Why Hayek’s not making movies

last updated 8 January 2015

After 25 years in the movie business, Salma Hayek is struggling to find decent roles, said Stephanie Rafanelli in The Times (U.K.). She’s tired of the Latina bombshell parts that brought her to stardom. “You can’t be more bottom of the ladder than Mexican, half-Arab, and a woman over 40 in Hollywood,” says Hayek, 47. “Even now I am usually offered the stripper and maid parts. The closest I ever came to a queen was in [Oliver Stone’s 2012 movie] Savages,as the queen of a Mexican drugs cartel.” Fortunately, Hayek can afford to turn down jobs: She is married to French fashion-firm CEO François-Henri Pinault, who is worth an estimated $15 billion. The couple is in the process of moving from Paris to London. “I want to clarify, it’s not for tax purposes,” Hayek says, alluding to France’s recent imposition of a controversial 75 percent tax on high earners. “François thinks London is very cosmopolitan. I think it will be good for my career, too.” Hayek says she “would kill” for a role in the hit British drama Downton Abbey, as unlikely as that may be. “What’s a Mexican going to do in Downton Abbey? I would have to play deaf and dumb.”