Here's why Salma Hayek had to be hypnotized for a major scene in From Dusk Till Dawn. 1996's From Dusk Till Dawn was originally penned by Quentin Tarantinos for another filmmaker, with Day Of The Dead villain Joe Pilato set to play Seth Gecko. Following Tarantino's success with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn became a bigger scale project, with Robert Rodriguez coming on as the new director. The movie famously switches genres around the midway point, with From Dusk Till Dawn starting as a crime thriller before morphing into a gory vampire movie.
From Dusk Till Dawn also gave George Clooney – whose character has a really cool tattoo – his first major leading role, and his career went from strength to strength in the aftermath. The movie later spawned a franchise, consisting of a straight to video sequel and prequel, and a TV series that ran for three seasons. The series essentially remade the original movie during its first season, though it greatly expanded on its characters and the wider mythology of the vampires.
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Both From Dusk Till Dawn 3 and the series expanded on the history of Santanico Pandemonium, played by Salma Hayek in the first entry. Santanico is a dancer at the bar that Seth (Clooney) and Richie (Tarantino) hide out in, and she performs a show-stopping dance that enraptures the crowd. However, it's soon revealed she and the entire staff are really vampires, so once blood is shed, there's a feeding frenzy that sets into motion the second part of the original From Dusk Till Dawn movie. Hayek later revealed to Yahoo! in 2017 that she had to have herself put into a trance to perform with her snake co-star, a large Albino Burmese Python.
When first approached about playing From Dusk Till Dawn's Santanico, Tarantino told Hayek she would have to dance with a real snake. The actor has a very real fear of snakes, but when Tarantino told her Madonna was interested in the part and had no issues dancing with the python, Hayek pushed through the phobia and signed on. However, she has little memory of actually filming the dance either, as she was in a trance state for most of it.
Santanico Pandemonium's From Dusk Till Dawn performance was essentially improvised too, because, according to Salma Hayek (who also cured her horse fear with Eternals), it was would impossible to rehearse with a snake anyway. Instead, she was instructed to "feel" the music for the scene. Santanico's dance is arguably From Dusk Till Dawn's most iconic sequence now, and the only shame about Salma Hayek's role is that she's quickly killed by Seth following the first vampire attack.
Next: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Vampires' Mesoamerican Mythology Explained
