Up next in 10
Producer, DeVon Franklin of the new biopic Flamin' Hot sat down with Sway In The Morning to talk about the biopic streaming on Hulu and Disney+ Friday June 9th.
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DeVon Franklin On Single Life & His Divorce Being A Success | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/y7v86bZ-Lw8
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0:00
June 9th that's right the new biopic uh
0:02
directed by Eva Longoria
0:06
and we got the producer here with us
0:08
right now
0:10
and this guy has something special to me
0:13
this man invited me to a gospel concert
0:15
I remember I remember
0:24
don't tell her Heather hey Devon Devon
0:27
Franklin is here by the way
0:34
just go
0:37
I think Devon Franklin invited me on a
0:40
date
0:41
little romance he wanted me to go to a
0:44
gospel concert at the Barclay Center and
0:46
I swear to you on everything I love that
0:48
that was like yeah for me you know
0:52
growing up in a Baptist Church and being
0:54
around uh just you know how music really
0:57
resonated with me as a young kid and
0:59
brought me to the word man and so when I
1:01
look at this guy right here man give him
1:03
some Applause as we talk about this
1:05
television and film producer yeah the
1:07
best-selling author this renowned
1:09
preacher motivational speaker that's
1:11
right this man is a friend of ours man I
1:14
read the book The Truth About men what
1:15
men and women need to know you needed to
1:18
read it he's my peer and I take cues and
1:21
leads from him thank you my brother
1:22
because when I see him he's shining
1:24
bright look at him Heather he's in the
1:26
same shape I used to be in he used to I
1:29
used to be in this kind of shape
1:33
somewhere muscle memory
1:37
look at the glow coming off his skin
1:39
right now thank you my brother that man
1:42
is in a place he's centered he's
1:43
balanced I feel it I sense it he's back
1:46
on this road he's working I just watched
1:48
him
1:49
I was watching a movie over the weekend
1:51
called Jesus Revolution yes yes I was
1:55
blessed to be a part of that be in it
1:57
that's my first like acting job yeah
1:58
yeah in front of the camera yeah that
2:00
was your first episode I was wondering
2:02
like because you're always a producer
2:04
you're always running this behind
2:06
the scenes what made you act out that
2:08
role man you know it was interesting
2:09
some friends of mine produced it and uh
2:12
and directed it and so they came to me
2:13
and they said hey we're getting ready to
2:14
make this movie it's called the Jesus
2:15
Revolution it's a true story of in the
2:18
late 1960s a lot of hippies were getting
2:19
off acid and converting to Christianity
2:21
in Time Magazine did a cover story on it
2:24
and they called it the Jesus Revolution
2:26
and they said we want you to play the
2:27
reporter that works for Time Magazine
2:29
and at first I was going to say I'm not
2:32
an actor but I caught myself I said why
2:36
would I speak against something that I
2:38
actually could be I just don't know it
2:40
yet exactly and so I say okay I said
2:42
well let me read it I read the script
2:44
and I said yeah okay I'll do it now
2:46
again like I had never acted
2:48
professionally before I used to do plays
2:50
in middle school and high school but
2:51
this was the first time and so I worked
2:52
with an acting coach I took it very
2:54
seriously and when I did it I was like
2:56
oh man I love this being in scenes with
2:58
actors and finding those moments and and
3:01
I've been around in my whole career I
3:03
mean you know I started as an intern for
3:04
Will Smith and you know obviously was
3:06
with Megan for 10 years and being around
3:08
it so getting a chance to do it myself I
3:11
was like oh I know how to do this and
3:13
producing movies you know I knew how to
3:15
do it and thankfully I've been able to
3:17
book other roles and projects that'll
3:19
come out this year so it's a new year
3:21
booking roles
3:24
Savannah
3:28
man listen but I but I have so much
3:30
respect for the craft okay that I go
3:32
through the process okay so listen I do
3:34
audition
3:36
um and I'm I'm open man like I don't
3:37
want it just because I'm the producer
3:39
and I can make my own content that that
3:41
means that I'm just going to put myself
3:42
in the things that I do no I want to be
