Ten years ago, Eva Longoria became the unlikely savior of “John Wick.”
About a week before production on the movie began, the stuntmen turned directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch ran out of money when they lost almost $6 million in gap financing.
Unbeknownst to them at the time, Longoria, who was then best known for playing Gabrielle on the hit series “Desperate Housewives,” stepped in with the cash to complete the movie.
You know the rest. The movie, which stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, a former assassin who returns to the bloody trade to avenge the death of his dog, became a surprise box-office hit, earning over $86 million worldwide and spawning a successful franchise.
The movie revitalized Reeves’ career, giving him his biggest hit since “The Matrix,” and turned Stahelski and Leitch from stunt guys into viable action directors.
The last-minute financing save also marked a turning point for Longoria, kick-starting her interest in becoming a major investor in Hollywood.
Since then, Longoria has started the production company Hyphenate Media Group, which most recently produced the Apple TV+ series “Land of Women,” in which Longoria also starred. She’s also invested in two soccer teams, including Natalie Portman’s Angel City FC, the most valuable team in women’s sports history; the tequila company Casa Del Sol; and Siete Foods, which sold to PepsiCo in October for over $1 billion.
Business Insider talked to Longoria about what led to her investing in “John Wick” — the first time ever she’s spoken on the topic publicly — and how she’s become a successful investor in the years since.
Eva Longoria: That is accurate. By the way, I was in my infancy. I love David saying, “They went to people with bankroll.” [Laughs.] My bankroll was very new, and it was a lot of money, and I was like, “So how does it work?” I had no idea. I would love to say I was an investment genius and I just knew and I calculated my risk. No, none of that.
How did it all happen?
An agent, and he wasn’t even my agent, he called me and said, “You got money, you should put your money here.” And I didn’t even know how a movie was made. I was like, “What do you mean gap financing?”
But something that I’ve learned, looking back, I love investing in people. You can tell me you’re opening a chicken farm, but if you’re fucking passionate about it and you’ve done the work and know the market, I mean, Chad and David did their work. They put in their 10,000 hours as stunt guys and second-unit directors; they had seen all the bad movies and knew how to make a good one. It was that. They were undeniably passionate, and I knew they were going to make an undeniable product.
They have that hunger and scrappiness that I have. I’m very scrappy in my life. I’m like, “Why can’t we just do this like this?”
In the 10 years since “John Wick” came out, have you thought about how significant your investment in this movie was, especially in the action genre?
It changed the genre. Took Keanu in a whole new trajectory. I remember last year at one of the Oscar dinners, I’m sitting at my table and across from me is David Leitch with his wife. And I didn’t recognize him at first. He goes, “Hello,” and I go, “Hi.” And he goes, “It’s David.” And I’m like, “Hi?” And he was like, “You changed my life.”
Then I realized who it was. We hadn’t spoken in 10 years. I never saw them again, and I didn’t need to because I was getting the checks. [Laughs.] But it was such a serendipitous moment to sit with him and get the inside story of what happened. My husband was there and was like, “What did you do?” I was like, “John Wick.”
My husband is friends with the head of Lionsgate, and he’ll say to him sometimes, “I see we wrote a check to Eva this week.” But the geniuses were Chad and David and the star that was Keanu. I just wrote the check.
To this day, you still get checks from “John Wick”?
Yes. What I’m pissed off about is I wasn’t connected to the rest of them. This was a one-time thing. That was the gamble. But that was my only mistake, not being attached to all of the films.
What have you made off that $6 million investment?
You know, I would have to check. More than double, for sure.
Have you run into Keanu since?
I have! Again, that was recently, too. We ran into each other because of his girlfriend, Alexandra. We know her through some friends, and we met her and Keanu at an art event. Keanu said, “I’d love to take you to dinner; we should celebrate 10 years.” So we toasted to “John Wick.”
What you’ve done since is very impressive. You’ve invested in two soccer clubs, a tequila, a food brand, and you own a production company. How did your ambition as an investor evolve after “John Wick”?
