Salma Hayek keeps certain aspects of her life private, but the star revealed to Yahoo! News that snakes were her "greatest fear." Speaking with E!'s Justin Sylvester, Hayek further revealed that when she took the role, there was no snake in the script — that was a choice she claimed "Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino" made after-the-fact. This bait-and-switch ultimately produced cinematic gold, but Hayek had to overcome her ophidiophobia to get through the scene.
Had Salma Hayek not overcome her phobia of snakes, another actress would have taken the part, or at least that's what Hayek said Tarantino told her. Hayek alleged that the legendary director said Madonna was interested in playing Santanico Pandemonium, snake and all, and so, not wanting to lose the role, Hayek hung in there, and even improvised the entire dance.
So how did Hayek get over her fear of snakes to make it through the scene? Hayek told E!, "In some culture, the snake represented — I started doing research — your inner power... and my whole thing that I brainwashed myself into doing this was about dancing with my own inner power." This brainwashing was so successful that Hayek told Yahoo! News she had only vague memories of filming "From Dusk Till Dawn," because of the "trance" she was in.
Sometimes the most mundane of situations can stimulate immense personal growth. Now, Hayek tackles large scale, genre-spanning fare, including Marvel's "Eternals" and Amazon's "Bliss," but in 1996, she was not yet the mega-star she is today. Ultimately though, the star overcame her ophidiophobia because, as she told E!, "Frankly, I really needed to pay the rent."
