Salma Hayek Says Hollywood Is Moving “Too Slowly” On Better Female Roles

By Graeme O'Neil ETCanada.com

Posted September 15, 2015 7:37 pm

Updated September 16, 2015 12:56 pm

1 min read

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Salma Hayek Says Hollywood Is Moving “Too Slowly” On Better Female Roles - image

From Sandra Bullock getting a male role rewritten for herself for Our Brand Is Crisis, director Denis Villeneuve fighting to cast a female (Emily Blunt) in the lead for Sicario, women taking charge has been a big theme at TIFF15. Salma Hayek produced her new film, Septembers Of Shiraz, but she doesn’t think Hollywood is where it needs to be.

“We’re not getting there [yet], but we’re starting”, Salma told ET Canada on the red carpet. The actress still things are moving “too slowly”.

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In Septembers Of Shiraz, an adaptation of the critically-acclaimed novel, Salma and Adrien Brody play a married Jewish couple, whose lives are torn apart when Brody’s character is accused of being a spy for Israel in the midst of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Salma’s co-star in the film, Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, had high praise for the actress/producer. “She’s not only an amazing actress,” Shohreh explains. “She’s so generous”.

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While he doesn’t appear in the film, Gerard Butler also served as a producer on the film. The film’s director, Wayne Blair, says the 2 A-listers took their jobs as producers very seriously. “Gerard and Salma have been involved ever since I started 16 months ago to late last week,” Wayne says. “It was a dream project”.