Salma Hayek Says She Was Too Sexy To Get Cast In Comedies
Salma Hayek thinks she was typecast in her career and couldn't get comedic roles because of it
It’s hard to believe that anyone could deny Salma Hayek anything she wanted, but apparently, filmmakers in the ‘90s did just that. The Magic Mike’s Last Dance actress told GQ that “I was typecast for a long time. My entire life I wanted to do comedy and people wouldn’t give me comedies. I couldn’t land a role until I met Adam Sandler, who put me in a comedy [2010’s Grown Ups], but I was in my forties! They said, ‘You’re sexy, so you’re not allowed to have a sense of humor.’ Not only are you not allowed to be smart, but you were not allowed to be funny in the ’90s.”
So… yeah. Apparently, a woman can’t be both beautiful and funny. That’s just too much. People’s heads would explode, right? Luckily, Salma Hayek was finally given the chance to prove that, not only is she a talented serious actress, but also a talented comedic one. And you know what? No one’s head exploded!
As it turns out, Salma Hayek is not just funny on screen, but in real life too. At another point in her interview with GQ, she spoke about how the impossibly ripped guys from Magic Mike’s Last Dance, all jumped in her pool after the movie wrapped. She told the interviewer: “The women in the house told me, ‘We feel like we should pay to come to work today.’”
Ever since her arrival in America from her native Mexico, where she was already a big-name actress, Salma Hayek has been pigeon-holed into one type of role. Her breakout role in From Dusk Till Dawn, for instance, required the actress to walk through a bar called “Titty Twister” wearing nothing but a bikini and a snake draped over her shoulders.
Her role as a stripper in that movie led to her receiving lots of offers for wor, but always playing a stripper. Yes, it is a powerful thing to harness one’s sexuality like she did for that role, but Salma Hayek wanted to be known for her brains, not just her beauty.
So, while it was an honor for Salma Hayek to see herself on countless “most beautiful” lists, this really held her back in her career. She wanted to branch out into more lighthearted, funny films, but no one would take her seriously as a funny girl. Oftentimes, once Hollywood gives you a label, that sticks with you forever.
Salma Hayek’s role in the critically acclaimed Frida brought her to a new, classier level of fame in 2002, but even then she couldn’t shake the label that she was just pretty, nothing else. In the past, she wrote that Harvey Weinstein constantly berated her during the filming of the movie, telling her that “all I had going for me was my sex appeal and that there was none of that in [Frida].”
In spite of that upsetting obstacle, Salma Hayek persevered and earned an Academy Award nomination for her role as Frida, proving that she wasn’t just another pretty face after all.
But still, there was something missing. She wanted the chance to do comedy as well as more artistic films. Fortunately, Adam Sandler eventually gave her the chance to show the world she could be funny, not just sexy.
So, while she admits being “sad” before about all the missed opportunities, she’s glad to still be getting work, and in all genres, to boot.
“Now here I am doing every genre, in a time in my life where they told me I would have expired – that the last 20 years I would have been out of business. So I’m not sad, I’m not angry; I’m laughing.”
