow Brazilian picture editor saw the short film. Not so long after that I scored “Kissing Jessica Stein” which was very successful and started to get my name out there. Eventually I got to score “The Door in the Floor” starring Jeff Bridges for Focus Features. The score was released by Decca and was able to get an agent and start moving up the ladder of Hollywood, although always working out of NYC.
Before “Flamin’ Hot,” you scored “The Beaver” for Jodie Foster and “Fences” for Denzel Washington. Tell us about your collaboration with Eva Langoria, and what makes collaborations with actors-turned-filmmakers unique?
I would add to the list of actor/ director collaboration the great Robert DeNiro with whom I had the pleasure of working on his epic film “The Good Shepherd.” I think actors understand performance on a very visceral level, and if there is one thing these directors share is the realization of how much music can affect a performance, both positively and negatively. Eva Longoria was very clear on what she wanted the music to accomplish on “Flamin’ Hot.” We spent a lot of time getting the Latin sounding cues to get to the place where they felt both authentic but also effective in helping tell the story. I didn’t really get to the emotional cues for quite some time, and I think both Eva and myself trusted those moments would be fine. But we really had to first nail the sound of the Mexican American experience. The story covers a lot of ground from the 1950s through the early 90s. While the score gradually changes with the passing of time, we also wanted it to feel like a dramatic anchor for the film and have a sense of continuity that would play in counterpoint to the many great needle drops that were more period specific.
Did your mutual Latin heritage with Eva give you a shorthand on “Flamin’ Hot?”
Yes, absolutely. Although I am from Brazil and speak Portuguese I believe having come to America as an immigrant really informed who I became. It made me feel a strong connection with other Latin immigrants even if we spoke different languages and I think a lot of the traits of the family life of Richard Martinez felt very similar to my own. Eva, like most directors, loves music and is a voracious listener of all kinds of songs and scores. We developed a nice shorthand from working together and discussing music.
Richard must go through quite a bit of prejudice. Had you faced that yourself in your career?
Yes absolutely. I remember doing a session early on my career with a very famous fiddle player. I was doing a score for documentary about the West and the player, who shall remain unnamed, said “I can’t believe I am getting performance notes from a spic piano player.” Ouch. There were many moments like that. But in all honesty, there were even more moments of filmmakers being very positive and curious about my background. I think other than soccer, most people associate Brazilian culture with excellence in music and I believe that ultimately open more doors than it closed.
What was your reaction the first time you had a flamin’ hot Cheeto? And how do you think that played into your score?
It was HOT. And certainly, that was how I approached the music. There is also something inherently humorous about the product which I guess was ruminating on my mind as I wrote the music.
What do you think makes Mexican music distinctive among Latin countries?
Well, I have to say in the case of “Flamin’ Hot” we were really dealing with the Mexican American, Chicano experience. So, it was always about how the music and culture became transformed by the proximity with the United States but always remaining true to its origins. There is something about the chords, melodies and rhythms that is really embedded in the many different styles of Mexican music that is hard to describe but somehow is extremely distinctive. One of my favorite elements is the blend of melancholy, rhythm and humor which I tried very hard to capture in the score.
Was it important for you to keep “Flamin’s” music Mexican, or did you want to draw on other Latin styles? Was any kind of music game on that end?
Ultimately, it’s always about what works. And film scoring can be very forgiving about styles. If things jumped out it was always very obvious and like many scores it was a process of trial and error. But guitar and brass certainly were present form the very beginning and this was certainly one of my least piano centered scores.
Tell us about the players you put together for “Flamin’ Hot,” and was there any improvisation at the scoring sessions?
I had the pleasure of collaborating with amazing players in LA. There wasn’t much improvisation per se but there was a lot of performance experimenting with grooves and sounds. And we didn’t limit ourselves to studio musicians. One of the great additions to the score was a phenomenal rhythm guitarist who does mostly live music and brought a lot of heart and energy to the score. I wanted the music to have a rough edge to it and not feel overly produced. We incorporated the live elements very early on as mockups were impossible to do for the music I was after.
There are a lot of great needle drops in “Flamin’ Hot.” How did you want the score to dance around them?
Mostly I wanted the score to work well in counterpoint to the songs but remain in its own lane and create a sense of continuity. Because like the score, the songs are being worked on and revised throughout the process. So, you kind of have to trust what you are doing but not try to mimic or become too attached to any one particular track you are leading into or following.
You’ve got a particularly clever musical homages when Richard “draws down” on the Frito board members as he prepares for his pitch. How did you come up with that idea?
It was meant to feel like a western at that point. It’s the big slow-motion moment the hero comes through. But like other spots on the film, the fantasy has the rug pulled from under it and we are back into reality. It was a moment of humor and expectation.
“Flamin’ Hot” humorously segues between Richard’s reality and the way he imagines things going. How did you want to contrast both “worlds?”
That’s when the magic of scoring can be so effective. Like the moment early on when Richard fantasizes about beating up a co-worker who is being very rude. Those moments worked by having a piece of music that feels way over the top and then a sharp turn to get us back into reality.
Every inspirational movie has its big inspirational speech, and “Flamin’ Hot” certainly gives Richard his moment. How did you want to play that?
That was also a challenge. That’s one moment where the music becomes more earnest and emotional as Richard pours his heart out to the Pepsi CEO Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub). But once we are in safe waters the music returns to the Latin lane and relates thematically to an earlier moment when Richard has the idea for the product while eating Elote in the park with his kids.
You’ve scored such inspirational pictures as “Breakthrough” before doing “Flamin’ Hot.” What do you think is the key to success for one of these movies crossing over to audiences might not be believers? And do you think it’s important for the music not to be over-the-top in conveying a Christian message?
