Salma Hayek did not join ‘Frida‘ as a star-for-hire. She spent years trying to get the film made and pushed it forward as a producer. The project mattered to her because Frida Kahlo’s life and work felt personal.
That is what made the battle over the film so ugly. Hayek was not fighting for a random studio part. She was trying to protect a movie she had built while dealing with Harvey Weinstein, the Miramax chief who controlled the project and, according to Hayek, tried to use that power against her.
Harvey Weinstein Tried To Push Salma Hayek Out
In a 2017 op-ed for The New York Times, Hayek described years of harassment while she was trying to make ‘Frida.’ She said Weinstein kept pressuring her for s–ual favors and refused when she declined.
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She later listed the demands in blunt detail. “No to opening the door to him at all hours of the night,” she wrote. “No to taking a shower with him. No to letting him give me a massage. No to letting him give me oral s–. No to getting naked with another woman.”
Hayek said Weinstein’s behavior changed once he realized she would not give in. According to her, he began trying to take ‘Frida’ away from her. She wrote that he dismissed her as “a nobody” and threatened to replace her in the lead role.
She also recalled one of the most frightening moments of the ordeal. “I will kill you, don’t think I can’t,” she recalled him saying. By then, the fight had gone far beyond studio politics. Hayek was trying to protect her film while dealing with threats, intimidation, and humiliation.
Weinstein Buried The Film Under Demands
Hayek also revealed that Weinstein later handed her a list of conditions for keeping ‘Frida’ alive. The demands were enormous, including a major script rewrite, outside financing, a respected director, and recognizable actors in supporting roles.
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The point was obvious. If she failed, the movie would die, and so would her place in it. Hayek treated the list as an attempt to kill the project without formally canceling it. But the actress still got it done.
While Edward Norton helped with the script, Hayek secured financing, recruited actors including Ashley Judd and Antonio Banderas, and brought in Julie Taymor to direct. Weinstein tried to box her out of her own film, but she kept it moving anyway.
Even After Hayek Saved The Film, The Pressure Did Not Stop
Getting ‘Frida’ into production did not end the ordeal. Hayek wrote that Weinstein then attacked parts of her appearance that were historically accurate to Kahlo, including the unibrow and limp. He also demanded a s– scene between Hayek and another woman.
Hayek said she agreed because she feared the film would be shut down if she refused. When it came time to shoot the scene, she suffered a breakdown. In her essay, she wrote that she arrived on set crying and vomiting from anxiety. “I had to take a tranquilizer,” she recalled.
‘Frida’ survived all of it. In the end, the film earned six Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Hayek. Sadly, the success did not erase what happened behind the scenes. Hayek had to fight to keep her role because the man controlling the studio allegedly tried to break her and take the movie away from her.
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