News Analysis India

Tag: Salma Hayek

  • Channing Tatum to reprise Patrick Swayze’s role in ‘Ghost’ remake

    By Express News Service

    Channing Tatum’s production company, Free Association, has acquired the rights to the 1990 fantasy-romance film, Ghost.  The actor has recently revealed that he would most probably reprise the role of Patrick Swayze in the remake of the 90s film.

    Directed by Jerry Zucker, Ghost starred Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Vincent Schiavelli, and Rick Aviles apart from Patrick Swayze. The plot centers on Sam Wheat (Swayze), a murdered banker, whose ghost sets out to save his girlfriend, Molly Jensen (Moore), from the person who killed him – through the help of the psychic Oda Mae Brown (Goldberg).

    Meanwhile, the actor is awaiting the release of Magic Mike’s Last Dance in which he will be reprising his role as the lead. This will be his third Magic Mike franchise film, this time with Salma Hayek as his co-star. The film is slated for release in February.

    Channing Tatum’s production company, Free Association, has acquired the rights to the 1990 fantasy-romance film, Ghost.  The actor has recently revealed that he would most probably reprise the role of Patrick Swayze in the remake of the 90s film.

    Directed by Jerry Zucker, Ghost starred Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Vincent Schiavelli, and Rick Aviles apart from Patrick Swayze. The plot centers on Sam Wheat (Swayze), a murdered banker, whose ghost sets out to save his girlfriend, Molly Jensen (Moore), from the person who killed him – through the help of the psychic Oda Mae Brown (Goldberg).

    Meanwhile, the actor is awaiting the release of Magic Mike’s Last Dance in which he will be reprising his role as the lead. This will be his third Magic Mike franchise film, this time with Salma Hayek as his co-star. The film is slated for release in February.

  • Salma Hayek and Anne Hathaway join hands for Seesaw Monster 

    By Express News Service

    Seesaw Monster, the Japanese novel authored by Kotaro Isaka, is being adapted into a film. And streaming giant Netflix has bagged the rights. Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek Pinault will star in and produce the upcoming feature. Olivia Milch is penning the screenplay, and the film’s director is yet to be announced. 

    While Salma Hayek Pinault is backing the project under the Ventanarosa Productions banner, Anne Hathaway is associating with Somewhere Pictures and Ryosuke Saegusa and Yuma Terada ( Bullet Train ) with CTB Inc. The film’s executive producers include Jose Tamez, and Siobhan Flynn for Ventanarosa Productions; Adam Shulman, and Jonathan Rice for Somewhere Pictures; and Milch.

    Though details are kept under wraps, it is known that Hathaway and Hayek Pinault will play rivals forced to work together in an action comedy two-hander. Seesaw Monster’s author Isaka is known for authoring the second novel in her Hitman trilogy, which was made into a blockbuster film Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock. Following the success of Bullet Train, the streaming giant is pinning hope on Isaka’s other novel for adaptation.

    Meanwhile, Hathaway, last seen in Armageddon Time, has a slew of projects in the pipeline including Eileen and Mother’s Instinct. On the other hand, Hayek Pinault, last seen in House of Gucci, will next star in Angelina Jolie’s directorial Without Blood alongside Demián Bichi.

    Seesaw Monster, the Japanese novel authored by Kotaro Isaka, is being adapted into a film. And streaming giant Netflix has bagged the rights. Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek Pinault will star in and produce the upcoming feature. Olivia Milch is penning the screenplay, and the film’s director is yet to be announced. 

    While Salma Hayek Pinault is backing the project under the Ventanarosa Productions banner, Anne Hathaway is associating with Somewhere Pictures and Ryosuke Saegusa and Yuma Terada ( Bullet Train ) with CTB Inc. The film’s executive producers include Jose Tamez, and Siobhan Flynn for Ventanarosa Productions; Adam Shulman, and Jonathan Rice for Somewhere Pictures; and Milch.

    Though details are kept under wraps, it is known that Hathaway and Hayek Pinault will play rivals forced to work together in an action comedy two-hander. Seesaw Monster’s author Isaka is known for authoring the second novel in her Hitman trilogy, which was made into a blockbuster film Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock. Following the success of Bullet Train, the streaming giant is pinning hope on Isaka’s other novel for adaptation.

    Meanwhile, Hathaway, last seen in Armageddon Time, has a slew of projects in the pipeline including Eileen and Mother’s Instinct. On the other hand, Hayek Pinault, last seen in House of Gucci, will next star in Angelina Jolie’s directorial Without Blood alongside Demián Bichi.

