A Movie About Cheetos Is Finally Happening

A biopic about the wonderful man who invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos is in the works at Fox Searchlight, the studio behind movies like Juno and Slumdog Millionaire. The movie, which is titled Flamin' Hot, will follow the life of Flamin' Hot Cheetos inventor Richard Montanez, who was a janitor at Frito-Lay before creating the snack and amassing untold wealth.

According to Variety, which was the first to report the news today, multiple studios were vying to pick up the movie before Fox Searchlight ultimately sealed the deal. Montanez is the son of an immigrant and worked on farms picking grapes in southern California. He later got a job as a janitor at Cheetos manufacturer Frito-Lay, and during his time cleaning toilets there in the '70s, he came up with the idea for a new variety of Cheetos.

The script for Flamin' Hot is being written by Lewis Colick (October Sky, Ladder 49), with Montanez helping out. Devon Franklin, a Hollywood producer and spiritual coach, is producing.

According to Fox News, Montanez got the idea for a hot variety of Cheetos while he was eating a cup of corn. "I see the corn man adding butter, cheese, and chile to the corn and thought, 'What if I add chile to a Cheeto?'" he recalled.

According to the report, Montanez bolted into his mother's kitchen and whipped up some spices for a test version of the snack. He apparently called the president of Frito-Lay to propose his new flavour and was given two weeks to prepare a presentation. The president apparently loved the idea, and the Flamin' Hot variety is now among Frito-Lay's best-selling products worldwide. Montanez is currently an executive at PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay.

There is no word as of yet about who will play Montanez in the film or who may direct. A release date is also not available at this time, but we'll be sure to report back with more on all the delectable details as they are announced.