![]() That’s what they do to me anyway.”īy her usual charismatic standards, Hayek is a little flat today because of the jetlag. So I think the superhero story makes us wonder if there’s more that we can do. It’s out there, so get ready: I think that because we only use from 3% to 10% of our brain, we know there’s a lot more to a human being that we have not discovered. Photograph: Marvel Studios/Courtesy of Marvel StudiosĮternals is Hayek’s first superhero movie – “And I found it fascinating!” I ask why she thinks superhero movies are so popular now, but instead of making the usual economic arguments (eg they’re easier to sell to Chinese audiences than American dramas), she makes a very Hayek one: “I have a strange theory about it. ‘I found it fascinating!’ Salma Hayek in Eternals. “I thought, ‘Wow, I am working with a Chinese female director,’ and there’s a satisfaction in that that’s bigger than the film: it’s watching another woman be so brave, be so clever, be so inspiring.” I was in awe of her every second I was with her,” she says. I ask Hayek if she agreed to star in it because it was directed by Chloé Zhao, who won an Oscar last year for Nomadland, given she has long been a vocal supporter of female directors. “It has to start somewhere, and I’m glad it starts with me!” But good intentions can’t disguise that the script is a load of hooey ( the Guardian gave the film two stars). That casting “feels like a miracle”, she laughs. I’ve only been allowed to see Eternals, and it’s undeniably pleasing to see a female superhero older than 21 – and a deaf one, a gay one, an Asian one and a black one – among the seemingly endless Eternals heroes. This month alone, she stars in two films: the latest Marvel megamovie, Eternals, and House of Gucci, the biopic of the Gucci family. (Mind you, Hayek’s “real” is the bank balance of a Hollywood star.) Plus, she says, she pays for her own expenses in her marriage: “Sometimes I struggle because I have a lot of expenses, but I like that sensation. “I love what I do,” she says when I ask what motivates her to work. But Hayek, 55, was never going to do that. Plenty of actors before her had married wealthy men and then disappeared behind the fortress wall Grace Kelly gave up her career to become the princess of Monaco, and Prince Rainier had a fraction of Pinault’s money. By the time she met Pinault, she was 39 and a famous actor with an Oscar nomination, for 2002’s Frida. Yet, despite possessing a walk-in closet presumably as big as an average house, Hayek is not your average gazillionaire’s wife. Is she allowed to wear brands that aren’t owned by her husband? “I’m allowed to do whatever I want!” she says with mock indignation, although she adds “it’s just easier to buy the brands. Of course, it helps that her husband owns the brand. Her favourite outfits at the moment are Balenciaga dresses: “I have four that I love,” she says. And, to be honest, there are times when she does sound a bit like one. Hayek could have easily opted for the cosy, cosseted life of a mega-rich housewife. The Pinault family wealth is estimated at $49bn. Pinault is the CEO of the fashion conglomerate Kering, which is behind labels such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and many others. She blows a kiss to her husband, François-Henri Pinault, as he leaves the house. “It’s by Murakami,” she says casually of one of the most expensive living artists. Despite the craziness, she looks impeccable in a Gucci dress (“As comfortable as your sweats!”), framed by the enormous mirrored painting behind her. “We’re just making it up as we go along!” she says in exasperation at her crazy life. After this interview she has a fitting for dresses for various movie premieres. “I’m here for less than a week, then I go back for five days for my husband’s work, then I come back here for my work, then I go back to LA because I’m getting a star on the Hollywood Boulevard! It’s crazy,” she says. “Let me tell you about my craziness,” she says by video chat from her home in west London. S alma Hayek is dreadfully jetlagged, which is one of the perils of having homes around the world and frequently hopping between them.
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