  • Salma Hayek, Demian Bichir to star in Angelina Jolie’s directorial ‘Without Blood’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Angelina Jolie is set to direct her “Eternals” co-star Salma Hayek and Demian Bichir in her upcoming film “Without Blood”.

    The feature film is Jolie’s fifth effort as a director and her first project under a new pact with TV giant Fremantle.

    According to Deadline, the movie is currently being shot in the Puglia and Basilicata regions of southern Italy.

    Jolie has penned the film and is also producing.

    It is based on Alessandro Baricco’s international bestselling novel of the same name.

    It is a fable set in the aftermath of an unidentified conflict in a farmhouse deep in the Italian countryside.

    “I’m honoured to be here in Italy to bring this very special material to film, and to have been entrusted by Alessandro Baricco with the adaptation of his book — with its unique poetry and emotion and way of looking at war, and the questions it poses about what we search for after trauma or loss or injustice,” Jolie said.

    “Without Blood” is produced by Fremantle, Jolie Productions, Fremantle-backed The Apartment Pictures and De Maio Entertainment.

    Jolie has previously directed films “In the Land of Blood and Honey”, “Unbroken”, “By the Sea” and “First They Killed My Father”.

  • Salma Hayek replaces Thandiwe Newton in ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Salma Hayek has replaced actor Thandiwe Newton in the third installment of his “Magic Mike” movie series.

    Set up at Warner Bros, the new film is titled ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ and will premiere exclusively on HBO Max.

    According to Deadline, Newton exited the project, which she joined in December, due to personal reasons.

    “Thandiwe Newton has made the difficult decision to step away from the production of Warner Bros. Pictures’ ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ to deal with family matters,” a Warner Bros spokesperson said in a statement.

    Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is back on the director’s chair, after having missed 2015’s ”Magic Mike XXL”, which was helmed by Gregory Jacobs.

    Reid Carolin, who was behind the screenplays for the first two ‘Magic Mike’ films, is back as the writer for the project, which is in production in London.

    Channing Tatum portrayed the titular character Mike Lane in Soderberg’s 2012 comedy-drama movie “Magic Mike”, which follows the life of a male stripper and his life at the club.

    He later reprised the role for sequel ‘Magic Mike XXL’.

    The first two films grossed nearly USD 300 million worldwide and, in 2017, the franchise spawned the successful stage show “Magic Mike Live”.

  • Salma Hayek receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Actor Salma Hayek has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

    As per People magazine, the 55-year-old actor became the 2,709th celebrity to receive a star on the iconic walkway at a special ceremony outside of the TCL Chinese Theatre recently.

    During her acceptance speech, Hayek encouraged others to “find something to love” as much as she has loved cinema over the years.

    “If you think you aren’t good at it like I did, make yourself good at it,” the ‘House of Gucci’ star told the crowd.

    “It doesn’t have to be the movies. Be your best at everything you do,” she added.

    “Try to be better. Try to find the joy in what you do. Work hard. Prepare. Don’t care what anybody says. But most importantly, don’t listen to yourself when you bring yourself down,” she continued.

    Earlier in her speech, Hayek touched upon some of the struggles that she faced at the beginning of her career in the 1990s, including a scary incident in Hollywood where she was nearly stabbed by a stranger.

    The actor said a “poor man who was on the floor and was very messed up” attempted to attack her after she ignored his catcall while showing a friend around the area.

    Eventually, Hayek said, a pair of “gentlemen” from the Hells Angels stopped the man and escorted the women to their car.

    “Every time I thought about Hollywood Boulevard, this is what I remember,” the star said at the ceremony. “The truth is that when I went home that night, I said ‘What am I doing here? Nobody wants me. I mean, I almost got killed today.’”

    The ‘Eternals’ actor also recalled facing racism both in both public and professional settings. Hayek recalled one studio telling her, “Why don’t you go back to the (Mexican) telenovelas? You’ll never find a job here,” which she claims happened “many times.”

    “So I said, ‘Nobody wants me here. They want me in my country,’” Hayek remembered telling herself at the time.

    Ultimately, she chose to stick it out. “If you ask yourself what gave me the courage to stay, I say it was you because although they didn’t know me, here in Hollywood, the studios, all the Latins that are in the United States knew who I was,” Hayek said. “They understood that I came here with dreams like they did.”

    Prior to her acceptance speech, Hayek received praise from Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao, and actor Adam Sandler.

    Sandler called his ‘Grown Ups’ costar and friend “one of the finest actresses of our generation.” “You are an amazing person,” the comedian told Hayek. “You know, down-to-earth is a good phrase about Salma. She’s nice to everybody … She’s an incredible actress, but honestly the nicest girl.”

