Conversations with Salma Hayek

morning or excuse me afternoon however the disorienting time in the world hello how are you guys welcome how was the movie maze all right I'm not just saying this but it is my favorite movie of the year and so I'm so honored to be here to speak to the star of the movie and I am Stacey Wilson hunt I work for Hollywood not Hollywood Reporter I work in the air magazine gets me every time every New York Magazine and Bulger here in Hollywood and I'm so so honored to speak to Salma Hayek so please come to the stage that's a great reception and how many people had seen a movie before just curious okay so this that's amazing so you were able to see it and have this amazing person here to talk about it oh gosh so much so much to talk about but first of all I wanted to see how have you felt about everything that's going on in the last few months it's been a tough time in the business okay first of all first things first I want to thank every single one of you for coming today because I also know that in in the last like in this month there's a lot of screenings and a lot of furniture but this movie it's only having one screening and it's this one I really appreciate you showing up that is very special yeah and we're all honored special party we're coming thank you thank you I feel kind of great of what's been happening in the industry in the last month it's an important time because I I feel that women have been a subject of sexual violence and harassment for centuries and a lot of the harassment has become socially acceptable to the point that I can I promise you that a lot of this man didn't even think they were doing anything wrong right just unconsciously passed down generation yes and I think that also many other people that are kind of weakness when it witnessing the the sexual pressure that a woman is constantly engaging you know one way or another because there's no your choice I have looked away a little bit in with this philosophy of oh that's that's not good well but it's her problem she has to figure out how to how to solve it on her own and I think that one of the reasons it happens a lot in our industry has to do with the devaluation of women in general when you don't pay actresses as much as actors subconsciously there is a sense that it's their present that we are worth less when you don't do you don't find the content for the female audience because it's not important because they undermined even the female Orion is the same this day when you don't really you assume that if you are a woman your have less potential for talent or maybe something not much to offer artistically we are constantly on their mind so when you devalue us as a gender we create a fertile ground for predators very excited because in my lifetime I have fought for many things and I've always been very outspoken about it and in in these very old life that I have now but at the same time short time when you think of the issues that are that I'm gonna talk about it's a privilege because I've seen the world change this industry change towards the Latinos that was a part of it towards women I am seeing and I am a part of it and I think because of what's happening in this industry we are a little bit in a process of re-education and not just as a community but I think it's expanding worldwide of what it is okay and what it's not okay are you surprised at all that this has happened not when Obama was president but it's happening now is there is there is there a connection in terms of how we're feeling politically is there a sense of well I can't control this other thing but I can control this thing that I'm seeing and I and I do want to be able to fight in this way yes I think so because I think that when when we elected a president that lawsuits for sexual harassment something like that and we heard him our Lord you can go grab you and you know what right and there's no doubt we actually heard him say right and still America elected elected him as a president which goes to show you what I was talking about before where we thought if we accepted it we accepted the situation I think that it gives more people you know the courage to say wait a minute wait a minute everything that it's happening is like crazy it's like a Fellini movie the politics in America little hand with very bad hearin me but just as many just as many clowns though I'm just as many Klaus you're right so people only we know this madness has to stop somewhere and I think you are right that I think we we hit a wall and said no more let's hope it continues yeah but today is about you so let's not get off the decent so about me it is it one then I have I have more pointed questions about you later oh girl I can't have you here and not delve into this it's just too important but let's go back to when you were little I would love to know what kind of child you were growing up in Mexico I I was a very active child and in my head I was more active than what I discovered watching the videos like like all your sense the whole movies you thought of yourself is more lighthearted more playful it but I was kind of I've always been a an observant but I also have always been very opinionated but and I think I played a lot but I do know especially when you watch yourself and ice and then you remember remember this part of me now - I was always like thinker observing and trying to figure things out and thinking and and taking things in so you weren't necessarily theatrical like a lot of actors you know they sort of discovered that part of themselves very early on I was I was a choreographer to my cousins that I never acted when I was em and when when was the first time you thought of acting as an actual option did you was there a movie that you loved or a performer you loved and you thought oh I can do that I'd love to try that this is an interesting question because the normal question that I get is did you ever see a performance or did you see a movie that inspired you to be an actress and for years it was always the same answer which is yes I remember watching Willie want and it's very interesting watch this and thinking like something like Donna me oh my god in this lifetime in this universe there is a place a portal where anything can happen and then I started thinking about that and and I wanted that's why I want to be an actress and then just this year I caught myself in the middle of a nurse said that has nothing to do with acting and I had to accept to myself at this point I don't think I want to be an actress hmm you knew you were creative I always wanted to be I think now now I can tell you I think I wanted to be a director hmm but I wouldn't already - except to myself that I wanted to be an actress and how everybody was gonna laugh at me was a big step it's like coming out of the closet and at the time to think of becoming a director as a woman imagining what SoCalGas working with it was probably not even part of my neural net because of what we were talking about at the beginning but I am very happy that I was there I am an actress and I really enjoy acting but if I was really true to myself it was never a performance I want to be like her it was never in the glamour of the hood it was the movies hmm it was the storytelling and you spent some time in the US as a child you went to school here for a little bit school here as a teen in Louisiana in Grand Coteau Louisiana oh god I'm a of the Sacred Heart Wow were you a bad girl and you got sent away no I had it was divided - schooled by the good ones and the bad not they're good knowns the cool knowns loved me when you say good you mean they were fun and not abusive essentially yeah no they were really wonderful some of them within the badlands there was one particular one that really used to say to me you don't belong in a boarding school you belong in every form school juvenile or fourth but I was not I was imaginative and a prankster but it was not I was not a bad girl you know unfortunately the the head of the school the good nun got transferred and the bad know took her position and she told me if you don't promise me you don't come back next year I'm spelling you I said I promise you my sister Norman's gone I'm out of here but I did get a medal for spirit so you're never wanted for spirit back then moment I'd like to live in America at that age and also did you how much English did you know before you came here well I was III didn't speak any English when I went to that school and it's America but it's a boarding school in Louisiana so the great movie concept by the way I want to see this my way was full of students from the boarding school was full of students from all over the world and a lot of places in America it was great I discovered rice the rice krispies dr. pepper with vanilla ice cream and the staples of the American diet I even tried the Taco Bell which