I like to say, “Yes, I’m a genius.” No, everything comes up in different ways. I get asked a lot to invest, and the things I invest in have to have purpose, they have to have a point of view, they have to fix a market problem or improve upon a market problem. For instance, with the tequila, Casa Del Sol, I was blown away by the brand story in that our tequila is the No. 1 spirit drank by women and we have a lot of women in key positions. Even our master distiller is a woman, which is rare in the tequila industry. So I wanted to support her.
And with Angel City, Natalie Portman came to me and said she wanted to do an experiment to see if we can run a football team with a different business model where everyone benefits, especially the female soccer players. She wanted to change the business model for female soccer. So I was like, “OK, great!” I thought it was a donation. I thought I was helping a cause. So when we sold, I was like, “Oh, my God.” That was 14 times what I put in. It was crazy.
And the other soccer team, Club Necaxa, you’re shooting a docuseries for that?
Yeah. We’re currently shooting season one. Actually, more people in the United States watch Liga MX than the Premier League. So my partners in that, Al Tylis and Sam Porter, they came to me because they wanted an authentic Mexican connection and though I was already with Angel City I wanted to expand my sports portfolio and uplift Mexican soccer. It’s one of the great leagues in the world. And this team is one of the oldest teams, like Wrexham. But we’re in a bigger division.
Speaking of Wrexham AFC, how are you and Club Necaxa connected with that club’s owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney?
They invested in us and we invested in them, so that’s how we’re connected. Once you invest in a soccer team you realize very quickly you need more investment. [Laughs.]
Will we see you on “Welcome to Wrexham”?
Yeah. I shot some stuff for “Wrexham,” in Wrexham. And Rob and Ryan are coming out to Aguascalientes [the home of Club Necaxa] next weekend.
And Siete Foods recently was acquired by PepsiCo for $1.2 billion.
That’s another crazy investment. I had been a fan of the product and had used it since its infancy when it was in Ziploc bags, because they are from Texas like me. I love the Garza family and tried to invest many times early on. They are family-owned; they did everything themselves.
When I came in they were already a $400 million company, and it was time to take them to the next step to become a billion-dollar food brand and also one of the only Hispanic food brands to reach $1 billion. I just believed in the product and their mission. We came from the same culture and same values. So about a year ago, I invested in them, and we just sold to Pepsi.
You really have a magic touch in investing. What is the secret to being successful at this?
It’s a lot of work. This is my day job. The amount of days I dedicate to going to distributors and shaking hands with retailers for my tequila is the majority of my year. Going to the restaurants and bartending at events to bring brand awareness. And the same thing with Siete. Doing the social media, going into the research kitchen, looking at the market and seeing what we want to represent in our culture in a mainstream market, is it the healthy choice? It’s a lot of work. I’m not just writing checks. It’s my sweat.
Looking back, how significant was the “John Wick” investment in your investing career today? If it crashed and burned, would you still have been willing to invest again?
That’s a good question. I don’t know if that would have put a bad taste in my mouth. I’m really lucky to have had amazing investors around me, and I’m intensely curious. I always ask, “How does my money make money?” I’ve been obsessed with that. I want to be making money while I’m sleeping. So surrounding myself with people who can tell me what is risky and what isn’t is good. “How much are you willing to lose?” is always a big question. [Laughs.] I’m like, “How much am I willing to lose?” Nothing! Zero.
How much is acting a priority in your life now?
I’ve been behind the camera for the last 12 years and I finally went back in front of the camera with a show for Apple [“Land of Women”]. I also did “Searching for Mexico” and “Searching for Spain” on CNN. But that’s a bit of an extension of my food brand. I have a cookbook coming out. I really want to do stuff that I love with people that I love. That’s the blueprint.
Are you still on the grind of looking through scripts to find projects?
Yes, but for my media company, Hyphenate Media. Producing and directing is still my core. That’s the tentpole of the circus. That’s what holds everything up. So I’m now reading scripts and developing shows for other people.
I want to make 40, 50 more Eva Longorias. I don’t want to star in everything; I want to build up the next generation of actors and writers and producers from the Latino community and also women. So that’s, again, that purpose-driven aspect of everything that I do. What am I doing? What am I saying? Is it going to make a difference?
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