3:45
able to go through the process as an
3:47
actor and identify those right roles and
3:49
find the right projects to fit when did
3:52
you shoot uh the Jesus Revolution I shot
3:54
Jesus Revolution
3:55
um a year ago a year ago what were you
3:57
and Megan still together at that time no
3:59
no we had just uh made the announcement
4:01
in December of 21. okay and I shot Jesus
4:03
Revolution I think it was like around
4:05
February March of the following year so
4:07
she couldn't guide you on acting then
4:09
she didn't help you well she did she did
4:11
she did because you know being with her
4:13
and running lines with her and seeing
4:16
her process and understanding how she
4:19
prepared for roles that was that's what
4:21
I needed right so even though we weren't
4:23
in communication like that while I was
4:25
shooting the film I still relied upon
4:27
like oh I remember when we used to run
4:29
lines I remember when she used to do
4:30
this oh okay now I understand why she
4:32
was doing that better yeah like so even
4:34
though she wasn't with me she was still
4:36
with me she was still with you oh Devon
4:37
Franklin I love that man come on man
4:40
um last time we saw you you were married
4:42
yeah that is true
4:46
those are the facts right so bro uh it's
4:49
not the same obviously and I know
4:51
Heather's going to get on me about this
4:52
but I remember breaking up out of a
4:54
relationship yeah and uh finding myself
4:57
uh sitting upstairs in my apartment
5:01
calling downstairs to the person who was
5:03
no longer there well calling me
5:09
so I'm not gonna linger in this you know
5:13
I'm not gonna but I'm as far as you go
5:15
man what is it like being single well
5:18
you know
5:20
um it's a whole new experience let me
5:21
put it that way yeah and what's
5:23
interesting though it's an interesting
5:24
question that you ask because
5:26
becoming traditionally single again
5:28
taught me what it means to be single
5:31
yeah and what I mean by that is so often
5:34
we think of single as a relationship
5:36
status right right but single to me is
5:38
actually a life status meaning no matter
5:41
if we're in a relationship or not we're
5:42
all single mm-hmm and too often we don't
5:45
ever harness the power of what it means
5:46
to be single so when we get into a
5:48
relationship we overburden the
5:50
relationship to do something it was
5:51
never designed to do which is to fix us
5:53
to make us happy to make us complete
5:54
that's not the purpose of a relationship
5:56
so get becoming traditionally single
5:58
again taught me the real the reality of
6:01
like oh this is what it means to be
6:02
single same being single means to be one
6:03
of one right and the more I can become
6:05
an individual and understand my
6:07
individuality and love my individuality
6:09
the better I will be when I decide to
6:11
couple again wow that's what I'm on yes
6:16
why are you looking at me like that
6:20
well come on Jesus
6:23
I'm just saying I needed some healing
6:26
and I needed some fiction and it took me
6:28
being single to even recognize that
6:30
absolutely and and I think so often if
6:33
we allow it man look he going through my
6:35
brother's going through his process all
6:36
right I'm gonna stand in solidarity with
6:39
you
6:41
but but so often uh when we go through
6:44
you know heartbreak you know we go
6:46
through heartache we can have one of two
6:49
choices right either we allow it to
6:51
depress us and destroy us or we sift and
6:54
sort through it to identify well what
6:57
what can I learn and how can I heal and
6:59
what are the things that I need to know
7:00
about me that this has given me an
7:02
opportunity to understand that if I had
7:04
never been through it I would never
7:05
understand it yeah and so for me
7:07
navigating you know all of this has been
7:10
a journey of the first and foremost
7:12
space what I mean by space is like
7:14
giving myself the ability ability to
7:16
feel you know some moments I felt like
7:19
okay I'm good other moments I'm like yo
7:21
I'm not good today yeah
7:23
so giving that space giving myself the
7:26
grace you know and then also like
7:28
staying in therapy you know working with
7:30
the life coach reading the words
7:31
studying journaling like not taking this
7:34
for granted right like I would love to
7:36
have been able to present to y'all oh
7:38