was such a weird concept but I really enjoyed it I didn't know it isn't as much English I I asked as I should have because it was like full of girls from El Salvadoran alone because there was the the war and all over you know Central and South America we would stick together but I did have like two American friends that were like my best friends so I learned some English then I went back to two quad sawako's and then when I came back here I thought I spoke English really well because I went to school in Louisiana and then once I got here I realized I was wrong my English and acting in English a whole different ballgame but before you meet other you were in a telenovela and what was that experience like it was bizarre I I was kind of like an overnight success literally I was very popular is all right Teresa and they used to feed me all the lines you know in a little machine in my ear and they were like riding them five minutes before you got standard practice is that what they do yes it was because you weren't able to read the scripts they just actually fed you know yeah sometimes they're writing there then there and they do just hear the lines for the first time just said you know and sometimes they give you stage directions also and it it was hard to understand you know that there were takes I've seen people say leave me there part of his life so this is quite an interesting acting school experience so so you go from that experience and you moved here to LA and how were you received when you would audition was really I was not received to Indy I wouldn't even be received to the editions they weren't Edition Mexicans it was a triumph if you actually got in the room you got an addition there were some specific roles normally with no lines or clothes that you could you could come come in to read but the the problem was that they were not even editions to go to and you were studying West or other they would that's how old I am you know what she was very old when she was very old yeah 94 when I was working with her Wow Vinicio was there Mark Ruffalo was there there were years ahead of me by the way one or two and what did you learn from her that kept you going because I'm sure you were very it was very discouraging this whole process um you know she was obsessed about the voice if you got up on her class on the stage and you were really you know I remember one poor girl because she was so much nicer to the cute guys it was so obvious she was 94 I gotta let her do what she wants isn't before these are always very good and she stopped her and she said I don't know I can't do this I cannot hear you it doesn't really matter if you're good or bad nobody's gonna know because she mean the actual volume of the woman's voice yes because I cannot hear you clearly if you have something to say you must make yourself be hard and I remember these so clearly I remember this so clearly because to me it resonated about many other things in life did she help you I guess sound like you had a difficult time finding auditions but did she give you advice about how to make connections and get in the room she no no that's not the kind of class you're on your own hospital glass so people would go and you'd hear the commentary but I was in the conservator so I had many other teachers but they were at the time I was very serious so it was not about I did this a class for auditioning or called reading no it was Shakespeare it was body work he was acting 1 acting - it was very Susan about Hollywood it was about me oh it was not that kind of school at that time ok I interviewed Robert Rodriguez a couple years ago and he likes to take credit for your career he says I discovered sama and I said I'm gonna have to fact-check this with you if I don't believe it when men say they discover people but is that a true statement that he discovers ok fine ok you know but yes to give some credit to his wife to us whatever they were that's right Barry and a team but he was the first one who saw me at maybe 1:00 in the morning in a show in Spanish he's flipping through the channels and I was being interviewed because I was ridiculous a lot in my country because I left and I was a big star and I came here and I was an extra they would see me Musa the people think you were crazy to leave that life completely and there were all kinds of gossips like she probably has a legal problem and it's her - fled the country you couldn't just be ambitious in mono you know pursue bigger things because people they think if you're ambitious then you don't you don't start as an extra if you're ambitious you you stay a star where you are and you just continue to grow there but I didn't want to do soaps I want to do film and at the time in Mexico there was no not really a film industry like there is now actually the second person that came with me like a year or two later was Alfonso Cuaron we were here because it was impossible to make films there they were all my friends you knew you knew a lot of those guys right I knew all of those guys really well especially well I thought when I were very close because we were the first ones to move here but Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu went to the same university that I went to neither one of us were studying and I was studying political science and he was studying what kind of communication but he was a DJ I was doing who the DJ in the radio I was very near one of his best friends and we will long to same group of people so I know Alejandro since I am 16 because I actually got into college at 15 my father didn't allow me to go until I was 16 so I know Alejandro since I was 16 years old and I'm 51 do the math and then Guilin and Diego who was obese yeah go wasn't obese you know that's a tango Luna yeah no they were always together and il is this son of a friend of mine I was hanging out with really good underground actresses that were doing really avant-garde theater and I was the groupie I was younger you know but I loved and we became really good friends and so I was the younger hot friend of the mother nice to take them to the theater when they were 10 oh my god Wow so I know it's it's very good yes Wow so when you first met Robert Rodriguez did he sit down with you and say okay I want to I want to cast you in desperado or he said I want to work together let me figure out the right project no he saw me complaining when they were making fun of me why did you come here that I if you're a joke there's not no parts for you in the United States and I said not yet but there will be you can see what makes you said that and I said these mathematics we are a lot of us you know eventually they're going to find out that we have an economic power and we need to be represented and this is unfair and this is not right and it's gonna change and this and they say well it's not changed for a long time we've been a lot for so how are how are how is it gonna change and say I'm gonna change it nice man he said huh I don't know but I read somehow we saw these Wow so they said I want to work with that woman yes what you know he told me I'm gonna give you this Parral and then two years later when he was finally being gone he made me Edition for him and then I had to screen test and again string test and again edition I finally I got them two years a waiter and and what was it like making that movie did you know Antonio button before you didn't know K know what was he like to work with oh he's so chipped he seems he seems wonderful oh he's wonderful and he was obviously a star in Spain and it was trying to break into America so it's kind of a start he remember that Madonna I mean for all of you then of course truth or dare oh yeah oh yeah I remember that guy everybody wanted to know about I'm Tony wonder he had a lot of heat on him and he had done that movie with Tom Hanks that you know anyway Philadelphia story I think it's it's something right here Philadelphia and so he was already doing and he was we hadn't been tallied he hadn't sort of had a breakout kind of lead wrong exactly and and so this was it and we just had a blast and he was so kind and he was so enthusiastic about everything he went to do all the stunts and Roberto Rodriguez told me well here if you don't do all your stunts you never work again they nearly killed me I hated discs from from doing my own stunts for years because I believed them because no one said we actually have someone who can do that for you no I it was one of those things that I thought you'll never work in this town again okay here we go you know what I was good at it well it seemed like you might get to know not as much as Antonio I can do ever know my favorite I think Robert likes to push his actors to their limits it seems like he just you know I was not even you know advanced but I'm glad I did it it makes me feel rather I can still do my own stunts by the way