Survivor. Mexican actress Salma Hayek is a well-respected actress with an incredibly diverse resume. She’s outspoken and incredibly active in raising awareness and fighting violence against women. She is also a survivor of sexual misconduct.
Frida Deal. In 2002 Salma struck a deal with Weinstein’s company for the rights to Frida Kahlo’s story. For Salma making this movie was incredibly important. She called it her “greatest ambition.”
Advances. Things immediately got out of hand. Weinstein began to bombard her with unwanted sexual advances. Take a shower with him, let him watch her take a shower, let him give her a massage, let him perform oral sex on her… She refused him every time but he continued to ask. “In his eyes, I was not an artist. I wasn’t even a person. I was a thing: not a nobody, but a body,” she wrote.
Threat. He soon got fed up with her refusals. One time he had lost his temper and sneered at her, “I will kill you, don’t think I can’t.” He continued to harass and cause hell for her on set.
Shut Down. Weinstein had threatened to shut down production on Frida unless Salma filmed a sex scene with another actress. “...He demanded full-frontal nudity,” she wrote. He continued to demand more skin and sex in the film.
Bargaining. They made bargains with him to appease his demands. She wrote, “Once before, Julie Taymor got him to settle for a tango ending in a kiss instead of the lovemaking scene he wanted us to shoot between the character Tina Modotti, played by Ashley Judd, and Frida.”
Didn’t Want to Let Anyone Down. It was becoming clear to Salma that if she wanted to finish her movie she would have to fold. She had put so much time and work into the project already, and she had gotten such a talented cast. She didn’t want to let anyone down.
Immense Pressure. She wrote, “How could I let their magnificent work go to waste? I had asked for so many favors, I felt an immense pressure to deliver and a deep sense of gratitude for all those who did believe in me and followed me into this madness. So I agreed to do the senseless scene.”
Nervous Breakdown. The day she filmed the scene was one of the worst days of her lives. She said that she had experienced her first nervous breakdown that day. “My body began to shake uncontrollably, my breath was short and I began to cry and cry, unable to stop, as if I were throwing up tears.”
No One Knew. No one else on set was aware of what Salma had been going through so they became concerned with her behavior. She couldn’t stop sobbing and convulsing. She took a tranquilizer, which she says helped stop the crying but it caused her to vomit.
Struggle. “Since those around me had no knowledge of my history of Harvey, they were very surprised by my struggle that morning. It was not because I would be naked with another woman. It was because I would be naked with her for Harvey Weinstein. But I could not tell them then,” she explained.
Distance. Salma wrote that she had become so distraught by the end of filming that she had to distance herself from the post production. After watching the cut of the film, Weinstein pulled it from the theatrical release list and stated that it would be straight to video instead.
Convince. Julie faced him about this change and ended up convincing him to “release the film in one movie theater in New York if we tested it to an audience and we scored at least an 80.” Weinstein knew that many films have a hard time reaching that score at a first screening. Frida got an 85. He was irate. He crumpled one of the score sheets and threw it at Julie’s face. The film went on to win 2 Oscars.
Changed Man?. Years later Salma ran into Weinstein at an event. He pulled her aside, pretending that nothing had ever happened. He filled her in with the happenings of his life saying he was a changed man. He brought up Frida saying, “You did well with ‘Frida’; we did a beautiful movie.” Weinstein’s reps have denied Salma’s accusations.
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