I'm good right everything's great no no
7:40
no no uh-uh this healing work is is a
7:43
lifetime and I'm just learning the value
7:45
of it and sharing whatever I'm learning
7:47
along the way hey man we need to start
7:49
hanging out all these things we got time
7:54
yeah
7:55
this way is crazy is that just sharing
7:58
this um because just like a bunch of
8:00
gazillion other people I was surprised
8:03
to hear the news but I wasn't surprised
8:05
at how classy y'all were in sharing this
8:08
publicly
8:09
um there's a sentiment online that's
8:11
gone viral around divorce not being a
8:15
failure and how it could interestingly
8:18
be a sign that marriage was a success if
8:21
you look at marriage as being designed
8:24
to grow you sure and so sometimes you
8:29
grow out of the relationship are you at
8:32
a place where you could see your
8:33
marriage as a success I think that what
8:36
you're hitting on is excellent because
8:38
so often we go through things we didn't
8:41
want to go through and there's a
8:43
temptation to label that failure or
8:46
unsuccessful but I believe anything that
8:49
produces growth in our life is a success
8:51
so from that Vantage Point yes right
8:53
like you know I know that I grew and
8:56
have been growing in ways I would have
8:58
never grown if I had not married and so
9:01
I say thank you yeah I'm grateful for
9:03
the experience I'm grateful for the
9:05
emotions I'm grateful for the journey
9:07
yes
9:08
um and I wouldn't be who I am I wouldn't
9:10
be where I am without it it's very easy
9:12
to look at something and say oh well
9:14
that failed well what what's your
9:15
definition of failure right okay right
9:18
it only failed if I chose not to learn
9:20
from it or grow from it there you go and
9:22
so my choice is like nope I'm learning
9:23
from this I'm growing from this so on
9:26
some level I do look at that as a
9:27
success there you go Devon Franklin here
9:29
man I just told my daughter that I swear
9:31
this weekend we were talking about the
9:34
word failure yeah and I literally said
9:36
it's only a failure if you don't learn
9:38
something from it or grow from it I just
9:40
said the exact same thing we hanging out
9:42
Divine got you y'all know some spots too
9:44
baby
9:47
okay I'm gonna pray before we go into
9:49
spots
9:53
no
9:55
no I'm just from um being married still
9:58
in a marriage I was telling Tracy and
9:59
suede
10:01
um last month you know August will make
10:02
22 years wow thank you but I don't think
10:06
you stopped doing the single things in
10:08
your marriage and that's what I've
10:10
learned um I said to them earlier today
10:12
my best friend which is his mom our
10:14
godson's mom over there said to me
10:16
before my marriage it is every day you
10:19
know and my pastor said and you have to
10:21
do it every day with God and so I went
10:24
into it with that mindset
10:26
single and then partner and so I still
10:29
have to do the single work in the
10:30
partnership you know what I mean and
10:32
that's the thing I think people to
10:34
y'all's Point what Tracy was saying to
10:36
you as well they don't realize it you're
10:38
looking for this person to make you
10:39
whole you're looking for this person to
10:40
pick up the all of these different
10:42
things and it's like nah bro like you
10:44
still you gotta come in whole yes you
10:47
know you gotta do our work you got to do
10:48
your work even in the partnership
10:49
absolutely absolutely especially in the
10:51
partnership yeah especially in the
10:52
partnership all right man let's talk
10:54
about this project flaming hot yes yeah
10:56
okay and I'm familiar with the story and
10:59
I'm curious to what made you pick this
11:01
story man listen about seven years ago I
11:04
had a chance to meet Richard Montanez
11:05
and at the time he was one of the top
11:07
Executives for Frito-Lay and PepsiCo and
11:11
a friend of mine said hey I've got your
11:12
next movie I want you to meet Richard
11:13
and so I sat down with Richard and his
11:15
wife Judy and I said tell me your story
11:17
and Richard started telling me that he
11:20
started as a janitor cleaning up the
11:23
factory for Frito-Lay the factory that
11:25
was located in Rancho Cucamonga
11:27
California uh he's the son of a Mexican
11:29
immigrant and getting you know the
11:31
Frito-Lay was a big deal because they
11:33