yeah well Tom Cruise is still doing his you can still do yours right yeah and did you after after desperado came out it was there a sudden surge of interest in you were people wondering who is that woman no no the worst part is that I thought for sure okay I got my first leave with Antonia man that I thought that was like amazing so I spent I went shopping like the three dollars that they paid me I was like how much you're gonna be a star I need a new one and you look I'm your wardrobe and he came out and he's like oh my god I have no money where is my next movie you know so it doesn't work that how much time all of you know scale scale which at the time was what I don't know 40 it's already something for teach as well okay that doesn't last long and in Hollywood after the taxes it didn't have to pay the agent the manager the publicist yes a lot of people don't understand about this business so in 1997 you did fools rush in with Matthew Perry which is a very charming organ very cute and and I've talked to Matthew about this too and that was a very big movie for him you know you tried to translate that TV success to film and all the friends actors had varying degrees of success some it for some of them it didn't work at all and he talked about that he felt a lot of pressure on that movie to be a lead how did you get cast and did you enjoy working with him he's a nice guy I got I got cast they were meeting every latina in the world I thought and I got that movie for the same reasons I haven't gotten most of the movies as you have gotten which when the director and the tenant asked me what did you think about the script so you were honest yes no it's good it's a good story but the writing had a lot of problems and what problems and I started to tell him this is usually where I where I am very good at acting but by lying I would have to create that character too and he said I said I didn't get them movie right and he said no you got a movie because I every in every single one of the boys said you're the only one that has not come here and pretended that's amazing and so when he said give me your notes once I was cast and I was give me your note I was like 20 pages so I was already cast and he was furious and he said this is an insult who the hell do you think you are this is disrespectful because he was doing the note and did he write the script here he he rewrote it even wrote it and he went on and on and then at the end I said who do you think you are and I said the only female Mexican in the entire production who I said I'm just telling you this is what would make it accurate to who we are because in the movie of course you me very suddenly you get pregnant and then he meet your family and are all these families all the things about the family all the things and all that kombu it was not funny my part was not funny the family was not part and and then he couldn't read the notes he just saw the amount and he was wonderful he said he was so angry and she stopped and he said I said you kind of need that point of view too because it's about the tool and there was silence and he said okay I hate you right now but you're right people won't do that you know they'll just fire you and so they don't they don't want to admit that they were wrong and also that we had you have something to offer such a great time talking about what it was like to remix and and go well with the jokes together and he was really seriously trying to make it funny so it's not like we're gonna use the stereotypes because it is a comedy but in a respectful way and in a funny way and so because before it was stereotypical but not funny and so he was he was really concerned about pleasing the Latin audience Wow and I was so happy about that and that's 20 years ago before we really started talking about this stuff ya didn't hear directors really there was not another one after him long time so champion had a couple years after that Freda in 2002 it's funny i rewatch this movie a couple days ago and i now knowing you and the 20 minutes that I've known you I I feel you and Freda are sort of soul sisters she's a little mischievous she was trying to break into something that where she wasn't welcome she had a wild imagination she didn't care that she was a woman trying to do a man's work we're all these connections that you felt when you got to know her story I'm not sure if I had all of those connections or if 14 years of research an adoration help me learn from her some of these things and you were producer on the film yes tell me about the it's so strange to think about this movie in hindsight because to me it would seem as if a Latino should have directed this movie just based on what we know today and the authenticity factor at the same time Julie Taymor is such a gifted artist and she's worked in so many different mediums she's as theaters and her visuals are so incredible how did you connect with her and how did you trust her to tell the story well I had a very specific view of the film I wanted to make it was not like oh I'm gonna make a film about Frida Kahlo there were a lot of very very very I really did have a vision and there were there had been a movie about Frida Kahlo brilliantly acted by awfully medina many years ago in Mexico with a Mexican director in Spanish this film already maybe should have been you could say you know a Latino director and in Spanish but the truth is that for me the first language of the film the most important language in the film is the visual language to me was not whether English or Spanish because that was her language this is the language she used to express to express herself best and there were many directors that I explored for the movie some of them I worked for a year or two it was a very long process for tonight alongside you would act in a movie but this was always your decide frog was this was my life okay I would go do something to eat and this was my life and so I have to say none of them who'd understand my vision and it was very tricky because it's a biography and it's very difficult not to make it a biopic and at the time there was a style associated with Latino programming the style was in the acting in the melodrama in the way of telling the stories in the tragic nosov tell them if there was a style that I think it was maybe invented a little bit by the stereotype the stereotype that Americans had made of us and we kind of sort of August that's what we are here I'm gonna learn and I I wanted to make this movie also to show a part of Mexico that I understood very well and in this in this this period was perfect because in this period in the forest in Mexico and it was a very sophisticated place a lot of the great in political intellectuals and philosophers of many places in the world that were kicked out of their own country because they were so avant-garde would go live in Mexico so many tin a Model T you know Edward Winston all these artists and all these you know profound thinkers were all in Mexico hanging out together it was very it was a very sophisticated it grew muscles like people a generation but in Mexico exactly and a lot of the other directors didn't understated to do the same in the drama under a tragic story of the artist the other thing is that I didn't want to make a free movie about Frida where she was like this victim look how much these women suffer because I didn't believe that's all she was she was a survivor nobody loved I don't know anybody that loved life more than Frida because even with all the pain she would wake up in the morning and started with herself what is what what work of art am I going to make of myself today they're creating her hair whistling doing the gardening cooking in pain so that's not a victim so I I couldn't find the right director until I found Julie Taylor and Julie Taylor was like my dream we exactly we were we the first time we sat down and start talking about Frida it lasted four and a half hours we were just and we talked about nothing else and she had done Titus before that died it yeah yeah so she was my rock amazing that you found each other and when the movie came out I remember sort of you know I think I lived in New York at the time I wasn't in Hollywood I don't remember how it was received but did you feel like it was a turning point for you as a performer and and did people say Osama Hayek can produce too I mean was there the sense of people who saw you and I did what do you need to do for people to appreciate you at this point you were 12 years tomatoes were they out of those eight years the last five years were probably the hardest years of my life maybe one day I will write a book I mean about getting the movie made what it was like what I went through he was really really really painful and it was also kind of a miracle that he got made and once it was made it was very sad because not only nobody realized