Salma Hayek Once Tried and Failed to Avoid Kissing Kevin James in Their Comedy Film
Actor Salma Hayek teamed up with comedic actor Kevin James for the 2012 comedy Here Comes the Boom. But when it came to kissing her co-star, it was something she was initially against.
How Salma Hayek ended up working alongside Kevin James for ‘Here Comes the Boom’
Here Comes the Boom was a 2012 feature co-written, produced by, and starring Kevin James. The film saw Kevin James playing a biology teacher who wants to save his school’s music program. In order to do this, he attempts to acquire the funds necessary to help the program by competing in MMA. Salma Hayek joined the film as a school nurse who also represents James’ on-screen love interest.
Hayek originally became aware of the project through James himself. Prior to Boom, the pair worked together on the Adam Sandler feature Grown Ups. Although Hayek and James shared no screen time together, they managed to bond off-camera.
“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,” Hayek once recalled to Time Out Dubai. “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.”
Eventually, the two felt it would’ve been nice to share their off-screen chemistry for the big screen.
“Then later we were doing the commentary about what was going on, and 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. 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,’” Hayek said.
Salma Hayek was originally against kissing Kevin James in ‘Here Comes the Boom’
As much as Hayek might have adored James, the actor had her reservations when it came time to be intimate with her co-star. Hayek was so determined to avoid the scene in question that she tried getting a double to kiss James instead of her. But this was only because Hayek was a bit too familiar with James’ family.
“I actually did [want a body double] because I’m really good friends with his wife and children,” Hayek once told Ok (via Contact Music). “I’ve been kissing people on screen all the time, but we’re actually good friends and the kids are good friends. It’s the kid thing.”
However, when she did it, Hayek was surprised by James’ talents as a kisser.
“By the way, it is really weird because he’s actually a very good kisser. It was not a real kiss. It was through a fence. Nobody opened their mouth. But he does have good lips,” she added.
It was suggested to ‘ugly up’ Salma Hayek because she was too good-looking for Kevin James
James had similar nice and encouraging words to say about his co-star. But after Hayek agreed to do the movie, James wondered if perhaps Hayek was too good-looking for him. Because of Hayek’s attractiveness, there was concern that her relationship with James might take audiences out of 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 revealed in a 2012 interview with Parade. “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.”
