In 2012, Salma Hayek was exhausted by acting and had lost her passion for it after working on both the comedy *Puss in Boots* and the drama *As Luck Would Have It*. She said she had quit acting, but agreed to appear in Oliver Stone’s crime film *Savages*, a decision the article describes as a turning point that kept her from leaving the industry.

Hayek said her husband persuaded her to take the role of Mexican cartel leader Elena Sánchez, and that she would have accepted simply for the chance to work with Stone, even if she disliked the part. She approached the film mainly for fun, and afterwards continued her acting career.