I produced it and I really did not like oh my name was in no no if you see there is no credit for a casting director in the American cast because I recruited every single actor every single part I got the money for it I got the permits in Mexico I got the permits for the paintings that nobody else but I I you know I nurtured that script for eight years meticulously you know I got the director I mean and you know most people don't even know I produced it and the film had a lot of producers so they see your name and they think oh a vanity started long right exactly and except that there were some people that were involved in the middle of it then at the weekend didn't even want to make them the movie and they saw what I did and those people I have hire me and hire me and sometimes call me on their editing room to help them with other movies that I'm not in or or I have a lot of respect for a certain group of people that witness but when after you know I got a nomination it seeks nominations for the thing not before and not after so when you would set over the same roles was the same there being both I mean believe in books when you would sit down with your agents who are men managers and people on your team who are supposed to offer guidance and okay here's what we think this is the next step would they come to you and say you know we're just not getting interest you know in you for these parts I mean how are they communicating to you because it's so easy to feel helpless as an actor you're dependent on these like I have a I have a a manager her name is Emily Nolan O'Neil I watch her go crazy like she sounds like a great manager before so live it wouldn't make her a diamond she'd be so angry that you know that they wouldn't see it and so I have a great manager she's amazing well we saw it I just want to let you know like you see that movie and you you're very special so jumping ahead of years to savages which is insane Oliver Stone's movie about the drug cartel good things you play one of the most insanely awesome evil villains I've ever seen which was incredible for a woman to get that part her name was Elena and a few guys saw this but it's pretty great okay great was this originally written for a woman to play this part he was written for me he was okay he's a good story good all the bad stories you've heard about Oliver Stone he's a polarizing figure but never boring alright I tell you no story about a girl [Music] he wrote the part for me and I heard about it from other actors that he was going to cast for the other parts and he had told him that I was gonna play that part and then he wrote that part for me but he never caught me the entire movie and I'm like no I hear her but I I'm gonna call him to see hey we're here didn't call her back once or discussed finally you know he brings me I don't I don't read the script because I don't even know and I read the script and she was a good character but she was like one fundamental one dimension and in everything when we started the rehearsal process you know he says hello he says what like stuff like knucklehead stuff all the time and it's kind of scary and he's that a bit intimidating and thank God I had mark I had my girl Blake whom I adore and like why was Blake Lively at me against the rest of the world the very macho movie it's a very much a living and I said I don't I don't like I don't like this the way this is written and he wrote it and something a trend no it's great they don't write good things for women because I can write I have I have they give men they give me chicken and I have to make chicken nuggets I never got the parts they were not I made something out of those poor and and I said it's not good why oh you think you can do better I like what would you say and I said would I start telling him and he goes stop bring me the recorded improvised the entire scene research a few notes and then Blake jump in and start saying yeah my part thing is I'm sorry Oliver you're not you are brilliant not necessarily known for your female role no not in the least and he said no no no I like what you're doing take away the script this is about these do the scenes Nathan and we would rehearse I would rehearse with the mic I would improvise how I was printed I like that I like that he would like amazing creative process with Oliver in these through his collaborative in that sense he was in the rehearsals a dream with me maybe not with everyone if he doesn't like what you're saying right it's really hard but he he's smart and then eventually their very last scene I had one thing with with Blake and he said I don't I didn't have time to write that scene it was an important scene it's not the dinner table the same yes and I said don't worry we'll write it with Bri will write it we bring it to you and you do the corrections it's easier this way you don't have to bother I just imagine like what he's thinking he said he said go read it we brought it and he said it's good and that's what we shot that seems written by Blake and I Wow and you know what wasn't so exciting for me the trailer all the a lot of the lines in the trailer or the lines or the lines oh my this is just gets better and better so you from about 2010 to 2013 you appeared in a bunch of comedies it's just fun to see you kind of change it up grown ups 1 & 2 & then here comes the boom with Kevin James what did you learn about making comedy from those guys because you know it's a very bro atmosphere comedy nobody would hire me or do romantic on after fools dosha say okay now I'm gonna do the romantic comedies no no no Mexicans in the romantic comedies bye bye so I didn't have a career as a comedian but then Adam who was a friend kept gave me a shot I addition for him for something else and I did and then we became friends through a friend Heather Perry who was the producer also there and she could saying she's so funny this girl's completely wasted and he was riding me in a movie and then I got pregnant and I thought I can't do the movie and so he invited me to be in the first robot did you know why I'm still working because I always work with the if I work with someone 90 percent of the time someone in there one of the producers the director they call me back but I've never entered the studio system they've never casted me I've never gotten a movie that came out of the studio that's incredible yeah not mine sir it was always through someone who worked with me that's in it that it really pays off to be a good person really a smart person who is people value clearly if all of us John's valuing your script changes that's huge it's amazing developing characters with him and talking about the psychology and he really listening and I've also very much enjoyed your animation and voiceover work put some booths which is one of my favorite movies of all time it's the sweetest most adorable if you are having a bad day that's really just so sweet the profit of course which is very lovely and of course my favorite sausage party where you played a lesbian hard horny taco named Teresa god bless Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg what do you enjoy about about doing that kind of work it's I'm sure a very strange process but it's not I mean I cannot compare the three movies you know all very good they're all very different so it's not just one voiceover the profit I produced it was four years trying to do that another labor of love project that's another label of love and it was hell also you know it's very hard to do animation and then nobody saw it and I'm so proud of the film and nobody so it's a hard maybe to market I think yeah it was a hard movie to market because it was different but I don't want to do things that are not different I mean rather go through hell and lose than repeat yourself then just do what everybody else is doing then you see the profit I can't imagine how they're not been the profit we probably wouldn't be seeing Coco now you know I think I think that movie really opened a new eye to not only is there a market for these stories and you know when Pixar chooses this is groundbreaking it's a Pixar movie centered on a Latino boy Latino story Latino history I think I mean that's huge yeah however I don't see as much publicity behind it as some of the other I think it's kind of slow like it's it's going yeah we're starting the screen it now but it apparently it's amazing so fingers crossed for Coco yes and then of course so such party profit she's asking me the profit and sausage body compare their method in common no well that was humiliating the sausage party for me because I learned something about myself I didn't know when I read it I was like I was blush I'm like I don't know that I can say these things don't know that I can bring myself to say these lies because it's very dirty guy very dirty and younger children not for children and then I got