Even after weeks of talking about her pet project Frida, Salma Hayek remains
impassioned. The actress, who holds a bottle of Ice Age mineral water between her knees as she gestures and waves with happy gusto, is joyously relieved that after eight years her
beloved Frida is finally about to see the light of day.
Hayek had been desperate to bring the Frida Kahlo story to the screen, and
she is very clear as to why. “There was something about the woman and the
times in which she lived that I just found fascinating,” explains the beautiful, raven-haired actress who is both star and producer of the movie. “She was never conventional about anything she did and was always herself, which was not easy.
“She started
exploring with women at a very early age and was never apologetic about who
she was. Also, the fact that she took all the tragedies or
difficulties in her life and made the best out of them, and not only made
the best out of them, but did it in an interesting way. From pain, she did
art and poetry; from the infidelities of her husband, she found freedom.”
This film tells of Mexican painter and icon Frida Kahlo, focusing on her
tumultuous relationship with husband and fellow artist Diego Rivera (Alfred
Molina) and their place in Mexican society. The film paints a portrait
of Kahlo as a bisexual and communist struggling with an abusive husband, the life of physical pain she endured along with the amputation of a leg, and, finally, the drug and
alcohol abuse that killed her at age 47.
Rather than relate to Frida on a direct and personal level, Hayek simply
says that she would like to learn from her, adding, “She’s definitely
an inspiration” and “[I’m] trying to take it in.”
Hayek immersed herself into the role, even to the point of shaving her
upper lip in order to accentuate a specific physical aspect of the
character, “but it didn’t work and now I’m
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stuck with it,” she laughingly
concedes. “I had a shoe that was one centimeter taller than the other one
to stress her limping.”
It is this degree of commitment that is Hayek‘s mantra. Her determination to succeed where others have failed is what is so impressive about the Mexican-born actress, who is unconcerned about the so-called “race”
to get Kahlo’s tale to the big screen. Most notably, Jennifer Lopez and Madonna were anxious to try. While Hayek has never spoken to Madonna about the project, Hayek seems genuinely pleased that the Material Girl was keen to tackle the complex story. “Madonna is a woman with very good taste and I think that she truly and
honestly admires and loves Frida. I actually think she would like the film.”
After years of working with screenplays that didn’t work, it was finally her
boyfriend, Edward Norton, who came to the rescue. “[Director] Julie Taymor had come
on board and now we needed to shape the movie to her taste, to rewrite the
movie and do the movie that was Julie‘s vision. We had been working with a
writer we liked very much, Rodrigo Garcia, who was so talented and such a
lovely man. But at the time he was directing a film, so Edward offered to do
it.”
The key word here is “offered.” Hayek insists she never asked Norton
for help. “I would never say that,” she defiantly insists. “For me the most
painful part of the process was finding a new writer. You don’t know what
its like,” she says, her voice rising in frustration. “You have to read 100
scripts or samples. I never like any of them. I have to pick 10. Then you
meet all of them and you like them all because they’re all so nice and smart
but you don’t know which could do a better job than the other.
“Then, you decide on one
after many fights. Then you spend weeks with this person, telling them your
vision of your film, giving them research, calling and tormenting them
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with
all this information. And you have such high hopes and they go away.
They’re never on time. So you have to keep waiting and then they give you
the script and it’s terrible. Then you have to go to the rewrite and they’re
very upset because you didn’t like it. I went through that for seven years.”
It was Norton’s final rewrite that was shot, and as painful as it all was, “it
was worth it. For me it was a great learning experience.” After eight years of struggling, Hayek was able to finally let go and act, giving in to the film body and soul and surrendering to the film’s director. “I was
100 percent convinced and had 100 percent faith in this director,” says
Hayek, referring to Taymor. “I knew that this director was perfect,
and that she was going to make an amazing movie. So I said, here, take my
child. Do something with it.”
Much was demanded of Hayek as an actress,
such as several graphic love scenes, including a nude scene with another
woman. “That was no big deal. You have to be somebody and that was what that
person was into. It’s like when you have to get in to somebody you’re not
attracted to. They have bad breath and you have to pretend you’re in love,”
she explains, laughing.
For years Hayek was considered Mexico’s most alluring sex symbol,
and Hollywood often used her as eye candy in films such as Fled, Fools Rush In and The Faculty. But with Frida, Hayek proves she is far more than meets the eye. Beautiful she is, but she also possesses an intense dedication to her work that she will, no doubt, bring to her next project. Her directorial debut, The Maldonado Miracle, will come out next year, and the actress admits she could never have directed it until after Frida
was done. “They offered me that film before I did Frida and I said, no, I’m
not capable of directing. Then after seeing Julie direct, I was inspired. She motivated me to do it, because we don’t have role models as woman
for directors.”
Hayek may be a woman in a man’s industry, but as ferocious as she is to
attain her own
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artistry, she is, as described by Taymor, a “woman’s woman.” The actress doesn’t disagree. “I feel a sisterhood with all women. I don’t think of
women as competition. I feel connected to all kinds of women. I am angry because I think we’ve been mistreated throughout history in different countries, including America. I admire women.”
Asked how she would define herself as a director, Hayek
takes a swig of mineral water before contemplating a response. “Naïve, new,
passionate about what I do and lucky. It turned out pretty well and I had a
great time.”
For Hayek the actress there is, of course, life after Frida. A change of pace is next up with a starring role in a comedy called Murphy’s Law that she is relishing. “I’m Murphy and my job is to make everything that CAN go wrong, go wrong. I love it already,” she says, with a laugh and a glint in her eye, “because I’m definitely a troublemaker.”
Hayek is also busy with other people’s projects, re-teaming with director Robert Rodriguez for Once Upon a Time in Mexico opposite
friend Antonio Banderas. “I will always
work with Robert because he gave me my first
opportunity and it’s thanks to him that I’m here today. He believed in me
when nobody else did. I will never forget that. I’m very loyal.”
Hayek has proven to be more than just a pretty face, and now there is even
Oscar buzz about Frida, something she says she never expected.
Nor does she want to think about it. “I don’t want to get excited about it.
I have to stay clear in my mind. If it does well, then it’s a good thing
and if it doesn’t, then it’s a good thing because I like the movie.”
But
Hayek says that she does have a personal fantasy about the Oscars. “I think
it would make Frida so happy that through her life story for the first time,
a female director wins an Oscar.” And the first Mexican actress as well,
perhaps? She’ll only smile at the possibility.
Frida will open in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 22.
