Of an epically bad dinner party

Hollywood diaries

If Beatriz at Dinner — about a Mexican-born masseuse and healer invited to dine at her rich client’s home, where the guests include a billionaire real estate developer with a passion for big-game hunting — seems tailor-made for Salma Hayek, that’s because it was. Two weeks before her birthday in September 2015, Hayek spent the day with Miguel Arteta, the film’s director, and Mike White, its screenwriter, and they furiously discussed the dentist who had slaughtered Cecil the Lion, and “this thing about killing for fun,” she said.

After which the men told her they had a project for her. But it hadn’t been written yet. Two weeks later, she received an email from White saying: “Happy birthday. The script.”

The film stars John Lithgow as Doug Strutt, Beatriz’s pompous adversary, who cares not a whit about the environmental havoc he and his projects wreak. When he first meets Beatriz, he assumes she is part of the wait staff. As he gloats about killing a rhino, displaying the carcass on his phone, her placid demeanour cracks and a war of wits ensues — a tangle of race, inequality and immigration at its core.

Hayek, 50 — who divides her time among Paris, London and a Washington state ranch with rescue animals — is married to François-Henri Pinault, the chairman of Kering, the French luxury goods company, with whom she has a daughter, Valentina, 9. In an interview at the Mandarin Oriental in New York, the effusive Hayek chatted about culture clashes and President Donald Trump. These are edited excerpts from the conversation:

Strutt can be seen as a very Trumpian character. What point do you think Mike and Miguel were trying to make?
I think Trump is the collateral damage of the times we’re living in. You know, it’s not that we’re living in these times because of him. No, I think it’s the eye opening of an America that was not clear before.

And the casting of John Lithgow?
I was like, ‘But John is the most lovable human being!’ Have you ever met him? It’s ridiculous. Sweet. He’s almost Mexican. And he’s so big, but he’s so angelic and lovely and kind and generous and a gentleman. And Miguel had a point. You don’t want somebody that moves like a villain because it’s not about demonising that other human being, who also has a belief system.

What’s it like presenting this film amid the debate around immigration from Mexico, your home country, and the president’s desire to build a wall?
I think the most important thing that this film can do is promote the conversation between two Americas, because I want to understand how the people that think very differently than me think. We are spending so much time talking about the wall when the real issue is immigration reform. We haven’t even gotten to the right questions. And it’s a very primitive thought that a wall is going to keep you safe, because history has proved that it doesn’t. I’d like to think that there would be a greater level of sophistication.

You appear to be wearing no make-up in the film. Did that make you anxious?
No make-up, and they would like me ugly on purpose. And only tall girls. Miguel put them in high heels, so that I am even shorter. It was cold at night shoots, and I had on so many layers underneath that the costume could barely fit me. I loved it. It relaxed me, gave me a sense of freedom because you don’t have to make any effort. Do you realise how wonderful that is — that for once you’re not supposed to look this way or the other?

How do you handle expectations of beauty?
Frankly it’s not something I’m fixated on, and I’ve cut myself some slack. Sometimes it creeps up on me, and I hate it, but I’m in a place where I have a good life, where there is love and family, and where I don’t need to impress anyone with my beauty to get the things that I want. I already have my husband, and we are in love for 11 years now. I have my baby. I have my wonderful stepchildren, my animals. You know, what do I care? I want to look pleasant for them, I want to be healthy. But if I don’t work again, I had a good life.

What’s it like being 50 in Hollywood?
When I was young, I read a play by Henrik Ibsen called A Doll’s House. And I thought, ‘It’s interesting, but what I really want to know is what happens to Nora after she leaves the house.’ I realised that the best roles for women are going to come in my 40s because it’s when a woman has the most richness and experience and wisdom, and also challenges that are more profound. If you told me today there’s a magic potion that can take you back to 25, I would never take it. Because I like me better now. And I’m actually curious to find out who I’m going to be next.