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Quentin Tarantino is a director often known for pushing the limits when it comes to guiding his actors. Salma Hayek was no exception when she worked with the director on the sets of the 1996 movieFrom Dusk Till Dawn.
With Salma Hayek struggling a bit to pay the rent, the opportunity was one that she could not lose. Portraying the role of Santanico Pandemonium in the movie, the actress had to face her worst fear while shooting a scene.
When Salma Hayek Had To Dance With A Python
Following the ordeals of contracts and whatnot, the filming of Quentin Tarantino’sFrom Dusk Till Dawnstarted. Hayek wasn’t a very well-known actress at that time and was often low on cash when it came to basic household expenses.
Also read:“All kinds of strange things would happen”: Eternals Actor Salma Hayek Sat Through Horrifying Rat-Infested Theatres as a Child to Watch Movies
Finding her footing in the realm of Hollywood, this was a golden opportunity for Hayek, one that she could not pass up on at all. During a sequence, Tarantino promptly revealed toSalma Hayekthat she would have to dance with a snake wrapped around her shoulders. She bluntly said no to the director, since snakes were one of her worst phobias, but Tarantino wasn’t planning on backing down.
In an interview, Hayek stated how Tarantino slyly threatened her that Madonna was also interested in playing the role of Santanico Pandemonium and hinted that she was easily replaceable. Being low on income, theEternalsstar had no choice but to brave through the scene.
“Quentin [Tarantino] told me, ‘Oh, by the way, you’re dancing with a snake’. I said, ‘I can’t do that, I can’t do that. It’s my greatest fear’. Frankly, I really needed to pay the rent.”
To get through the ordeal, Salma Hayek stated that she had to literally brainwash herself by thinking positive thoughts about snakes.
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Salma Hayek Had To Brainwash Herself To Overcome Her Phobia
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Since Tarantino is a director who believes in realism, the snake could not be replaced with a prop. As per the interview,The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguardactress revealed that she immediately started researching the topics of snakes and how to be less afraid of them.
“In some culture, the snake represented—I started doing research—your inner power. And my whole thing that I brainwashed myself into doing this was about dancing with my own inner power.”
She eventually got through the scene and the 1996 movie went on to become another classic hit from Quentin Tarantino. The moviereceived a rating of 7.2/10 on IMDB and added one more example of how far Tarantino can go to get that perfect shot.
From Dusk Till Dawnis currently available to stream on Max in the U.S.
Source:E! News
Visarg Acharya
Senior Writer
Articles Published :3263
Visarg Acharya is a Senior Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 3000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past three years and a copywriter at a corporation. Visarg usually covers news and theories on the MCU and the DCU, with an emphasis on Avengers and Superman; Game of Thrones, and more.A Tarantino fan, Visarg, spends his time critiquing various directors’ filmographies and watching them with curiosity. Medieval fantasy like The Lord of the Rings or sci-fi movies like Interstellar, watching the latest horror movies, and listening to Hans Zimmer become his comfort zone. When idle, he can be found reading fantasy novels with a terrible cup of coffee in hand.
