Why Salma Hayek Was 'Afraid' Filming Her Desperado Love Scene With Antonio Banderas
Salma Hayek is as real as they come and is not afraid to speak her mind. Case in point: In 2017, she wrote a frank and disturbing Op-Ed for The New York Times about her experience with Harvey Weinstein. On a less heinous level, Hayek even opened up about the Hilaria Baldwin debacle involving cultural appropriation. She also dumped water all over Eminem backstage at the Oscars, so yeah — she's got a lot of stories.
But Hayek also holds back on some details. In fact, she will not disclose how she met her husband, François-Henri Pinault. (Fun fact: Her husband is one of the richest people on the planet.) Hayek also counts herself among the celebs who will not get plastic surgery, so that is one more thing she's holding off on.
While Hayek's very clear about what she says and what she wants, she opened up about a filming experience early on in her career that made her afraid. Here's what happened.
Salma Hayek didn't know there was a sex scene in Desperado
Salma Hayek got candid about a tough moment early on in her career. On the Feb. 15, 2021 episode of the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, Hayek spoke about filming the 1995 movie Desperado. It was her big break and she was shooting alongside Antonio Banderas. However, she didn't know that there was a sex scene between her character and Banderas' so Hayek got scared. "So, when we were going to start shooting, I started to sob... I don't know that I can do it. I'm afraid," she said.
The experience was tough, but Banderas was very gracious. "One of the things I was afraid of was Antonio — he was an absolute gentleman and so nice, and we're still super close friends — but he was very free," Hayek explained. "It scared me that, for him, it was like nothing."
The film was directed by Robert Rodriguez and Hayek stressed that both he and Banderas "were amazing" and she did not feel any pressure. That does not mean it was easy, though. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the sex scene was filmed in fragmented shots and there was a reason for this. "I was not letting go of the towel," Hayek shared on the podcast. "They would try to make me laugh. I would take it off for two seconds and start crying again. But we got through it. We did the best with what we could do at the time."