The role Salma Hayek thought was too good to be true: “It felt like they were punking me”
Salma Hayek has come a long way since making her name in telenovellas in her native Mexico. She quickly became a favourite of Robert Rodriguez, appearing in his movies Desperado and From Dusk till Dawn. Her critical breakout came in 2003, when she played iconic artist and communist activist Frida Kahlo in the biopic Frida. Now, she’s a bonafide megastar, with movies like Grown Ups, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and Puss in Boots under her belt.
In 2021, Hayek confirmed her status as a big name by joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She played Ajak, leader of the titular group in Chloé Zhao’s Eternals. She helmed a star-studded cast, including Kit Harrington, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan, and Angelina Jolie. Her character is also at the top of the list on the alphabetised list of MCU characters on Wikipedia, which is… something.
Speaking to Variety, the star – who also goes by her married name ‘Pinault’ – revealed that she wasn’t expecting anything like this before she got the call from Kevin Feige. “It never crossed my mind to be in a Marvel movie,” she said. “I guess that I thought that boat had sailed, and it was an absolute shock. All of a sudden, I got a call: ‘They want to talk to you about a new franchise.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And I said OK, but they don’t tell you any information until you’re on the call.”
Eternals – not ‘the’ Eternals, which it really should be – was one of the first films released as part of Marvel’s ‘Phase Four’, the movies following Avengers: Endgame. The team, who are a group of aliens who have lived on Earth for several millennia, were originally slated for a TV show, but were eventually factored into the studio’s cinematic plans.
According to Hayek, both her gender and her nationality led her to believe that her superhero days were behind her. “It’s kind of hard to be an action hero if you’re Mexican,” she admitted. “It’s really hard to be an action hero if you’re a Mexican and a woman. But to be an action hero, being Mexican, a woman, and my age [she was 55 when Eternals came out], it felt like they were punking me. And then the worst part is that I was one of the first people they cast. I had to keep my mouth shut for so many months. I couldn’t tell a soul. And I couldn’t wait for the day that I could say it.”
Unfortunately for Hayek, Eternals is widely regarded as one of the worst entries into the MCU. Dull, overcrowded, and unnecessary, fans are still wondering why the studio even bothered to make the thing in the first place. It became the worst-rated MCU film of all time on Rotten Tomatoes and is still the second-worst on the site, having been unseated by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Cast members have spoken about the ‘trauma’ they felt following the film’s negative reception, with the future of the characters still very much unknown.
It might not have been the runaway success that other Marvel movies have been in the past, but it sounds like Eternals will always have a special place in Hayek’s heart. It gave her the chance to do something she never thought she’d be able to do. At least somebody enjoyed it.
