CANNES WATCH: Hayek wanted to produce ‘Prophet’ movie for daughter, legacy

CANNES, France – Salma Hayek says she chose to produce her latest film “The Prophet” with her legacy in mind.

The Mexican filmmaker is a co-producer on the animated feature, a screen adaptation of Lebanese writer Khalil Gibran’s book of the same name.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, where a section of the film was screened, Hayek talked about why she decided to take on the project.

“I find something that I want to say and I say it in a way and I do it,” she said in an interview Sunday. “I’m not thinking of my legacy normally. But this project I am thinking of my legacy for my child. It’s not how I choose what I produce but in this one in particular, yes.”

The poetry book on which the film is based was originally published in 1923 and has “sold more than 100 million copies around the world,” explains Hayek.

“It’s very inviting for everyone, different religions, different ages,” she said.

She decided to make the movie animated because “visually you can do extraordinary things. There’s a lot of freedom to it.”

The film is split into different chapters based on poems in the book.

“I thought we could make a little story, a main story that within the story you could take journeys into someone’s imagination, and in this case, a little girl,” she said. “And so the film is very audacious because it has nine animators and they all have a completely different style, but it all feels like one film.”

— By Cristina Jaleru, http://www.twitter.com/cristinelle7