you know I got on the mic and you started watching and then I unofficially have to improvise I was 10 times dirtier I mean I came up with this long and once you go taco you never go back I thought they were advertising my character with acid that's my line so important if you haven't seen it in certain scenes the taco is hitting on Kristin Wiggs hot dog bun character and did you actually were you actually shooting it with Kristin or you know it was all headed in later okay just because it was directing well I'm sure you made some good friends in Seth Rogen and Evan they appreciate that art form so now we come to Beatrice at dinner which is what we're here to celebrate I told people this all year but I feel like no movie has captured my mood and my malaise and just sort of the confusion of what we're all trying to deal with right now better than this movie my quiet is just like everything he writes is just one of the best American writers he is a he has so much heart I just adore him did Mike write this with you in mind did you know yes he did okay and obviously he and Miguel Arteta had worked together many times and obviously Miguel seems like a natural fit to tell this story no I'm Miguel and I have tried to work together in the passages you haven't before right no because I never gave you the money to do that movie with me another one but he did direct some of the Ugly Betty episodes right he's been effective yarder right because I produce so because of you yes bring that up as well and you had a lot of TV projects too I'm having to skip over something so when you when you first read I guess my first draft or whatever draft Mike sent you what was your first thought about Beatrice and this character know anything about it I said yes without knowing what I was getting myself into hmm and I really I was really emotional because I had sat with him for dinner human again two weeks before he hadn't started writing so we're picking my head I didn't know for what cuz I I just knew it was a dinner that and this that's all literally of the better yeah and and two weeks my birthday was in two weeks after that dinner and on the day of my birthday I got an email from Mike that said happy birthday and the script was there in two weeks he wrote this 52 weeks Wow and it's almost exactly line by line what he sent to me that's amazing and so I was I was really overwhelmed because I couldn't believe that this man wrote this for me and I love the character and I thought it was brilliant every line and everything and I was really really moved and different than all the other stories that I have told you I didn't change one line hmm you didn't have to argue with him about anything but didn't I didn't I didn't give one note that's really amazing and I just I was so grateful it was so good I just I didn't try it try to make it into something I understood better because I understood that there was a clear vision of what they were doing and I didn't want me to get in the way of love of learning and going to where they were and I was right Miguel Arteta described a very specific movie to me in style and tone and what the movie I saw was exactly what I was told was gonna be the first time ever because in the movie you know takes a level himself it goes in different directions and it's very supernatural too I mean there are moments where you you're like what am I seeing and it's I think only Miguel can pull that off well the thing is that what's really about it is that it actually has magic realism but it's treated in a completely different way it's not over-the-top it's subtle it's with a sophisticated hand you've never seen magic realism like this before to the point that it becomes such a part of the story that it doesn't stand out maybe some of you are thinking what is she talking about because you don't remember those little subtle moments that's Miguel's touch so I think had it been another in your mind and my to I guess be Miguel did it but also the the economical way in which Mike used it was very very interesting and what do you think and I've thought about a lot about but the answer to this question might be but what is this movie about because when you first see it you think oh it's about tolerance and you know my dad voted for Trump for example it's been a really hard year for me he's and I'm trying to understand it so he have I'm chipping away at it it's been very exciting but I you know John's character is so likable and he's so dynamic and he what's so magical about John is that he can turn any character into someone you sort of ultimately like even though you may not necessarily agree with his actions and words but you know when I watched the movie I think okay I'm what does this maybe telling us is it is this a lost cause are we are we able to actually you know change people's minds and and what how can we change people's minds who ultimately in their core don't understand where we're coming from well in the the movie presents two sides of a conversation that is very relevant to America and the world and it doesn't try to give you a fabricated solution because we have not found it I think what he tries to do and it succeeds its provoke you to wish for that resolution if you are I don't know what you think if you think I died at the end it should and you're frustrated this is good this is a sensation that you can go home to and ponder upon and have a feeling not because it's prefabricated by Cena to create an superficial emotion on you that you're comfortable with because you can identify very clearly and you're entertained by it but the emotions should come from your own retrospective and introspective moment of your own conversation and the conversations with the ones around you so it doesn't try to present a solution to the problem it just presents the problem and the two sides and and lets you take it in hopes that you are present to the fact that the biggest problem is the lack of communication and coming into some kind of unity and empathy I find I found however and when I talked to Mike he was very pleased that I found I found that I found something in the movie that is where the hope should come from they at least this is where they come together and you will see that they are the same Beatrice has this nostalgia of a place that in her head is home where there is the nature and from the kind of upset about the goat that sort of represents no she wants to go back to that place where she grew up with remember flatly she is nostalgia which you know a lot of people don't know how many immigrants we have here no matter how happy you are with your nightlife somewhere so is this nostalgia and in her head is a place where she wants to go back to and I think that home it's an ethereal place because if you go to the place where you grew up now with your parents they living in the same house and by any chance they're still together you go there to see the same it's missing it's very small - well what it's interesting is that we have that urge to go to that place is not physical it's in your head when you were once pure in touch with nature safe excited about life and there was a sense of innocence Oh fortunately John's character finds it in hunting but she says there's something pure about it primitive he's in nature at the end of the day I believe that human beings we're all looking for that place inside of us where our humanity it's pure and this is what gives me hope that one day we'll be able to try to work together having the same goal the evolution of the human race this is what to me the movies about of course I would have to really look and also - I think it's worth acknowledging that for John's character he exists in a world that no longer exists he thinks it and I think that's what we're seeing now is we can't go back to the 50s and in this world that maybe you did feel more comfortable when you were the only white person you know for miles or excuse me when you when you only saw white people in your little town or whatever however you rewrite your own history so I think it's each of those is impossible so then it's kind of like how do these two characters come together and create a new reality that is inclusive and I think that's really what work by going back to the bureau's of your humanity you have to rely on a lot of humanity moving forward that's for sure I did want to talk about the interest is clothing which I love you're a petite person and you had flat shoes on well Dean everywhere you are I would say but I don't know if I'm good you are you're very petite that I love in my friend Amy land occurs in the movie with you she plays John's wife no and I remember her texting me photos from the set and and Connie and and the rest of the ladies are fairly tall and you're you were so short she was sending me selfies and I was like why is she so tiny well they all have these giant