South Texas-native Eva Longoria has arguably been one of the most visible Mexican-American actresses of the last generation, but her success hasn’t come without criticism. For starters, many Latinos questioned the politics behind her groundbreaking extended-cable brainchild Devious Maids, which featured the first all-Latina cast in TV history (who also happened to be playing maids.) Now the Chicano Studies scholar has found herself caught up in another controversial production that has ruffled feathers down in the Mexican-American community of El Sereno, Los Angeles.
The currently untitled “Lowrider” film in question tells the story of a young teen caught between his tradition-bound father and his estranged gangbanger brother. Then of course there are low riders, graffiti writers, and plenty of urban violence to round things out. Pretty cliché so far, right? But things really went south when the production hauled over to Huntington Drive and Maycrest Avenue to shoot a couple of scenes involving “drive-by shootings” and “brandishing weapons.” To boot, community involvement was limited to a one-day advance notice and the crew had the gall to whitewash a memorial mural for a deceased community member.
The emblematic Eastside Café quickly took to the streets, and social media, to express their discontent with the film’s negative portrayal of a community still reeling from a recent history of gang violence. After putting up a sign reading “Eastside Café Does Not Support Lowrider Exploitation Film,” and other community members demanded compensation, their efforts were promptly mocked on social media when they were accused of being “greedy.” Granted, nobody’s every happy to have a film crew shut down their neighborhood, but it seems the producers were content merely getting the permits and acting like they owned the place.
The film is also slated to star Oscar-nominated actor Demián Bichir, and is being directed by Peruvian helmer Ricardo de Montreuil. With names like Josh Bierne-Gordon and Justin Tipping on the credits roll, the screenwriters are at least not overtly Latino, but who knows? Maybe they did years of extensive research and cultural immersion before writing the script? Still, even if the film turns out to be a masterpiece of Latino cinema, Hollywood needs to have some respect for our communities.