Blake Lively and Salma Hayek Talk About SAVAGES, Slapping and Spitting on ...

Full View  Question: Salma, we’re used to seeing drug cartel lords being these cold-hearted, macho men.  Your character is not only obviously a girl, but she has a lot of layers going for her.  Did that come from the book, or was that what you brought to the role? SALMA HAYEK:  The character was much smaller in the book.  That was (director) Oliver [Stone], who started the whole process.  He was incredibly generous because we really did work as a team, all of us.  He really welcomes your input on the character.  He actually will not like you, if you do not have something to give.  He wants you fight with him, and he wants you to bring something to the plate.  We worked really well together, designing the character, but it originated from him.  He made that character a little bit more interesting than in the book....

Full View  HAYEK:  That’s what you would think, but being a mother can make you find the toughest part and the inhumanity of the character.  As a mother, for your children, you are willing and capable of doing anything.  You can justify it.  I don’t know about some other mothers, but Mexican mothers will do anything for their children. That is where this character turns.  Everything I justified, I was okay with doing it.  It didn’t matter because I did it for my children.  If I didn’t take over, they would have given it to my other child, and he was weak.  They would have killed him.  I had already lost the twins and my husband.  So, yes, it helps you find the vulnerability, but it also helps you find the fearlessness....

Full View  LIVELY:  This movie was terrifying, in so many ways, because it’s so graphic and so violent.  She experiences such an arc that it’s challenging, as a an actor, and it’s also challenging, as a person.  I’ve got a family.  I’ve got nieces and nephews.  I’ve got a young audience from my show (Gossip Girl).  That plays into it, too.  You have a responsibility to your personal life, too.  It was a really strange situation to be in, in making this movie.  But, the most important thing, all along, was telling the truth and telling the heart of this story.  I think that she’s very much a modern young girl.  She comes from new money, living in Laguna Beach.  Her mom is off with her eight different husbands.  It’s a shame that you will miss that, in the movie....

Full View  HAYEK:  I don’t care if you hate me or if you like me, as long as somebody gives me a character that is really a character to play.  It’s fun to be able to have a character and have a director that can direct you into a character.  I’m just so happy that I got a good role.  I don’t care if it’s bad or if it’s good, and I don’t care if it’s drama or comedy.  They are just so rare to come across. Is it more fun to play a villain? HAYEK:  It doesn’t matter.  It’s more fun to play a good character with a good director and good actors around you.  That’s what makes it fun.  The more variety, the better.  I loved this one. Blake, you have Gossip Girl and you are doing all these movies....

Full View  HAYEK:  I have to tell you, Oliver would never use English because it’s for the market.  Not Oliver.  If it was the right thing to do the whole movie in Spanish, he would do it in Spanish, in a heartbeat, and he would fight for it.  Funny enough, the cartel people that work in the United States, that are of Mexican descent, speak in English.  When we’re in Mexico, I’m speaking in Spanish.  But, when I’m on the phone with the people here, it’s mostly in English.  Even the people that have kids who have grown up in the United States, those kids don’t want to speak Spanish.  He was very, very careful about that, and asked a lot of questions and did the research....