shoes on and they put we're walking on a heel right they put them on the side of the that was the height right with shoes like these and they're already tall people do to begin put me with absolute flats in the lower part and he casted told on breakfast well and there's a scene where you're we're all walking in a line that's the one yeah and you see these you see it's this beautiful idea of how diminished she looks to them and I thought that was just such a brilliant choice and also her you but did you see how much she cared about that no didn't notice she didn't care about changing her clothes for the dinner she was fine but I love I love that you tell us their shirt yes ready her clothes are utilitarian I mean anyone who's gotten a massage or therapy knows that you're not you know dressy enough to do that work so I just love the idea that she's existing and he's kind of not terribly sexy clothing not terribly feminine just it's just who she is and I love it and she doesn't care she doesn't feel threatened she just she's so comfortable and her role it doesn't belong to her universe she doesn't think about her image or how she looks her head he's present in a different dimensional mousse you know she is always very present but her way of presence it's not how most people are present self-conscious that I said the right thing did I look right she's just she's just there you know taken in observing not judging not you know not getting angry for it for a long time she's not getting angry she's not provoked easily she's not terribly she doesn't have a complex that these people are you know richer or to them she doesn't there Richard she doesn't really care about that that's what she kind of confront him and I love the choice of the bangs - and then the the pulled back hair I think had she had the hair that you have right now there's something about the way she's styled it's obviously so purposeful but it really owned all his meals grated he decided the clothes I just did what I was told what a joy once in your career because your show up but whatever what a relief to come to Sutton with you like Madonna yes and it was really not to have to do look good it's really freeing yeah probably quite different from different from the dance you did it from dusk till dawn right I watch that again recently and I don't like something in common wow this is something in common winters that only those two have because I have a phobia of snakes I had guys remember the scene okay I had to learn to go on trance did you really yes Wow I was dancing on trends and there was no choreographies I had to be one with that snake and just follow with move with her and it's I think it's powerful because of it because they were all these professional strippers around me and people don't remember that I wasn't he - oh my god of course I'd have to go with the professional strippers like a bar full of professional stripper from LA I mean and I have to beginning you know George Noory looking up my ass me praying that the snake was not gonna squeeze my leg and all the cellulite was gonna pop out you know and I was so nervous and cellulite because she didn't squeeze hard enough but because I was on trans how I would just like let's go and I was able to do this with his neck and for Beatrice instead of hair and makeup in the morning I would meditate and stay like in a specific zone for the entire day wow I never thought those two characters would be connected well she does love animals so that makes that sound so I actually sat next to Miguel recently at an event total fluke it was dark so I couldn't tell who it was at first and he being the incredibly friendly and nice person he is he introduced himself and I was like oh my god I was for me I was like seeing the Beatles I was so excited for new tilma for me was singing with the Beatles he's he's a very good guy we started to talk about this movie and sort of you know on the Oscar conversation and things like that and I thought you know it's I really hope that you get the acknowledgement that you need how what about my quite and yet another the share to Bradley I thought you know we came out in you know it's a lot of different timing you really like what the script is so perfect and both of them are so good they are but Miguel mentioned something that I hadn't thought of that I'd love to get your take on so when the Oscars so white thing happened a couple years ago I acknowledged I understood the frustration but I also thought you know there's why isn't this ever about Latino representation in Hollywood you know people talk about black performers and how it was mostly white actors nominated that year and I thought legitimate but also we exclude so many other groups when we sent her just on this one group and I asked Miguel about that and he and I said you know you have these Mexican directors Alfonzo and the people you just mentioned and and he said they don't hire Latino actors in their movies and I started to think about that I thought about gravity I thought about Birdman I thought about revenant and I couldn't immediately recall any Latino performers who had meaningful roles in those movies and and Guillermo movies are there more sci-fi there you know kind of fantastical but yet again I couldn't think of any so I wanted to ask you do you feel they have an obligation to I guess quote-unquote help the community to position performers like you in roles the way Robert did for you 22 years ago no and I'm gonna tell you why I may imagine these people are my best friends I've never go I mean yeah job I also see them all the time I've seen their kids grow I be born mave never approached you know the best thing they can do for the Latino community is be the most brilliant they can be I believe that it's important to tell our stories to support each other that's why I wanted to do ugly wedding but at the end of the day you can you also we have to have us artists the freedom to tell the stories that move us and that are universal in a way becomes more inclusive they make big movies when they did smaller movies they casted Latino parts like e tu mama tambien or Amore's perros or solo con - pelipper in mexico and i guess i'm thinking more of that the big bigger commercial studio maybe this big commercial movies they are making in America the studio even if maybe they proposed me once I don't know the studio want a cons they want those big stars because they are making these big movies and I'm glad they're making those big movies even if they cannot hire us because they're part of America America's cinema story some of the best movies in the last decade of this country have been made by Mexicans and I think that has to be above anything else however thank God for Miguel Arteta thank God for that brilliant man that might not have as big of an acclaim as these other directors and I swear to you he's such an immense talent I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to to work with him I would not change my experience with me getting these imbed trees for any role on any of the other bigger movies that I admire so much that my friends have made we do with so much love we did this movie really with so much love every single actor they were all brilliant I mean if you look at the movie every reaction of every single member of the cast its impeccable because they're great actors would be good but also because there's a great director it's so kind of like to think about what gravity might have been like with you instead of Sandra Bullock I'm just from a scene that I would have been good but she was amazing she was amazed she was but it's hard me to think that people wouldn't have wanted to see it had you been the actor with me in it oh that's very frustrating sama I'm saying it's not logical to me I don't understand it but you know what can I say something without you asking yes I remember when I was nominated for the Golden Globe for Frida and I have no expectations that I was gonna win because I had already lost at all all the other ones and also because well this was was the first one but this we didn't support the film it was such a fluke that we had so many nominations because they studio supporters 0/0 with Miramax this with Miramax actually they were gonna put it straight to video it was not even gonna come out Harvey thought the movie was awful and we had to beg and beg and beg and beg for he tried to meddle with the editing and because that he's no he didn't even other things obviously he didn't care enough to do that and and then of course when it came out he was furious they was doing so well because it became competition remember I brought most of the money for the film to garnish of New York one of the most the most expensive thing he ever did and Chicago it was the year that it wasn't a lot of expensive movies I and we had the same amount of Oscar nominations as