The initial years for Salma Hayek in Hollywood were far from easy, as she had to constantly overcome several challenges that arrived with her early roles. Despite her want of starring in comedies, the actress was prohibited from being anything other than eye candy for the audience and once had to overcome her greatest fear to save one of her roles.
During her time in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn, Hayek was forced to dance with a snake. Even though she initially refused to do it, the actress claimed that she would’ve been removed from the role if she hadn’t filmed the dance scene.
Quentin Tarantino allegedly threatened to replace Salma Hayek in From Dusk Till Dawn
Although Salma Hayek‘s role as the Stripper Vampire in From Dusk Till Dawn, starring George Clooney, pushed her into stardom, she wasn’t initially inclined to the idea of performing with a snake. According to the actress, she initially refused to dance with a snake, however, she was allegedly told by Quentin Tarantino that he’d replace her with Madonna if she wasn’t ready to do the scene. Considering the actress couldn’t afford to lose the role, she eventually agreed to do the part, which became the highlight of the movie. She said,
“Quentin told me, ‘Oh, by the way, you’re dancing with a snake.’ I said, ‘I can’t do that, I can’t do that. It’s my greatest fear.’ He said, well, Madonna will do it, I already talked to her, and she’s willing to dance with the snake.'”
Even after Salma Hayek agreed to do the challenging sequence, problems weren’t over for the actress, as she wasn’t given any direction on how to dance with a Snake on her shoulder.
Salma Hayek wasn’t given any directions while dancing with a snake
Unlike most movies, instead of hiring a choreographer to help Salma Hayek with her dance sequence with a snake in the film, the actress revealed that she was given no direction. The Grown Ups star had to do her own research about snakes and analyze strip clubs in order to nail her performance in the movie and it was an extremely difficult task for the actress. She said,
“They just kind of threw me on the stage with the snake, put the music on and said, ‘Hey, dance! I was feeling insecure [and] just wanted to get through it. It was a really small part but to my surprise people really remember that moment.”
But despite being limited to roles of being eye candy for the audience, Salma Hayek would eventually find her footing in the realm of comedy after coming across Adam Sandler in the 2010s.
From Dusk Till Dawn is available to stream on Apple TV.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment
