It's an unseasonably warm and sunny Halloween, and the spirits—whether you believe in them or not—don't want Salma Hayek Pinault and me to speak to each other.
Our scheduled phone call—where we planned to discuss the actor and producer's latest project, a new reimagining of the beloved Mexican book and 1992 film Like Water for Chocolate—has dropped three times. Most A-list publicity teams would have rescheduled, not wanting to deal with the hassle, but Hayek Pinault was determined to discuss the new six-part series of which she's an executive producer. It's a project that took six years for her to bring to life, after all.
It's impossible to describe the plot of Like Water For Chocolate in a succinct, easily digestible way. Set in early 1900s Mexico, it follows the story of Tita, whose mother Mama Elena refuses to let her marry, insisting that as her youngest daughter, Tita must take care of her until her eventual death. Mama Elana manipulates Tita's lifelong love, Pedro, into marrying her other daughter, Rosaura, a match Pedro agrees to only so that he can remain close to Tita.
To keep busy and escape her heartbreak, Tita cooks—cream fritters, quail, cakes, and more—but, in a surreal touch, she transports her emotions into everything she makes. If she's sad, a bite of cake will cause an entire wedding party to burst into tears. If she's feeling, erm, heated, a spoonful of mole sauce will get the guests at a dinner table hot and bothered. Desire, sensuality, sisterhood, family trauma, and tragedy are all a part of what has made Like Water for Chocolate a timeless story that has resonated with women across generations and cultures.
For Hayek Pinault, the original film also represented a formative time in her life and career.
“What is peculiar about this film in regards to my life is that I had just moved to the United States with a dream and I was getting rejection everywhere,” Hayek Pinault tells Harper's Bazaar. “And all of a sudden there is this one film that is practically the first film in Spanish based on a Latin American novel that had a crossover success in the United States. It sounds like nothing … but you don't know what it meant for me and for [other Latinos at the time]. It was the first time that I felt that people were interested in us and respected us—there was a cultural appreciation that I had not experienced since I had gone to the United States.”
HBO
Like Water for Chocolate did cause a cultural shift when it was released in 1992. It became the highest-grossing foreign film for the era in the United States and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Decades later, it was even turned into a ballet.
These days, as Hayek Pinault points out, it's not nearly as unusual for American audiences to become emotionally involved in television or films set in a foreign setting or told in a foreign language. “Now I get to bring [this story] to new generations in a different format—a format that is in a different time, where now it's actually becoming habit of many people to watch projects of different cultures and different languages, whether they read the subtitles or they use the translation,” she says. “And now we can take this Latin American literary jewel and export it around the world.”
Shifting the story from a feature film to a six-part limited series was an easy decision for Hayek Pinault, since it would allow the chance to provide more depth into the characters.
“I think the show really resonates with the times, especially because it's a story about women fighting to create their destiny and taking control,” she says. “There's also the incredible fear we have of disappointing our parents, there's the political situation in when it happens with the Mexican Revolution. … It's a story about change, but also family and traditions. I come from a different generation and there's so many traditions that we are losing that really pains me—sitting together and cooking and sharing a meal. Now we just order everything! But this is a story about my favorite subjects: love, food, and magic. It's about the power of intention in the little things that we do.”
When it came time to cast for the series, Hayek Pinault knew her two lead lovers not only had to appear perfect for each other, but also that they could hold their own against veteran actors Irene Azuela and Ángeles Cruz, who portray Mama Elena and the maternal family cook Nacha.
“They are a force of nature—the character of Nacha and the character of the mother—and there's such a strong presence in their own acting styles,” she shares. “We needed a young person that was able to stand next to those forces of nature and hold her ground. I needed somebody that I knew the audience would never get tired of watching and that's a quality that either you have it or not. I believe that Azul [Guaita] is a superstar—she's enchanting.”
HBO
Azul Guaita and Andres Baida as Tita and Pedro.
There was a little bit of magic present on set as well, according to the actor. Hayek Pinault shared that some of the love and passion that went into finishing the production may just have passed over to real life. The two leads playing Tita (Azul Guaita) and Pedro (Andrés Baida) are now dating, she reveals.
“Our Pedro and Tita fell in love also in real life!” she exclaims. “We did not go wrong [with casting]—that one thing is for sure.”
With Like Water for Chocolate premiering this Sunday, Hayek Pinault hopes that viewers have room to reconsider how they feel about certain characters in the story, especially the purported villians.
“It's very interesting for me to see how the new generation interprets classic characters,” she adds. “It was important for me not to compete with the film that is so important in my life, but rather have the capacity to see the characters in a new way. The character of Rosaura—I always hated her. But in the series, now you almost feel for her. The mother also didn't get to choose her love either and now seeing her alone in the revolution with three daughters—she didn't get to choose her destiny. It's been fun to explore all of that.”
Watching the latest imagining of Like Water for Chocolate at times feels familiar—not because it invokes the memory of the original film, but because it calls to mind Hayek Pinault's 2002 passion project, Frida. While Mexican surrealism is present in both projects, that's not the overarching similarity. What's clearly present is the dedication and intent that went into creating a project meant to serve as a reference of Mexican history, tradition, and creativity for years to come.
“The actors, the directors behind the cameras, everybody on set knew we needed to do something special,” says Hayek Pinault. “Being able to see the talent of all these people that gave me their very best—and knowing the circumstances in which it had to come together—seeing all of that was so brilliant and it truly moved me. I knew the story, I knew the script, I knew every word and it still moved me.”
And while the premise of Like Water for Chocolate is beautifully complex, Hayek Pinault's viewpoint on why this specific Mexican story has stood the test of time is more simple.
“It makes you wanna eat and makes you wanna make love,” she laughs. “And that's what I want to watch on TV.”
