Salma Hayek brought her daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault along to the Eternals premiere this week. Hayek and 14-year-old Valentina posed for the cameras on the red carpet at Monday night’s event, and Hayek even told Entertainment Tonight that her daughter played a key part in convincing her to take on this role. Initially, the actress had no interest in the superhero genre.
“For me, it’s a shocker in many ways. Just to know that in your 50’s you’re going to be a hero, an action hero, in the Marvel family,” 55-year-old Hayek said. “And then on top of it, it used to be a man that they just turned into a woman. I mean if somebody told me this five years ago, I would’ve laughed… so hard. And here we are! Anything is possible.”
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When reporters asked Valentina what she thought of her mom taking on this role, she said: “She’s cool, she’s cool.” She wore a black mini dress with polka dots while her mother wore a floor-length black gown for the red carpet. The premiere was in Los Angeles on Monday night, a few weeks ahead of the movie’s theatrical release.
Hayek will play the Eternal Ajak, who was depicted as a male in the Marvel Comics but has been rewritten as a woman for the MCU. Ajak is the spiritual leader of the Eternals, serving as their primary connection to the Celestials – the god-like beings who created them. Hayek was particularly pleased that she is playing a character whose “power is healing.”
Eternals is about a race of seemingly immortal beings who have lived on Earth for over 7,000, guarding humanity from threats including their own evil counterparts the Deviants. The Eternals were created for some unknown purpose by the Celestials, an ancient race in the Marvel mythos who have been hinted at in the MCU before.
In their new movie, the Eternals will be introduced to the world because of “the emergence” – the in-world name for the return of the lifeforms who disappeared after Thanos’ infamous snap. The cast of Eternals is one of the most lauded Marvel has ever assembled. In addition to Hayek, it includes Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee and Angelina Jolie.
Eternals has already received generally positive reviews from the critics who attended Monday night’s premiere. The movie will be available in theaters everywhere on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021.
