Actress Salma Hayek has been one of the most influential Latina stars. After being a star in a Mexican soap opera, she transitioned to Hollywood and has been holding her ground since then. She has starred in films such as Frida, Desperado, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, and Eternals. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Frida.
Hayek has been vocal about many issues surrounding immigrant discrimination and violence against women. She also came out and accused Harvey Weinstein of harassing her during the shoot of Frida. She recently revealed that she was once rejected from an audition due to her race by Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman.
Salma Hayek’s Career
Actress Salma Hayek started her career in Mexico, where she starred in the telenovela Teresa. The show made her a star there and she decided to move to Los Angeles to break into Hollywood. However, due to her poor English skills and the lack of good roles for Latinas in the mainstream, she struggled quite a bit.
She had her breakthrough in the Robert Rodriguez-directed Desperado, the second film of his Mexico Trilogy. The film was a commercial success and led to her making a guest appearance in the Goerge Clooney starrer From Dusk Till Dawn. She then starred along with Matthew Perry in the romantic comedy Fools Rush In and starred with Russell Crowe in Breaking Up. She also starred along with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Dogma.
Hayek turned producer with the Mexican film No On Writes To The Colonel which was that year’s official selection for the Best Foreign Film Oscars. She then produced and starred in the biopic Frida. Based on the surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, Hayek worked hard to put together the film, securing the rights to the paintings and her life story. The film earned her a nomination for the Best Actress Oscar as well as a Golden Globe, Screen Actor’s Guild, and BAFTA nominations. The film put her on the map as a serious actress.
Salma Hayek Threatened To Sue Ivan Reitman
Since Frida, Salma Hayek has transitioned to the mainstream and was one of the only few Latina actresses to do so at the time. The actress has often mentioned how impossible it was to get good Latina characters in American films. All the roles perpetuated stereotypes and were limited to roles such as a housekeeper, maid, or a gangster’s wife.
Hayek mentioned that she once got an opportunity to audition for the lead in a film and her agent was told that the makers were willing to change the race of the character depending on the actor. However, they backtracked once they got to know it was Hayek and had insulting things to say. Salma Hayek recounted the incident in an interview with The Guardian,
“I was screen-testing for the lead in a film and they said that it was not written Latin, but they wouldn’t mind changing it. I learned the script but when they sent me the pages [for the audition] there were none of the things I had learned, it was another role. So my agent called them and they said, ‘Are you crazy? She’s Mexican. We can change the race of the bimbo, but not the lead.’”
Salma Hayek then asked if she could audition for the part she had learned to which they refused saying that they hated her and asked if she would be willing to come in despite knowing that they detested her. Hayek then threatened to sue them. In the same interview, Hayek revealed that the director of the film was Ivan Reitman, who is known for films such as Ghostbusters, Twins, and No Strings Attached. The film was reported to be Six Days, Seven Nights. She said to her interviewer from The Guardian:
“I’ve never said this to anyone, the name of the director, but it was Ivan Reitman. And I said, ‘Well, I thought that the director that could see Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as twins, and Arnold Schwarzenegger giving birth to a child, maybe could see a Mexican as a fashion editor.’ I thought I owed it to the new generation of Mexicans. That if I got this right, maybe something will shift.”
Reitman reportedly apologized to Salma Hayek later.
Source: The Guardian
