Salma Hayek Typecast: No Comedy Roles because She’s Too Sexy: ‘I Couldn’t Land One Until I Met Adam Sandler’ in My 40s

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Oscar nominee Salma (“Frida”) Hayek revealed in new interview with GQ UK that Hollywood blocked her from starring in a comedy for nearly 20 years because she was deemed too sexy for the genre.

Hayek acted in romantic comedies such as 1997’s “Fools Rush In” (opposite Matthew Perry) and “Breaking Up” (opposite Russell Crowe).

But it wasn’t until 2010’s Grown-Ups that she got the chance to star in a traditional comedy movie. Hayek credited Adam Sandler with finally giving her the chance to be funny.

“I was typecast for a long time,” Hayek said. “My entire life I wanted to do comedy and people wouldn’t give me comedies. I couldn’t land a role until I met Adam Sandler, who put me in a comedy [2010’s ‘Grown Ups’], but I was in my forties! They said, ‘You’re sexy, so you’re not allowed to have a sense of humor.’ Not only are you not allowed to be smart, but you were not allowed to be funny in the ’90s.”

Did being blocked by acting in comedies make Hayek angry? “I was sad at the time,” she said. “But now here I am doing every genre, in a time in my life where they told me I would have expired – that the last 20 years I would have been out of business. So I’m not sad, I’m not angry; I’m laughing. I’m laughing.”

Hayek is back in romance mode for her new movie, Soderbergh’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

In the final installment in the Magic Mike franchise, Hayek plays the older love interest of Channing Tatum’s stripper. Her character, named Maxandra Mendoza, works with Mike to create a male stripper revue.

“More than being a movie about an older woman falling in love with a younger guy, it’s about a middle-aged woman that has a lot of potential and is sick of being undermined her entire life,” Hayek told GQ UK about the movie.

Warner Bros. is opening Magic Mike’s Last Dance in theaters on Friday.

Salma Hayek: Typecast–No Comedy Roles because She’s Too Sexy: ‘I Couldn’t Land One Until I Met Adam Sandler’ in My 40s

Salma Hayek Typecast: No Comedy Roles because She’s Too Sexy: ‘I Couldn’t Land One Until I Met Adam Sandler’ in My 40s

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