Salma Hayek and Ryan Reynolds are two of Hollywood’s most successful actors of all time. For starters, Hayek is best known for her work in critically acclaimed films such as Desperado, and Frida. On the other hand, Reynolds is praised for his performance in the Deadpool movies, as well as the drama thriller Buried.
Over the years, Hayek and Reynolds have also worked together a couple of times, much to fans’ delight. And now, one can’t help but wonder how their relationship is truly like when the cameras are not rolling.
They’ve Made Two Films Together So Far
The 2017 film The Hitman’s Bodyguard may be largely seen as a buddy action-comedy. After all, the film’s story revolves around Reynolds being a bodyguard for Samuel L. Jackson who plays a hitman set to testify at the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, Hayek plays Jackson’s wife who also happens to be a con artist. Despite having a supporting role, no one can deny that the Mexican-born actress was quite the scene-stealer. This was something that director Patrick Hughes knew would happen all along. And in fact, he had even mentioned this to Hayek when he was pitching the role to her.
“She was in like three scenes, and she was on screen for two and a half minutes, but I pitched it to Salma, which is like, ‘I know you’re a big movie star and I know what I’m asking you to do is two and a half minutes of screen time, but I believe that you could steal this role if you make it your own,’” Hughes recalled during an interview with ComingSoon.net. “And she did because she just really lit it up.” In fact, Hayek lit up the first film so much that it only made sense to give her a bigger role in the installment.
“That just felt like a family dynamic, and then to move into the sequel it's like, we've got to get Salma in the mix here and put her front and center because she completes that family dynamic,” Hughes, who returned to direct the sequel Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, explained while speaking with Entertainment Weekly.
Behind the scenes, the dynamic among the cast members couldn’t be better too, especially when it came to Hayek and Reynolds. Things even got quite physical between them, but Reynolds didn’t seem to mind being on the receiving end of Hayek’s slaps. “In Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, I’m slapped in the face twice by Salma and once by Samuel L. Jackson. For the record, it was Salma who didn’t pull the punches. Not even once,” Reynolds revealed while speaking with Variety. “I can still feel the sharp sting of her tiny hand working its way into my soft Hollywood cheekbones. May God have mercy on her soul.”
All jokes aside, Reynolds has come to admire Hayek’s commitment to playing a character, as well as her determination to further improve a film. “Salma is a writer. She comes to set with a writer’s mind and outlook,” the actor explained. “She’s constantly improving, rewriting, and reminding us all what the scene is actually about. She comes to play and build.”
They’re Both Into Improvisation
Some actors strictly stay with the script but not these two. In fact, in Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, Reynolds had improvised a line where he tells Hayek that he would never trust her to look after the Chucky doll. “That one's his 100 percent,” Hughes confirmed. “The Chucky doll line is his. That's got Ryan all over it.”
At the same time, Hayek got in on the improv fun too. “We knew our characters really well and we understood our situations and we were able [to] just go wild and free in every scene, in every take, and that’s been delicious,” the actress explained during an interview with FilmIsNow. “To be able to improvise in this character that I know so well, that I love so much, with such amazing talent.”
Meanwhile, Hayek was also pleased that she finally got some screen time with Reynolds in the second film. “In the first movie, I didn’t get to have any scenes with Ryan, and it’s just been such a delight,” Hayek said. “Like I said, we improvised a lot together, and I really found myself waking up really looking forward to the adventure of [not] knowing what the heck we were going to do and say. And I have so much respect for his talent, and not to mention Sam.”
Salma Hayek Has Done Babysitting For Ryan Reynolds In The Past
Behind the scenes, it looks like Hayek and Reynolds have become good friends. After all, these actors can readily relate with one other, with both being parents to young children (Reynolds and wife Blake Lively have two daughters and a son while Hayek and husband François-Henri Pinault have a daughter).
In fact, Hayek even helped Reynolds and Lively babysit their daughter at one point. Back in 2017, Reynolds invited his co-star over to his home to cook dinner. And somehow, Hayek ended up doing double duties. In a photo she posted on Instagram with Reynolds’ adorable daughter, Ines, Hayek jokingly wrote, “When your friends invite you for dinner and you end up doing all the work.”
Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard was just released very recently. Meanwhile, Hayek and Reynolds don’t have any other project together at the moment. However, that can all change rather quickly since Hayek has already joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Marvel recently confirmed that Reynolds’ Deadpool is coming to the MCU as well.