Gangs of New York when he did not support this film arrow that we never felt that you know you're dreaming of the Miramax machine for the Oscars far forget about forget about that but so I got I was not I was completely relaxed because I knew I was not gonna win they know the law is just so happy that I was there but I remember when he called Kim and got off and she said I want to thank my agent okay chokes me because I know where I'm going I want to thank my agent for this is not the exact words it's gonna be Mexicans died for of all the scripts that were sent to me and all the offers he insisted that I would make this one and I was insecure what to choose because there were so many and she insisted that I that I would make this one so I want to thank my agents for the hours right for the hours and I thought to myself to have so many scripts in front of you that you these beautiful parts and roles and you really nervous that you choose the right one because there's so many honey you choose the wrong one I just spent eight years of my life so for the one you know for that like one scream that and maybe it gets done and I said and I guess for the other actors it's not like that they just read this great they don't have to go producer themselves you know when they say any meenie miney moe and then you know I was like this and then I said I smiled I got this great feeling and I said God because in this moment I said look at all the things I've learned is how to write it what do you want I can pick up the key I can you know operate the cover every tell anything I've learned so many things it's been so much richer I never had the luxury to be in the gym and in them I've been hustling you know like who you hate even trying to do my things and I'm 51 and I'm still here we were so glad so do you hope to direct and fulfill your childhood fantasies now yes I directed one time before smoke moving for for Showtime it's morphine we shouldn't really fast I never been happier it was so easy I loved it and we had no money no actors 90 was a very big cast 90% of them were known actors after I had a mailman a trucker a waiter a kid that never acted before I only had like three really good actors and then everybody else was local from Utah and and I won an Emmy Best Director and we get that really quiet because my manager said they'll never hire you even if they know and it's true nobody hired me for three years after that but I don't care anymore I'm gonna I'm gonna direct what is a dream project that you would want to throw yourself into this one this one that I that I've been thinking about for 13 years and I just wrote it you did but it's very expensive it's not a small independent movie what's the do you obviously but you know what it's I'm glad even if it doesn't get done I did not diminish myself like oh I am a director female I have to do a small independent that's not what I saw I saw what I saw I have it clear in my head why should I say well maybe Nader in the know let's go maybe make it maybe we don't but at least you have to honor your visions and give them a chance and go for it and not belittle yourself and don't yourself done because it's the only possibility that can happen I would have never left the telenovelas if I was thinking that can you tell us the genre of the story is it an adventure is a character study is it Beatrice at breakfast um if I tell you the genre you're gonna think it's gonna be like the other movies in the Jean in that general and it's reinventing that genre so I will say there's Anna but it's please because that's one genre I detest because I think it's very old-fashioned it's a musical we have a great voice by the way Wow I'm not in the movie I'm directing no but you have a great voice is he saying in Frieda there are certain scenes you sing you my song Envy at 3:00 that's right you're very nice and in in in Frieda he was not nice because I was singing drunk at least I was singing stone which is well we have a lot of great audience questions I want to make sure we get to all of these it is the Mexicans are freezing so this is from Melinda where's Melinda oh right here hello Melinda would like to know what director has influenced you the most or giving you encouragement to grow during your career probably we may have already talked about him or her at this point Robert I'm gonna have to say three ok because of course Robert discover me and destroy my back Julie Damon she was my rock we we really fought like ferocious beasts to get this moon like urine more together a condom yeah I mean there's there is somewhere in the press a quote a quote from Harvey Weinstein say saying he said the two bigger biggest ball busters I've ever encountered in my life in my career I don't wait to get a compliment yeah for him to say that but I have to say take your time that happens when I don't sleep and menopause is knocking on your door okay we like emotions up here Miguel because you know one of the many many many many many many things he taught me and I went to include also Mike in there but is that he doesn't have to be paying for it doesn't have to be hard he doesn't have to be a struggle you don't have to be afraid to disappoint anyone it can just be beautiful and meaningful and it was not him just making he's moving and Ingo three four it has to be like this it was this like he looks like the Mahna Mahna from Sesame Street I saw I would look at his face and it's a very kind smile because I knew I was in good hands I was being loved and looked after and I had this great eagle that was gonna take me under his wings every day and take me to a new place that I've never been before with the adventure I actually didn't think anybody was gonna watch me I know I really didn't think at all I didn't care either and neither did he at all Wow premiered at Sundance right yeah we really did especially me I had like the half the movies a close-up of my face and I'm not allowed to move a muscle or try and I thought that to be so boring and she knew they I had more lines at the beginning I had more clever and funny lines and after the first read they took them all out and I said oh my god I didn't do a good job and they said no we just discovered another letter inside of you we hadn't even seen and we have to take away the distractions so that people can see it you don't need you actually you don't need to speak in this film I know exactly what I'm doing with you so every day was a discovery you know with him and he was excited of the experiment and it was really very pure it was really making justice to this woman that we love together and I felt so confident I didn't care if I did it well or if I didn't do it well I just wanted to one day I got this last thing I say okay well one day I got very lazy at night because it was like 3:00 in the morning and I had a cold and I was exhausted and it was a very simple moment and they say something to me and I don't say nothing I just look at that person and he goes god no no no no no I knew exactly what you were thinking you see I had to have such a complex way of thinking that he didn't want people to know what I was thinking but they had to feel that I was thinking something so I could not move any more thoughts on my face he was really relaxed no no no no space for any gesticulation and he said I knew exactly what you were thinking I said but I didn't move the muscles and at some point I talked with him I said my god I should have gotten Botox and I said didn't move the face and he said no but it was to clear your thought process I knew exactly what you were thinking you were thinking this this and that okay let's go again God what what are you doing now you didn't think of anything it was true and he goes don't get lazy on me it's almost worried you're on okay let's go again and then I have to go to this one space where there she was and all these crazy things every tank would be something a different perspective of seeing what he was saying and he trained me to do that for this film but not nothing would escape his eyes there's some things where I'm crying and crying like with the goat there was a couple of things he said he didn't want me to cry but I bet he's impressed right now doesn't the movie why do you think there are so few directors like Miguel because it sounds like a very very very unique later because Miguel is also a unique human being he's a wonderful man for all the pigs I've encountered here comes Miguel to redeem he's such a wonderful man he's really so generous with a crew always kind to every single person every single person in the grew in the act or treating everyone is saying it's funny when we were at the event it was a premiere his first thought about the event we were attending was it's too bad more crew members aren't able to attend their own movies that's me and I'm like who who sits in you know in an audience of