Like many celebrities with a Hollywood dream before the dawn of their career, Salma Hayek has struggled to get into the industry. Despite her enthralling beauty, Hayek was told by many directors that her energy didn’t fit in.
Hayek had to overcome her worst nightmare for the small role in a Quentin Tarantino-written and starred movie that somewhat gave her the exposure she needed. However, the experience of doing the movie was unimaginably terrible.
Salma Hayek Met Her Worst Nightmare in From Dusk Till Dawn
If it is a Quentin Tarantino-written script of his movie, viewers are by default on a gory and violent trip. From Dusk Till Dawn written by Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez is also belonging to the same school of filmmaking style. Hayek was offered a small part in the film and she had to overcome her worst nightmare for the role.
“Quentin told me, ‘Oh by the way you’re dancing with the snake.’ I said, ‘I can’t do it, I can’t do it. It’s my, my greatest fear’ and he said, ‘Well Madonna would do it. Yeah, I already talked to her and she’s willing to dance with the snake.’ And it was good because I had to overcome my greatest fear I had to go on trance to the dance and it was improvised, the dance is improvised because there was no choreographer, nothing because you cannot choreograph a snake,” Hayek once told Yahoo’s Role Recall.
Hayek did overcome her greatest fear, prepared for the role, and danced only for Tarantino. “So I did it and from that dance, Quentin wrote me the part in From Dusk Till Dawn,” she said. “Where of course he makes me dance only for him. George Clooney was like, ‘How come she doesn’t look at us?’ [Quentin said], ‘Because I’m the writer,’” said of dancing for Tarantino. It did pan out as her role in the film has become one of the most memorable roles from the actor.
If Not Salma Hayek, Someone Else: Quentin Tarantino Was Dead Set on the Sanke Dance Scene
Overcoming someone’s worst nightmare in a short span of time can never be a piece of cake for any human being but despite all odds, Hayek managed to let go of her fear. In the movie, Hayek’s role as a stripper version of Santanico Pandemonium, working at a club named T*tty Twister did not involve a snake in the beginning. Tarantino decided to add depth to the part and asked the actor to dance with a python. “[The snake dance] was not on the script,” Hayek told E! News once. “I agreed to the movie and then, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino decided that the dance is with the snake on me,” she added. The Frida star landed on the role after working with the writer-director duo on the 1995 anthology comedy Four Rooms. She also appeared in Rodriguez’s 1995 Western action film Desperado, which is also considered to be her breakthrough role. But not doing the snake dancing scene was not an option. “They said, ‘OK then, we’ll just go to another actress that wants your part.’” Rodriguez tried to ease the situation a bit, “He said, ‘Just put a bathing suit on and we won’t see your face,’” Hayek said.
“Frankly, I really needed to pay the rent. In some cultures, the snake represented — I started doing research — your inner power. And my whole thing that I brainwashed myself into doing this was about dancing with my own inner power.”
Following her appearance in From Dusk Till Dawn, Hayek went on to become one of the prominent stars in Hollywood appearing in a remarkable number of movies with significant roles. Most recently, the actor appeared in Magic Mike’s Last Dance alongside Channing Tatum.
Source: YouTube.
