Salma Hayek says directors told her to ‘sound dumber and speak faster’

Actor feels she has not had enough chances to implement her formal acting training

Salma Hayek has reflected on the way she has been treated by directors on set, claming she was told to act “dumber”.

The actor, who will star in the new Marvel film The Eternals, says she has often been cast in roles where she doesn’t have the opportunity to implement her formal training.

“Unfortunately, I never had a lot of chances to do parts where I could use a lot of the things I learned,” Hayek told Total Film magazine.

“Or you learn them and they don’t let you. I’ve had directors say to me, ‘Dumber and faster. Sound dumber and speak faster!’”

Hayek received an Oscar nomination for her role in the 2002 film Frida, in which she played the artist Frida Kahlo.

In 2017, she said she was subjected to unwanted sexual advances by the movie’s producer Harvey Weinstein, who allegedly threatened to kill her in a fit of rage when she turned him down.

Hayek can next be seen in The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard alongside Ryan Reynolds, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L Jackson and Antonio Banderas.

She is also starring in a sci-fi romance with Owen Wilson, titled Bliss.