During a recent interview with The Independent, actor Alfred Molina (Spider-Man: No Way Home) recalled some disturbing comments he heard made by disgraced producer and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein on the set of the 2002 biopic Frida.
In Frida, Molina, who is English, played Diego Rivera, the husband of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Salma Hayek earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Kahlo. On set during production, however, Molina said that Weinstein was not happy with Hayek’s performance.
Molina said at one point, Weinstein was upset because Hayek’s portrayal was apparently too much like the artist she was hired to play. “[Weinstein] said, ‘Alfred. What the f–k’s going on? I’ve hired the best actors. I’ve hired Salma Hayek. She’s one of the best actors in the world. And what do I see onscreen? Nothing but Frida, Frida, Frida!’”
Molina called Weinstein’s complaint “preposterous” and thought to himself, “Well, that’s the whole f—ing point, isn’t it?” He then said he realized why Weinstein was so upset.
“What he was talking about, of course, was she wasn’t playing ‘sexy,’” Molina said. “She wasn’t playing this gorgeous Latina, this hot tamale. She was playing Frida.”
In a 2017 op-ed published by the New York Times titled “Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too,” Hayek described the abuse she experienced at the hands of the producer. Last year during an interview with The Guardian, she recalled Weinstein’s wrath about her physical appearance on set.
“When he would call me up [during the making of Frida] and scream, ‘Why do you have a [unibrow] and mustache? I didn’t hire you to look ugly!’ I was like, ‘But didn’t you ever look at a picture of Frida Kahlo?’ If a man was playing Cyrano de Bergerac, he wouldn’t say, ‘What’s with the nose?’”
Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison term for rape. Closing arguments in a separate sexual assault trial against him are underway in Los Angeles.