This sheds light on the challenges that actors face when filming intimate scenes.
In the world of Hollywood, the success of every movie depends on the chemistry that exists between the actors. But occasionally, even the most talented stars can experience some worry or hesitation when performing certain scenes.
This was the case for Salma Hayek when it came to her co-star Kevin James in their 2012 comedy “Here Comes the Boom.” James portrays a biology teacher in the movie who fights in mixed martial arts to generate money for the music department at his school. Hayek plays James’ love interest and the school nurse.
James and Hayek previously collaborated on the Adam Sandler film “Grown Ups,” where they became friends off-screen. This is something Hayek talked about during an interview with Time Out Dubai.
“On Grown Ups, he was my neighbor. The two families, my husband, his wife, and our kids, are the same age. He was living next door to me throughout the whole movie, and I really found him to be quite an amazing man,” the actress recalled.
“His talent shocked me. He is so good with physical comedy – very clever, very fast. We were very funny together off-screen because we don’t have any scenes together on Grown Ups.”
They eventually decided to bring their on-screen chemistry to life, and James created a role for Hayek in “Here Comes the Boom.” She said, “Then later, we were doing the commentary about what was going on.”
“I said, ‘You know, we’ll have to do a movie together properly,’ and he said, ‘You’re absolutely right. You will be in my next movie. We’ve got to find something,’ and he did.”
Hayek added: “He called me, and he said, ‘I’m doing this film [Here Comes the Boom] and I’m writing you a part. Are you still up for it?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
However, Hayek initially hesitated to be intimate with James, as they were good friends and their families were close. With that, in one scene of the film, the famed Mexican-American actress disclosed that she tried to avoid kissing James.
She even tried to hire a body double for the kissing scene but ultimately had to perform it herself. Although they kissed through a fence and neither opened their mouths, she was surprised to discover that James was a skilled kisser.
Hayek is not the only one who has worries in the film. For his part, the actor initially worried that given his co-star’s attractiveness, it could be difficult for the audience to believe they would end up together in the movie.
“She wanted to do the movie, and the challenge for me was that no one was going to believe that we would get together! Everybody said we have to ugly her up, but you can’t,” James stated in a 2012 interview with Parade.
Nevertheless, he was equally complimentary of Hayek, praising her comedic timing and improvisational abilities, saying, “But she was the best person for it since she does do that improv. I wanted to show people how funny she is.”
“She just comes at you. She attacked me in that scene. The part that’s not in there is that when she kneed me down south, I was out for like 10 minutes! She’s crazy! We had a lot of fun shooting it.”
Although Hayek initially hesitated to kiss James, the two had a great time filming the scene, which ended up being a memorable part of the movie. “Here Comes the Boom” was a commercial success, earning over $73 million globally despite the film’s mixed critical reception.