about ready to see movie and that's the first thought and I Florian every night it's not like a boss who he is that's my name Mahna Mahna Mahna exactly this is from Carmen Carmen Scott Kharma I I'd be shorter with the adversary we honestly have as much time as you want what is your vetting process for a potential project that you might be considering and how many people read a script before it actually gets to you question you know I have no no no rules or regulations right now mostly it's about the school schedule of my kids it's come to that highly very far away I live in London and if they can wait for the summer I can do a bigger film if not it has to shoot in Europe and they have to so I'm very limited but I'm still working logistical concerns are existing right now it's come to that because I had not separated from my family more than normally it's two weeks in exceptions I would go I've gone three but I try not to it's separate from more than that I want with the be at rest you don't know this is a very important question yes just 21 days 15 oh my god we rehearsed one week and we shot three weeks but I talked to Miguel a night for one year before we started a lot of seeds have been planted before that next question is from Karolina Carolina is she would like to know any advice for perseverance when it comes to dealing with stereotypes yes you're not gonna like my answer come take that crush and throw it in the river because at this point you don't get to use that as an obstacle today they are desperate for Latino talent you have to not think about that you have to not see yourself as that and I will say the same thing that I will say to anyone don't think about what you want someone to give you think about what you have to give to others because this is your strength this is this is what can make you go very far the time we spent I wanted to give me this I want them to give me that I wanted didn't give it to me I went and I did it for myself and I did it for others like America because I knew I had something to give I knew I knew the market I knew the other market actually they rejected Ugly Betty three times and I wouldn't give up and so on the third time I went to advertisers one company that represents advert our advertisers with our research that I did that was really professional and I said look at your consumers I have this show it will work because of these disease diseases would you be interested in advertising in this show not put your appetizers in this show and there's the red script is they looked at all my paperwork and they said forget about that and put a couple of advertisers will pay for the entire show so I went back to ABC and I said are you sure you don't want to do this because I've got it's very for I already have all the advertisers so yeah a Colombian and then they and then they took it so you have to figure out what is it that you have to give and then give it focus on them on the excitement to to bring it out not on how you're gonna convince other people to give you things that and and don't know what to do because a lot of energy goes into the the frustration of the rejection you have to take that energy and look inside and then that will give you confidence a lot of those two is rethinking these feminine behaviors that were taught of politeness and waiting for our turn and all these things that I think we're all learning how to at least reevaluate what we still need to be polite more than ever or to be kind to each other but not waiting around for permission to do what we want to do yes exactly which it sounds like you didn't wait around for no I waited I waited around 13 years and I might wait longer because I haven't had the time to sit down and really try to finish that first draft but I will maybe know you well maybe in 10 years of something but you'll get done there's no time limit on on your work this is from Carmen and she would like to know what do you know about acting now that you wish you would have known when you started let me skyrim in let me see your thighs your garment okay government thank you um well I I gotta say when I saw this movie and he was so about don't move don't move the face don't move the thing I thought my face was exactly the same you know because I didn't move it no I have no reaction I was feeling it I knew the feelings were different but I thought my face was gonna look identical and then when I saw the film for the first time I saw that my face doesn't move the muscles but their different faces as if they would transform alike like so we really I mean they do it does look different from time to time but I'm not doing anything before anything I but I'm feeling something different what your eyes to what it was it was kind of interesting because I thought I I do find the face I was looking at that because I was like oh my god gonna be so boring it's like is again that girl that doesn't move but it's much harder to act like that then be big and loud and an expressive hmm if you know I made a commitment from the beginning that's what I was doing this is how I was approaching this character and it was not it was not hard because I didn't care I just wanted to be direct about it I just wanted to do I was just wanted to be obedient and I just wanted to explain me because I was feeling all the stuff inside so I'll tell you what is hard what is hard is bad lines if I was to eat the chicken a chicken making it into the chicken knowledge that but if they give you caviar it's caviar you know they give you a good script it's it's a it's easy it's yes it's great next question from Tiffany this is a great question did you work with healers at all for this role to prepare and if you know what type and and in what ways did this role change your life which I think we've obviously hinted anka I worked with different kinds of healers and me Gillet at one point she was gonna also dance Zumba or something like it was a teacher also so I did the Zumba then the Tai Chi I did the Tai Chi then they cheered on and now she's not gonna do any of the I did I work with different muscles I carry the thing up and down I did some different healers Reiki energetic I mean all kinds of things I did do the work and my husband was very happy because I had to give him a couple of massage for practice and and how do you think this role has changed your life obviously collaboration with Miguel being you know probably the top of the list no yes but I think that it's this thing that I know things don't have to be so hard it doesn't have to be tense you can't just be you know something that it feels beautiful to go to your job every day I think Hollywood's learning to that not all this has to be so unpleasant all the time I think if we remember why each of us is doing these jobs these are hard jobs you know it's hard to continue to create content is very hard to this long that was a lot of stress time away from family and Malia maybe Miguel is the role model you know and final questions from Cristina a lot a lot of ladies questions which is great aside from the script you're working on what haven't you done so far in your career that you would like to do next this could be a type of role as well you haven't played perhaps television I I'd like to I'd like to do a big film that has a female protagonist that it's not 30 that is well written and that I get to do with another fantastic director I don't care what it is I don't care I don't care but it would be great you know that somebody pays you fairly and it's not like if you want to be in this movie you have to cut your fee but I cut my but they want to cut your free path from the last fig you had where you cut your feet half you know and I just I just hope that one day I get to do something that is bigger and that it still is good because right now you have to choose kind of you know like struggling with a little feeling like you know like these I really wish there could be an Oscar campaign for this film for me yell at that I put also for my quite the screep is genius he wrote it before of this strong cool thing he wrote before he's solution Airy but no because it's it's an it's smaller it came out before you know and I really am sad because they read Azure some acknowledgement every person this room pushes for this movie and spreads the word for people to see it and people who vote I think well I think I speak for everyone I say thank you so much this is so enjoyable [Applause]

Channel: SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Views: 99,191

Rating: 4.8657074 out of 5

Keywords: SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Acting, Actors, salma Hayek, stacey wilson hunt, vulture, new york magazine, Beatriz at Dinner, From Dusk Till Dawn, Frida, puss in boots, Q&A, Career, Interview

Id: hpcN3qq_C4w

Length: 95min 36sec (5736 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2017