    Zhao opened up about the support she received from Hayek during difficult moments while filming ‘Eternals’. The director lauded the Marvel star for being both an “incredible actress” and a person.

    “Salma is a person of incredible talent, depth, and compassion,” Zhao shared.

    “She is a woman who is brave enough to pave her own way and never allow anyone to put her in the box,” Zhao added. 

  • It’s a humbling experience to play a superhero in your 50s: Salma Hayek on ‘Eternals’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Hollywood star Salma Hayek says she is someone who “dreams big” and she was surprised to finally get to do “Eternals”, which fulfils her wish of playing a superhero in a blockbuster movie with a great director like Chloe Zhao.

    The upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie revolves around the Eternals, an alien race living on Earth for over 7,000 years, who team up to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants. Hayek said she doesn’t look like a traditional superhero the audiences are used to watching on screen.

    She plays Ajak, the wise and spiritual leader at the heart of the story, who has the ability to heal and is the “bridge” between the Eternals and their creators called the Celestials.

    “It’s a really humbling experience because, you know, I dream big. I dream big and if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have gotten here at all. In my big dreams, I wanted to be a superhero, and I wanted to work with the best directors in the world and have big blockbuster movies and also movies that are art, that are made from a very deep place with great directors,” Hayek said in a virtual press conference for the film from Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

    “And it didn’t happen that much for me. So you fight for it in your 20s, in your 30s and in your 40s you go, ‘Oh, s*** them, they don’t get it, they missed out. I would have been great in the art films and I would have been a great superhero (but) they didn’t see it. S*** them, we’re gonna do something else. ‘Let’s have a baby!’,” the 55-year-old Mexican-American star quipped.

    Hayek said she had given up on playing a superhero and then “Eternals” came her way. “…Now it is very humbling when in the middle of your 50s, a brilliant director gives you the opportunity to do both: do something that comes from a deep place, that is also a big blockbuster. I was wrong. Everything is possible. And it’s a humbling sensation,” she added.

    The “Frida” star said she “almost cried” at the film’s premiere recently when she spotted three little girls of a Latino family dressed as her character. The gender of Ajak, the character played by Hayek, was swapped from a man to a woman as Zhao said both she and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige wanted a “mother figure” as the leader of the Eternals.

    “And when you think about it, you know, in your 50s, (I’m) Mexican. I mean I’m short with big boobs, it’s not the normal superhero…I don’t have botox, I’m doing well but,” she said, pointing to a resounding laugh from the rest of the cast.

    The actor said the team even let her do her own stunts in the movie. When little girls around the world will see her play Ajak on screen, Hayek said they will remember “that everything is possible”.

    The ensemble cast of “Eternals” also includes Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Kumail Nanjiani, and Angelina Jolie. The film is slated to be theatrically released in India on November 5 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

  • My ‘Eternals’ pitch to Marvel boss Kevin Feige had a William Blake poem: Director Chloe Zhao

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloe Zhao says her pitch to Marvel boss Kevin Feige for directing “Eternals” began with a poem by William Blake because she wanted to make a superhero film whose scale was “as large as the creation of the sun” and yet as intimate as “whispers of lovers”.

    The 25th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), “Eternals” introduces audiences to 10 never-seen-before superheroes, played by some of the biggest names in Hollywood such as Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, “Game of Thrones” stars Richard Madden and Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani and Don Lee.

    Zhao quipped that despite her unusual pitch, she was still “allowed to stay in the room”.

    “Well, it started with me showing him (Feige) a macro photo of sand and then quoting a poem from William Blake. I still was allowed to stay in the room so it was really nice. But in that poem, William Blake was trying to convey that you can see the endless beauty and the meanings of the cosmos within the smallest things you can find on Earth,” Zhao revealed in a virtual global press conference on Tuesday night from Los Angeles, which was also attended by PTI.

    The 39-year-old director, known for her humane stories set against sweeping vistas such as “Songs my Brothers Taught Me”, “The Rider” and Oscar-winning film “Nomadland”, said she wanted to go big scale-wise while retaining the intimate tone of the story.

    “The vision of the film was to set out to capture that scale, something as large as the creation of the sun, and as intimate as whispers of lovers. So, going on location, doing this kind of immersive shoot, having the support and understanding of this amazing cast was kind of how we got here today,” she added.

    Feige said with “Eternals” MCU wanted to take a “bold new step”. “…In a post Infinity Saga world, we wanted to make a bold new step and say, ‘You don’t know everything about the universe yet’. And that there are these 10 spectacular heroes who you haven’t met, who’ve been here the whole time’,” the producer said.

