Salma Hayek

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors
  1. Jennifer Lopez, Selena, 1997.      Although positive of the film’s success, Salma passed on playing the slain singer out of, well, decency. “It’s unnecessary, maybe redundant. I mean, she just died, she’s still very present…”  The only biopic she was interested  in was her own about painter  Frida Kahlo –  45 years dead when Salma finally incarnated her in Frida, 1999. In the biopic about singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, J-Lo was the first Latina actress to be paid $1m for a movie. By 2005, she was on $15m for Monster-in-Law.
  2. Catherine Zeta-Jones, The Mask of Zorro, 1997.      Cruz and Swedish model Scorupco Shakira passed after director Robert Rodriguez and Salma Hayek (his Elena choice) were elbowed out of a much tougher rendition by Columbia…  ironically, closer to his El Mariachifranchise,as played by Antonio Banderas and Hayek.  Producer Steven Spielberg found Catherine in  the 1996 TV mini-series take of Titanic.  
  3. Lucy Liu, Charlie’s Angels, 2000.  Tele-tycoon Aaron Spelling decided to put Aaron’s angels on the big screen  (to help generate a new series on the small). His first new  trio: MTV discovery Jenny McCarthy, ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and 007’s Hong Kong martial arts superstar. Then, Drew Barrymore showed him how to do it. with the  third  of her numerous (canny) productions. Just look at the 25 girls she shuffled to find the right  angel Alex Munday: Aaliyah (“too young”), Jennifer Aniston, Asia Argento, Halle Berry, Lara Flynn Boyle, Helena Bonham Carter, Penélope Cruz, Kristin Davis, Jodie Foster, Angie Harmon (stuck on Law & Order),  Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nia Long, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tiffani Thiessen, Uma Thurman, Liv Tyler, , Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Robin Wright, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones… And two singers: Lauryn Hill and another  Spice Girl: Victoria Beckham.
  4. Jennifer Connolly, A Beautiful Mind, 2001.  If the choice of the right actor to  portray the schizophrenic Noble Prize-winning mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr was vital,  selecting his screen wife was even more so   – hence an Oscar for Connelly and not for Russell Crowe.  The other candidates included Julie Bowen, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Geena Davis, Kirsten Dunst, Portia De Rossi, Claire Forlani, Rachel Griffiths, Teri Hatcher, Famke Janssen, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine McCormack, Mary McCormick, Mia Maestro, Rhona Mitra, Julia Ormond, Amanda Peet, Christina Ricci, Meg Ryan, Chloe Sevigny, Alicia Silverstone, Mira Sorvino, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman, Rachel Weisz.  PS Emily Watson was rejected as “too British” – while Salma Hayek was seen because  Alicia Nash came from El; Salvador… which must have meant the others were too American, Australian,  South African, etc.  Director Ron Howard seemed to forget they were all actresses. Odd that, as he used to be one.
  5. Halle Berry, Die Another Day,  2002.
  6. Jennifer Garner, Daredevil, 2003.    “How did I become Action Girl?” asked Garner.  Because 22 other girls were not punching their weight in TV’s Alias every week. They were  Jessica Alba, Jolene Blalock, Neve Campbell, Penelope Cruz, Portia de Rossi, Eliza Dushku, Claire Forlani, Angie Harmon, Salma Hayek, Katie Holmes, Milla Jovovich, Nicole Kidman, Lucy Liu, Mia Maestro, Rhona Mitra, Bridget Moynahan, Natalie Portman, Kyra Sedgwick, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon.  Plus the Norwegian ballet dancer Natassia Malthe, who became Typhoid in Garner’s 2004 Elektra spin-off.    Garner reportedly KOed the blind hero, Ben Affleck, in one scene – he still married her three years later!
  7. Cameron Richardson, Alvin and the Chipmunks, 2006.     Seven guys were up for Dave (Allvviinn!!), just four babes for his, er, babe. Hayel, Drew Barrymore, Sarah Michele Gellar, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. But for once, the outsider won: the lively lovely from Baton Rouge became Claire Wilson.
  8. Carla Gugino, Faster, 2009.     Salma wisely quit the naff thriller a week before the off. San Franciso Chronicle critic Mick LeSalle retitled the film DOA – dead on arrival.
  9. Adrianne Palicki. Wonder Woman, TV, 2011.    The DC comicbook heroine had not been seen on screens since Lynda Carter ended her four year reign on ABC in 1979. Time then, said Warner, for a new movie.DC’s testosterone duo, Batman and Superman, had cleaned up,now it up to the beautiful superhuman Amazon warrior Princess Diana of Themysacira, her Lasso of Truth, her indestructible bracelets and (honest) her invisible plane.With who…? Across a decade of plans by producers as diverse as Joel Silver (so wrong) and Joss Whedon (so right), 24 beauties were in the frame: from Madonna to Whedon’s favourite, Cobie Smulders. Then, the film morphed into an updated TV series by David E Kelley – that, too, was dead after the rushed pilot. Palicki was the sole actress considered for TV – she was previously seen by George Miller for WW in his aborted Justice League, in 2008.
  10. Sandra Bullock, Gravity, 2012.   Once Angelina Jolie passed (twice), they all wanted the 3D sf special written by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron and his son, Jonas – Hayek, Abbie Cornish, Marion Cotillard, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johannsson, Blake Lively, Sienna Miller, Casey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Wilde… Because the female astronaut is alone on-screen for most of the movie. (Sorry about that, George Clooney).

  11. Eva Green, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, 2012. Hayek, Helena Bonham Carter, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie8, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose McGowan, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams were all up for the dame in question. Ava.  Variety critic Justin Chang was unmoved by the movie.  “Rare indeed is the movie that features this many bared breasts, pummeled crotches and severed noggins and still leaves you checking your watch every 10 minutes.”
  12. Halle Berry, John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, 2018.   Still in need of a  haircut and a real beard, Wick III kicks off  when his his dog is klilled (“It wasn’t just a puppy”) and the Latin title explodes: “If you want peace, prepare for war.” Not much room then for a girl alongside Keanu Reeves.  Shortlisted for Sofia were Hayek, Jennifer Beals, Marion Cotilliard, Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, Uma Thurman, Marisa Tomei. Halle had the edge. She’d worked with James Bond… played Catwoman… and won an Oscar! 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  12