Loading ...Salma Hayek faces the challenge of promoting 'The Prophet'
Salma Hayek is having problems selling her new movie — which is based on one of the best-selling books of all time.
The challenge? It’s Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet,” which has sold more than 100 million copies in 40 languages since 1923. It’s not exactly tent-pole material.
“I’m having a really hard time marketing the film because there is no system to market uplifting spiritual films,” says Hayek, 48.
Based on the book of philosophical essays by the Lebanese-American writer, the 84-minute movie’s voice cast includes Liam Neeson, John Krasinski, Frank Langella and Alfred Molina. They play characters in such Gibran essays as “On Freedom,” “On Children,” “On Marriage” and “On Work.”
The move into deeper material is the latest evolution for the stunning, Mexican-born Hayek, who started as a soap star in her native land before coming to Hollywood for sexpot roles in “Desperado” and “From Dusk to Dawn,” and winning Spike TV’s “Decade of Hotness” award.
But she also got an Oscar nomination playing artist Frida Kahlo in 2002, an earlier inspiration.
“The Prophet” became part of Hayek’s life when she spotted it on her Lebanese grandmother’s night table when she was 6. The 26 separate spiritual essays left a deep impression on her.
Critics get it. “The Prophet” was well appreciated when it bowed at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Source: www.nydailynews.com