    The Eternals are an alien race living on Earth for over 7,000 years who team up to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants. Jolie plays an elite Eternal in Thena and the actor said she was a fan of the MCU and director Zhao.

    “I just wanted to be a part of this family before I even knew very much about who I was going to play. But as I learned about Thena and that’s one of the special things that Chloe brings to this is…she’s known for bringing reality to a film, somebody’s true self,” the Hollywood star said.

    “So a lot of us were cast to bring out something from our own lives, something within ourselves that maybe we weren’t even aware of. And then let it live and let it grow within the film,” she added. Jolie said in her storied filmography of diverse roles, Thena was the most fantastic role and “yet my children said she was the most like me that they’ve seen”.

    “Crazy Rich Asians” star Chan said her character of Sersie may not be the best of fighters but has the superpower of “empathy and real affinity” towards the human race. “It’s kind of coming of age even though she’s kind of 1000s of years old, but she learns to trust herself and to grow into her own power really,” added the actor, who has previously starred in MCU’s “Captain Marvel”.

    Madden, whose character has a love triangle with Chan and his “GOT” co-star Kit Harington, said he is used to doing romance on screen but what was different with Ikaris was that all the decisions made by his character are driven by love. “He’s kind of trying to bury that love because it gets in the way of his duty and he’s constantly wrestling the two,” he said.

    Harington said his role of Dane Whitman, a human who works at the Natural History Museum in London and is dating Sersi, is a “nice, cool guy” and represents humanity. Asked about working with Madden again, Harington said though they have been friends for a long time now, their screen time on “Eternals” was “very little”.

    “I just want more,” he added, reminding fans about how Madden’s “GOT” role of Robb Stark and his character of Jon Snow had separate journeys despite growing up as brothers in Winterfell. “And one thing I really respect him (Dane) for is that a man (Ikaris) flies out of the sky, shoots lasers out of his eyes, steals his girlfriend (Sersie) and he’s kind of cool with it,” Harington joked.

    Actor Brian Tyree Henry, whose character of Phastos is the first superhero to be depicted as gay in an MCU film, said he trusted Zhao “wholeheartedly”. The “Atlanta” star said he was attracted to the character because Phastos, a weapons and technology inventor, chose love over everything he has been through.

    “It really resonated a lot with how I felt my place in society was. How, you know, we can be kings and queens and at the same time, they’ll take our pedestal and take our superpowers from us like that,” he said.

    Henry said he thought he would be asked to lose weight for the role but the director surprised him by saying, “we want you exactly as you are”. Feige said it was important to have a diverse cast for the film as “you can’t do the history of humanity without the heroes looking like a cross-section of humanity”.

    “Train to Busan” star Don Lee, who plays Eternal Gilgamesh, was also impressed with the “great, diverse cast from all over the world”. Also starring Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh and Laura Ridloff, “Eternals” is set for release in Indian theatres on November 5 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

  • Marvel drops new ‘Eternals’ trailer, explains why Angelina Jolie and co didn’t stop Thanos

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: A new trailer for filmmaker Chloe Zhao’s much-anticipated movie “Eternals” dropped on social media on Thursday, giving another glimpse of the superhero group.

    Directed by Zhao, the movie is about the titular group who has been living on earth for the past 7,000 years.

    Created by cosmic beings called Celestials, the Eternals have been sent to Earth to safeguard the planet from their evil counterparts Deviants.

    The movie features a starry and diverse cast of Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Lia McHugh as Sprite and Barry Keoghan as Druig.

    The new trailer starts with Hayek’s Ajak explaining the events that happened in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame”.

    She says the events that unfolded in “Endgame” have led to a new “emergence”, referring to the Deviants.

    For the fans, the trailer offers an explanation to one of the most compelling questions they had after watching the teaser trailer which was released in May — Why didn’t the Eternals stop Thanos from wiping off half the humanity in “Infinity War?” In a scene, Chan’s Sersi is seen explaining the origins of the Eternals to her current boyfriend Dane Whitman, played by Madden’s “Game of Thrones” co-star Kit Harington.

    “Why didn’t you guys help fight Thanos? Or any war or all the other terrible things through history?” asks Whitman as trailer shows some of the worst human tragedies, including the dropping of nuclear bombs in Japan.

    To this, she replies, “We were instructed not to interfere in any human conflicts unless Deviants were involved.”

    The trailers then shows a celestial, implying that the orders came from the groups’ creators.