I believe music works best when it connects directly to the emotional world of the characters without necessarily being preachy. I always think of music as being an inherently spiritual art form without having to be specifically tied to one religion or set of beliefs. “Breakthrough” was ultimately about a mother fighting for her son’s life, and that is what I was focusing on rather than the character’s specific Christian background. And actually, one of the reasons I got to score “Flamin’ Hot” was because of producer Devon Franklin who also produced “Breakthrough.” I learned a lot from him during both projects and while both films were inspirational in nature, it was always about bringing people into the universal truth of the stories.
“Flamin’ Hot” has an impactful split between comedy and drama. Did that make you careful not to push the music too hard in either direction?
Yes, that was a very hard line to walk on. But with Eva’s guidance I feel we got there in spades. I also have to mention that fantastic team that was working in post production consisting of picture editors Kayla Emter and Liza Espinas, music supervisor Vanessa Jorge Perry and music editor Erica Weiss. We all talked a lot about the score, and I profited very much from everyone’s incredible talent.
How was it for you to musically reboot “White Men Can’t Jump?” with Oak Felder?
That was a lot of fun. It was a different beast for sure, but I remember watching the original and loving it so much. It was fun to collaborate with Oak Felder and the amazing director Calmatic in bringing that story to the present. One of the interesting things on that one was that the director is also a very accomplished music producer and we spend a lot of time refining the sound and mix of the score to Calmatic’s liking.
Your other athletic score, and subsequent inspirational film is “Big George Foreman.” Tell us about musically approaching a devout boxing legend.
That was a challenging score because it really was both a sports biopic and inspirational story. We had to cover a lot of ground from the spiritual journey of the great George Foreman from an angry young man to a champion, preacher and champion again when he was over 40 years old. The director George Tillman Jr. was someone I really admired, and we really hit it off from the start. It was also a trip to score this story since I had worked on a fabulous doc about Muhammed Ali called “What’s My Name?” I had to score some of the same fights from a different perspective in “Big George Foreman.” It really was fun to revisit parts of the same story. I see boxing as a sport but from a scoring perspective it’s really more like a dance. The choreography and drama of the fights are so important and each tells a very specific story.
On that note, you’ve scored quite a few biopics from “Phil Spector” to “You Don’t Know Jack” and “Mapplethorpe.” What kind of personalities are you musically drawn to?
I would say I am drawn to complicated characters whose life can’t be easily defined in terms of good and bad. That is very much what I aspire to do with music and I feel that whatever success I have had is very much due to the acknowledgement that emotions are inherently complex and can’t be easily categorized. When music walks that fine line between not being obvious but also enhancing the specific experience of the viewer, I feel I have done my job well. And I love the idea of creating our own historical reference thought bio pics and docs. There is something very human and important about telling these stories for posterity.
More than many Latin composers, you’ve gotten such a diverse wealth of projects that have made you essentially “color blind” in terms of the scoring assignments. That seems to be a rarity for ethnic composers who’ve hailed from outside the United States, let alone are citizens. Yet how important does your Brazilian identity remain to you as a musician in what you might put into a score in spirit – if not in a direct sound?
My Brazilian heritage informs everything I do. There are constant references in my work to my native country which I am very proud of. The incredible wealth of music from Brazil is such a big part of what I do, and one of the amazing things about the music down there is how often it gobbled up outside influences, such as jazz during the Bossa Nova period, rock during Tropicalia and what we call Funk in Rio that draws from hip hop and rap but still sounds clearly like its own thing.
There’s also an impactful message in “Flamin’ Hot” about respecting the people whose jobs are “under” you. In that respect, how important do you think it is for composers who are at the top to treat those rising in the scoring ranks with respect – especially given the issue of ghostwriters?
I believe it’s extremely important to treat everyone with the utmost respect. I still remember very vividly what it feels like to be coming up and. In many ways never lost that feeling. I also really believe in the importance of mentoring young talent and giving people a leg up whenever possible. I am so proud when I hear composers that have worked with me going on to do great things. I don’t believe in stealing or taking credit for other people’s work and certainly am in favor of as much transparency as possible for writers in music and otherwise.
Given the prejudice against immigrants, how important do you think “Flamin’ Hot”, and its score is, in terms of impressing audiences to the cultural vitality of Latin people? And do you think it could encourage other crossover films – and composers?
I think the Latin audience is responsible for something like one quarter of all ticket sales in the U.S., but Latin stories are still extremely underrepresented on the big screen. I was so proud and excited to work on “Flamin Hot” for that reason. We need our stories told in many different ways. I also just worked on a wonderful biopic called “Cassandro” about the great luchador (wrestler) and LGBTQ icon from Mexico starring Gael Garcia Benal which comes out later this year on Amazon. There are so many facets to Latin culture and the more stories we present the more our culture will be valued and understood. Nobody gets that more than Eva Longoria who is a de facto ambassador the Latin culture in our country today. And I hope stories like the one she has told here will become the norm rather than the exception. Everyone needs and deserves to see themselves in the stories being told in Hollywood and beyond.
How much heat can you handle in your food?
Not much! I can take a fair amount in Brazilian food but beyond that I am afraid I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to hot food.
Watch “Flamin’ Hot” on Hulu, and buy Marcelo Zarvos’ score on Hollywood Records HERE
Listen to Marcelo and Oak talk about “White Men Can’t Jump” at The Big Score HERE
Visit Marcelo Zarvos’ web site HERE
Special thanks to Marygrace Oglesby at Costa Communications