Penelope Cruz Salma Hayek The Prophet, Salma Hayek has turned into quite the entrepreneur. The former Oscar nominee for “Frida,” acts and produces, raises money indie films. She brought “Ugly Betty” to TV. She’s already made one film with buddy Penelope Cruz called “Banditas,” a low budget feature that went straight to video. But Hayek is undaunted. She told me last night at the Vanity Fair party that she’s got a new script for her and Cruz to costar in. Cruz, of course, is now an Oscar winner,and always ready for new challenges.
Hayek is married to a billionaire (Francois Pinault of Gucci) but he’s not underwriting her career. For each new project she has to go out and raise the money needed independently. She has a nose for it.
Her next big producing project is animated version of Khalil Gibran’s mega selling book “The Prophet.” It will turn a profit, too, because Roger Allers of “The Lion King” is the director. Another 28 or so animation directors will contribute smaller scenes too. The budget is $12 million.
Next month, Hayek returns to acting. She’s in Adam Sandler’s “GrownUps 2″ along with Kevin James and Chris Rock. Believe it or not, at the party, she and Paz de la Vega-who costarred with Sandler in “Spanglish”- could not stop praising the engimatic comedic actor for being fun and sensitive on the set. You never know about people, do you?