‘Frida’, the 2002 biopic, which Salma Hayek starred in and produced, tells the story of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
Hayek has recently shared in an interview with Phase 9, “There were some journalists who were very harsh. They weren’t really attacking the film, they were attacking me. Someone said I should never play Frida because Frida was an ugly woman with a beautiful soul, and I was the reverse. When journalists start criticizing your soul, it becomes like voodoo stuff.”
Hayek went on to say that she was proud of her portrayal of Kahlo and that she felt she had captured the artist’s spirit. She said that she was not concerned with the physical similarities between herself and Kahlo but rather with the inner qualities that made them both strong and independent women.
Hayek’s performance in ‘Frida’ was critically acclaimed and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film itself was also nominated for six Oscars and won two for Best Makeup and Best Costume Design.
Hayek said that she was told by one studio executive that the film was “too Mexican” to be nominated for an Academy Award. The ‘Desperado’ (1995) star said that she is proud of ‘Frida’ and that she is glad that she was able to make the film despite the initial resistance she faced.
In addition to the Oscars, ‘Frida’ also won numerous other awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Hayek, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Hayek and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for Hayek.
