Salma Hayek established herself as an A-list actress in Hollywood after launching her career in the Mexican television industry. The Bandidas actress has also ventured into directing and producing television series, which earned her several Emmy nominations. The Frida actress found considerable commercial success in the comedy genre with the Grown Ups series.
Grown Ups released in 2010 gained a $272 million success at the box office, despite its critical panning. The Dennis Dugan-directed movie was also Hayek’s first movie working together with Kevin James.
Salma Hayek Had No Screen Time With Kevin James In Grown Ups
Salma Hayek was cast opposite Adam Sandler in Grown Ups, a movie that explored the relationship between friends reuniting after a long time. Kevin James played one of the three friends in the movie, the others being Sandler and Chris Rock. Hayek and James did not have a combination scene in the movie, but the actors developed a strong friendship behind the scenes. The Eternals actress even formed a close bond with James’s wife and their kids.
In an interview with Time Out, the Desperado actress opened up about her friendship with James. The Wild Wild West actress sang praises for her Grown Ups co-star calling him “an amazing man”. Hayek was impressed with the Pixels actor’s talent and his skills for physical comedy. She shared that they had a great time on the sets, despite their lack of screen time.
With their blossoming friendship, both the actors felt that it was time to test their chemistry on-screen and worked together on Here Comes the Boom.
Salma Hayek Was Cast In Kevin James’ $73M Movie
The friendship with Kevin James turned into a movie opportunity for Salma Hayek as she was cast in Here Comes the Boom in 2012. The Zookeeper actor, who also produced the movie, approached Hayek with the concept for the sports comedy. The movie explores James’ character, Scott Voss, a biology teacher turned MMA fighter, who tries to save his school’s music program. Hayek took on the role of Bella Flores, the school nurse, in the movie.
The plan for doing a movie together came up in an earlier friendly conversation between the actors. When the right opportunity surfaced, James called Hayek, informing her that he was writing a part for her in the script. The Hitman’s Bodyguard actress shared in the interview:
“Then later we were doing the commentary about what was going on, and I said, ‘You know, we’ll have to do a movie together properly,’ and he said, ‘You’re absolutely right. You will be in my next movie. We’ve got to find something,’ and he did. He called me and he said, ‘I’m doing this film [Here Comes the Boom] and I’m writing you a part. Are you still up for it?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely’.”
Although Hayek was hesitant when it came to the intimate scenes in the movie, because of her friendship with James’ wife and children, both actors approached their roles professionally. The Frank Coraci-directed film is available for streaming on Hulu.
Source: Time Out Abu Dhabi