have benefits and so he was like great
11:34
you know he can take care of his family
11:35
and as he was there working for years he
11:38
was the most one of the hardest workers
11:40
people would know that he cleaned the
11:42
floors because of how they shine yeah
11:44
like he really let his work speak for
11:46
him so long story short
11:48
the factory and the company started
11:50
doing poorly jobs were being lost and he
11:52
said look I know I can save jobs the way
11:55
I can save jobs is if we had a spicy
11:58
product that I could Market to my
12:00
community his Mexican-American community
12:02
in Southern California then my community
12:05
would want to be a part of this company
12:07
because right now the flavors are not
12:09
appealing to my people right so he and
12:12
his wife Judy you know came up with this
12:13
recipe and they you know basically sold
12:16
the higher ups on this Flamin Hot
12:17
product and they ultimately allowed him
12:20
to go out to the community and to Market
12:21
what we now know is Flamin Hot and what
12:24
you know as Flamin Hot started to take
12:26
off yeah and it not only took off and
12:29
became this billion dollar brand but It
12:31
ultimately got him to be promoted to
12:32
become one of the top Executives in the
12:34
company he's referred to as the
12:35
Godfather of Latino marketing and IT
12:38
catapulted him to unprecedented success
12:40
and when I heard that story I said told
12:42
him in the meeting okay I'm gonna do it
12:44
I said yes I will make your movie now I
12:46
didn't know how I was going to do it I
12:47
didn't have a writer her at that time I
12:49
hadn't sold it to a studio but I was so
12:51
motivated and inspired from him to go
12:53
from being a janitor yeah to becoming
12:55
one of the top Executives in the company
12:57
and along the way yeah launching this
12:59
billion dollar brand that we now know is
13:01
flaming hot I said man I gotta tell this
13:04
you got to tell that story and then uh
13:05
he got he has 10 siblings I believe 10
13:08
siblings dropped out of school yeah he
13:10
did right yeah and um had an opportunity
13:13
to do this create this flavor when a
13:16
machine broke down right and he was able
13:18
to take a bunch of chips home and
13:21
experiment yeah with this idea come on I
13:24
know the story you know the story and we
13:26
portray all that in the movie oh you do
13:27
all I do we do all that in the movie so
13:29
where is Rancho Cucamonga I only heard
13:31
about that through like on Fridays
13:33
Inland Empire Inland Empire the IE you
13:36
know how all these artists come up and
13:38
talk about the internet yeah yeah a hit
13:40
boy right it's from the Inland Empire
13:43
that's a certain area of California yeah
13:46
Southern California Southern California
13:47
yeah yeah uh is he still with us oh yeah
13:51
Richard Richard he retired from uh from
13:54
Frito-Lay about four years ago and uh
13:57
he's seen the movie he he and his wife
13:58
Judy love the movie okay uh they're
14:00
promoting the movie so yes Richard is
14:02
alive and well and very proud of the
14:04
film that's dope he's a is it Eva
14:06
Longoria who's directing this is that
14:08
who brought this story to you is it
14:10
Richard himself no it was it was a
14:12
mutual friend of me and Richards so Rick
14:14
he was the one that brought me the story
14:16
and then once I met Richard I gave him
14:17
the yes and then I found a writer
14:19
developed it we went out to all the
14:21
Hollywood Studios we pitched it three
14:23
Studios wanted to to bid on it and and I
14:25
ultimately sold it to Searchlight which
14:27
at the time was called Fox Searchlight
14:28
and then we started developing the
14:30
script and in the process of developing
14:32
the script Fox got sold to Searchlight
14:34
got sold to Disney so I had a script uh
14:37
probably about two years it took me to
14:39
get the script right and then that's
14:41
when I started looking for a director
14:42
and that's where Eva came in so I sent
14:45
the script out to about 12 different
14:46
directors 20 different directors 12 came
14:48
in and I got a call from Eva's agent
14:51
saying hey Eva Longoria wants to meet on
14:53
flaming hot and I was like well for what
14:56
part and they were like no no she
14:57
doesn't want to be in it she wants to
14:58
direct it oh wow and I'm like yo well
15:00
has she directed a movie they were like
15:01
no they see that she's directed
15:03
television but not a movie so I said
15:04
okay so well I'm not going to pass an
15:07
opportunity to meet Eva like cool so Eva
15:09
comes in and you know she's wearing her
15:10
glasses and she has the script in a
15:12
binder and almost every page is
15:14
dog-eared and so for two hours we meet
15:17
and she's telling me you know how she
15:19
wants to make this better and how this
15:20
needs to change and how that's not
15:22
authentic and I I mean by the end of the
15:24
meeting I was depressed because I
15:26
thought my script was good but I was
15:28
inspired yeah and when she left the
15:31
meeting I said to myself that the
15:33
director just showed up and and so often
15:36
you know the idea that we don't have
15:38
opportunity is held against us but just
15:40
because we don't have the opportunity
15:41
doesn't mean we aren't the thing that we
15:43
know we are Eva didn't come in to meet
15:45
with me acting like she wanted to be the
15:47
director
15:48
she came in acting as the Director and
15:51
so I just acknowledged the confidence
15:53
that she had and then we I took her in
15:55
the studio she pitched the movie to the
15:57
studio her vision they signed off on it
15:59
and we've been working together pretty
16:01
much uh every day since and the movie
16:03
She directed is phenomenal she's a I
16:05
think at the end of the day people know
16:06
her as an actress they know her as this
16:08
beauty icon but I think people are going
16:09
to know her as a filmmaker she is a
16:11
world-class filmmaker come on give that
16:13
a round of applies
16:15
go ahead go ahead D um I just wanted to
16:17
know your thoughts on you know they have
16:19
a lot of conversations about
16:20
representation and authenticity in terms
16:22
of movies you know when there's a biopic
16:23
involved yeah you know sometimes it's
16:25
like oh that person didn't look that
16:26
shade of black or you know this person
16:28
wasn't the same ethnicity and you know
16:29
so uh do you look for roles and actors
16:33
and things like that that stick to the
16:35
authenticity of the story always always
16:37
whenever I'm doing a movie
16:39
um you know I mean there's always going
16:40
to be creative license when you're doing
16:42
a true story and you're trying to take a
16:43
true story and make it a film
16:45
um but there are certain things where
16:46
it's critical so like for example you
16:49
know we really wanted to have because
16:51
this is a Chicano story and a
16:53
Mexican-American story it was important
16:55
for us to have Mexican-American actors
16:57
you know portray Mexican-American people
16:59
and we succeeded in doing that you know
17:01
with Eva's experience like I could have
17:03
hired another director but Eva had the
17:06
authenticity that would help make the
17:08
movie more authentic so when it comes to
17:10
representation it's something that's um
17:12
that's very important to me and whenever
17:14
I'm making a film it's very important to
17:15
to make it as authentic as possible and
17:18
this is one of the ways to do that and
17:20
we didn't just do that in front of the
17:21
camera we did it behind the camera you
17:22
know our DP was Latino our production
17:25
designer was Latino costume designer was
17:27
uh Latino our casting director was
17:29
Latino so it was important for us to
17:32
make a film that felt authentic in
17:33
bringing together all of these elements
17:34
to do that dope sold the movie there
17:36
there you go hey man listen it's all on
17:39
Hulu Disney plus this Friday flaming hot
17:42
I remember Steven Spielberg uh partnered
17:46
up with Debbie Allen to produce Amistad
17:48
that's right yep yep right and I thought
17:50
that was incredible right and that's
17:52
kind of kind of reminds me of that yeah
17:55
you being Stephen now dude man wait a
17:58
minute
17:59
oh the prophet has spoken
18:07
okay all right so I'm looking forward to
18:10
this flaming hot streaming on Hulu and
18:12
Disney plus Friday June 9th how do you
18:13
say his name properly Richard Montanez
18:15
gracias
18:37
[Laughter]
18:42
[Music]
18:54
total pivot
18:56
um a friend of mine was we was talking
18:58
we were talking about heaven oh is that
19:00
right yeah wow what was the conversation
19:02
Heaven
19:04
um
19:07
um because I'm all I've always said to
