‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ you’ll want to watch these Salma Hayek movies!
Salma Hayek is back, folks – although, she never really left. Headlines reminded fans of the ageless Mexican American queen this week when publications like Variety reported The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard replaced A Quiet Place: Part II in the top box office spot. Hayek stars in the action-comedy, and Salma stans couldn’t be happier to see her in the number one movie this week.
However, Salma Hayek has been in the movie game for years, starring in some of the most memorable movies of the 90s & 2000s. We’ve gathered up our favorite Hayek hits & hidden gems any Salma Hayek fan will rejoice in remembering.
From Dusk till Dawn
We’re guessing zoomers are just discovering From Dusk till Dawn, the George Clooney & Quentin Tarantino-starring vampire Western from ‘96 (yes, you read right). From Dusk till Dawn comes from Sin City director Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin wrote the movie which became a downright cult hit of the mid-90s.
Salma Hayek is given one of the wildest roles of her life in From Dusk till Dawn as Santanico Pandemonium, a vampire stripper whose bloodthirsty urges are put on full display when the film turns from gritty Western to out-there supernatural thriller. From Dusk till Dawn is bonkers, but one watch will have you wondering where it has been hiding all your life.
Desperado
Salma Hayek first linked up with Robert Rodriguez for a theatrical feature with 1995’s Desperado. 2002’s Frida cemented Hayak’s place in Hollywood history, but Desperado is the first film to show audiences the actor could hold her own as a leading lady, and she does it well.
Desperado plays out like a comic book with over-the-top action sequences, wild props, and buckets of blood. Twenty-nine-year-old Hayek proves her agelessness early on in her career, as the stunning actor plays Carolina, the bookstore owner who helps Antonio Banderas’s El Mariachi on his quest for revenge. After Desperado, Hayak was solidly on her path to greatness.
The Faculty
1998’s The Faculty doesn’t get its due credit. The cult horror flick comes from writer Kevin Williamson who brought fans 1996’s Scream & 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, and holds one of the most stellar casts of any teen horror film of the time period.
The Faculty pairs up Josh Hartnett with Elijah Wood, and Salma Hayak joins John Stewart (yes that John Stewart) as members of the titular high school faculty.
The Faculty gives audiences a unique alien horror film where space slugs enter your brain, take over your body and work to keep spreading and take over the world. The fun begins when a high school faculty is first infected, and Hayak’s Nurse Harper showed fans the actor can not only tantalize audiences but also scare the crap out of them. However, we wouldn’t see Hayak’s true range until her career continued.
Beatriz at Dinner
2002’s Frida showed audiences Hayak was a heavy hitter, and the actor gained massive acclaim for what many would consider the role of her career. However, 2017’s Beatriz at Dinner placed Salma Hayak in an indie film starring role lacking any Hollywood razzle-dazzle in which each actor’s skill was naked & in focus.
Hayak plays a massage therapist who ends up at a wealthy client’s dinner party after car trouble leaves her stranded after a house call. Classes collide at the gathering, and Hayak holds her own against John Lithgow in the stoic & thought-provoking film which comes across like a well-crafted play. Plus, the ending will sneak up on you. Beatriz reminded audiences Hayak has still got it.
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What’s your favorite Salma Hayak role? Let us know in the comments below!