    Unlike the first teaser, the new trailer is action-packed and Madden’s Ikaris is seen firing cosmic energy beams from his eyes in air while battling a Deviant.

    In the next frame, Nanjiani’s Kingo, who was seen in a Bollywood dance sequence number in the earlier trailer, fires cosmic energy projectiles from his hands towards a creature.

    The action-packed trailer also gives a glimpse at Kro, the leader of the Deviants.

    Zhao, who recently won an Oscar for best director for her film “Nomadland”, has penned the film’s screenplay with Patrick Burleigh Ryan Firpo and Matthew K Firpo.

    Produced by Marvel Studios, “Eternals” will be released in November this year.

  • Salma Hayek talks about diversity in ‘Eternals’ cast

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Hollywood’s Latina beauty, Salma Hayek, who has been cast for the upcoming Marvel movie ‘Eternals’, recently talked about being a part of the film’s diverse cast.

    According to Variety, director Chloe Zhao was very aware it’s not every day that a Latina woman in her 50s is cast in a Marvel movie.

    Speaking about this, Zhao told Variety, “Ageism in Hollywood is a very concerning issue that we must stand against as artists. Aging is a beautiful part of life that should be celebrated. It’s really an honor for us to have Salma to lead the ‘Eternals’ family. I can’t take all the credits.”

    Talking about the diversity in the cast of ‘Eternals’, she added, “When executive producer Nate Moore first showed me the treatment, which he worked on with writers Kaz Firpo and Ryan Firpo, I was impressed with the age diversity of the characters they put together, and it was a big part of what got me really excited about ‘Eternals.’”

    While audiences have only seen a glimpse of Hayek in character, she said that seeing herself for the first time in costume was an emotional experience. “I am claustrophobic. I was terrified of the costume. I was terrified. Because if I cannot move and it’s kind of thick… I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to be able to breathe. It’s going to drive me crazy,’” she said.

    Hayek continued talking about her costume and said, “And I went to put it on, I found myself profoundly moved. It was a very strange experience because I didn’t expect it. I forgot about how does it fit? Am I going to get a claustrophobic attack? All I could see was, ‘Oh my God, here’s a Mexican female in this outfit and this is really happening. And yes, we get to be superheroes.’”

    Adding to her comment, Zhao said, “I think we all gasped. She looked so strong and beautiful.”

    Zhao has been praised for her inclusive casting of the film, which includes Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Harish Patel, Barry Keoghan, Mia Dong-seok, Richard Madden and Kit Harington.

    “I think a lot of people are going to feel seen and that’s important and that’s what matters. It’s not diverse for the sake of being diverse. It’s the way she chose every single one of us that really creates a family for the purpose of the Eternals. For the purpose of the film. It doesn’t feel forced,” Hayek said, talking about the film’s diverse cast.

    The film focuses on a race of never-aging, never-fading figures known as ‘The Eternals’, who were created by powerful godlike creatures known as the Celestials. Since their birth thousands of years ago, ‘The Eternals’ have kept watch over the Earth throughout human history.

    The upcoming superhero flick which is slated to release this year was earlier set to hit big screens on November 6, 2020.

  • Salma Hayek remembers her near-fatal battle with COVID-19

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Salma Hayek recently revealed that she battled a severe case of COVID-19 in 2020 and was even urged to go to the hospital to receive treatment. Variety reported on Wednesday that the 54-year-old star of the upcoming thriller ‘House of Gucci’ revealed that she spent most of 2020 recovering from a near-fatal case of COVID-19.

    The outlet said Hayek, mother to 13-year-old daughter Valentina, quarantined in a room in her house for about seven weeks and was even put on oxygen at one point. During a Zoom interview, Hayek told Variety that “My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad. I said, ‘No, thank you. I’d rather die at home.’”

    While keeping her diagnosis private, last November, Hayek posted on social media a video montage showing her getting tested for the coronavirus several times.

    Sadly, she still suffers side effects from COVID-19. Variety reported that Hayek still hasn’t fully regained her energy since her diagnosis. However, she recently returned to work to film ‘House of Gucci’, which is inspired by a true story.

    In the movie, Hayek plays the role of Pina Auriemma, a clairvoyant friend of Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), dubbed the Black Widow and who served 18 years in an Italian prison for orchestrating the 1995 murder of her husband Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), an heir to the Gucci fashion empire. The film is set to release this fall.

    Meanwhile, fans can also catch Hayek in the Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson starrer, ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’, which she shot in 2019 and will be released on June 16. Then, in November, Hayek will also be seen in Marvel’s ‘Eternals’, another movie she filmed before the pandemic broke out.