19:10
people around me
19:13
um that you're gonna find happen here
19:15
and in here you know it's I don't know
19:17
if it's a physical location and when
19:20
they say we were exploring the whole
19:21
expression Heaven is a place on Earth uh
19:24
to me meant through your commitment um
19:26
your obedience your dedication is where
19:29
you could find heaven heaven here in
19:31
life on Earth and we just got gonna
19:34
start going through all of these things
19:36
and we start looking at ancient
19:37
symbolism from Egypt to now and what was
19:40
the true meaning behind some of the
19:42
symbolism we saw the Unk and other and
19:45
others
19:46
um and how does it relate to our mind
19:48
and how powerful our minds are to get us
19:51
to that destination so what what are
19:54
your thoughts about heaven and where
19:56
does it exist and yeah I mean you know I
19:58
do believe you know in terms of what
20:00
scripture talks about about there being
20:01
a physical place but also the scripture
20:04
that says thy will be done on Earth as
20:05
it is in heaven yes so that does imply
20:08
that you know we need to we can have a
20:10
Heavenly experience here on Earth yeah
20:13
and so much when you talk about the mind
20:15
as it relates to Heaven going back to uh
20:17
the question about you know is divorce
20:19
success or failure you know are we
20:21
living in heaven or hell yeah and it
20:24
comes down to what's going on in our
20:26
mind and our perspective yeah so for me
20:28
you know I believe in a physical heaven
20:30
and I look forward to a physical heaven
20:32
and I also want to experience as much
20:34
Heaven as I can here on Earth by having
20:36
the right perspective by keeping my mind
20:38
right uh there's a scripture that says
20:40
you know be transported by the renewing
20:42
of your mind and this is where most of
20:45
the battle in life is fought you know it
20:47
right like every day it's not reality
20:49
that we're dealing with it's our
20:51
perception of reality it's our
20:53
interpretation of reality so can I look
20:55
at something instead of having a hell
20:57
mindset a Heavenly mindset okay and what
21:00
does that look like for me it means like
21:01
okay if this is happening there's
21:03
something here good for me I don't I may
21:05
not like it may not have prayed for it
21:07
you know I mean professionally there's I
21:09
mean it took me seven years to get this
21:10
movie made yeah seven right yeah yeah
21:12
and if but see here's the thing if I
21:14
allowed that process to be like oh this
21:17
is hell right this is terrible you know
21:19
I can't believe they're not making my
21:20
movie in year two
21:22
we would not be here right now but
21:25
having the more Heavenly perspective you
21:27
know what this is all working for my
21:28
good do you know every time I get a
21:29
chance to work on the script it's going
21:30
to get better every delay actually sets
21:32
me up for the destiny this is going to
21:33
get made and ultimately seven years
21:35
later it's coming out at the perfect
21:37
time why because the movie originally
21:40
was going to come out on Hulu which but
21:42
cool 40 million subscribers
21:43
the movie came out so well that
21:46
Searchlight and Disney said this is
21:47
gonna be the first movie that we're
21:48
gonna put on Hulu and Disney plus first
21:51
movie in the history of Disney damn
21:52
going from 40 million subscribers to
21:54
over 200 million in in the blink of an
21:56
eye of a decision if I did not have a
21:58
Heavenly mindset through the process I
22:00
don't know that we would ever got here
22:01
right so I think what you're talking
22:03
about is is fascinating right and I do
22:05
again believe that there is a heaven
22:07
that that I can't wait to experience
22:09
absolutely physical Heaven um you know
22:11
what that's going to be and what that's
22:12
going to look like uh you know we'll
22:14
have to wait and see okay but uh but
22:16
until then I'm gonna do my best to find
22:17
Heaven here on Earth okay man maybe you
22:19
might not want to hang out with me I'm
22:21
not sure what's going on
22:23
[Music]
22:26
no we're going to look at him through a
22:29
Heavenly lens there we go okay all right
22:31
and a lot of one dollar bills
22:39
[Music]
22:44
[Applause]
22:53
my man okay
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