Salma Hayek names one of her “favourite songs in the world”
Known as one of the most world-renowned movie stars of modern cinema, the Mexican actor Salma Hayek has thrived in the industry ever since the 1990s, making a name for herself in middling TV dramas before she would make the leap to the silver screen. Decades later, the star has had the chance to collaborate with some of the art form’s greatest creatives, including Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone and Ridley Scott.
Rodriguez was the one who gave Hayek her first major Hollywood breakthrough, gifting her a supporting role alongside Antonio Banderas in the snappy 1995 action flick Desperado shortly before they rejoined for From Dusk Till Dawn in a film co-written by Quentin Tarantino. Now with an international profile, Hayek flourished towards the end of the decade and found great success with Julie Taymor’s Frida, released shortly after the turn of the new millennium.
Indeed, just like many international actors, it was American cinema that attracted Hayek to act on the silver screen. Unusually, it was actually the Mel Stuart film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory that inspired her to act, with the actor recalling: “Something clicked in my brain, and I went, ‘Woah, there is actually a universe within this life, within this universe, where anything can happen.’”
Years later, Hayek is undoubtedly a beloved global star, with the actor having recently joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the character of Ajak in Chloé Zhao’s Eternals, as well as starring in a leading role in the third instalment of Steven Soderbergh’s beloved Magic Mike franchise.
It was whilst she was promoting Soderbergh’s film that she sat down in an interview with GQ to answer some of her most-asked questions online. During the conversation, Hayek was faced with a set of lyrics from the Eminem song ‘Lose Yourself’, with the question stating, “Let’s see how many Eminem fans we’ve got here.”
Addressing the question and song, she told the publication, “This is one of my favourite songs in the world. This is how bad I am. If I can hear the song, I can follow it. If I am reading the song, it doesn’t come into my head, I just recognise all the lines that they’re already showing me.”
Released back in 2002, Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ is the musician’s most well-known record, becoming a staple of popular culture during the time of its release. Written as the lead song in the movie 8 Mile, a partly autobiographical film that took inspiration from the musician’s life, ‘Lost Yourself’ would go on to win the Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’ at the Academy Awards, with Eminem beating out the likes of Bono and Paul Simon.
Take a listen to Hayek talk about the song below.
