Salma Hayek Pinault on Her Christmas Movie and Cooking for Linda Evangelista: ‘She’s Family’ (Exclusive)

Salma Hayek Pinault gets into the Christmas spirit a few months early.

The Magical Mike’s Last Dance The actress, 57, and her longtime business partner Jose Tamez premiered the upcoming Spanish-language holiday film they produced, El Sabor de la Navidadat the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13.

Hayek Pinault tells PEOPLE that the heartwarming film highlights traditional elements of Mexican culture while still feeling modern and “very present.”

Tamez adds, “I wanted to make a Christmas movie that felt like a feel-good movie, but at the same time, I didn’t want to do the same stories that we’ve seen so many times.”

Mariana Treviño in El Sabor de la Navidad.

Courtesy of ViX

The ensemble drama depicts three intertwined stories: two best friends who work as Santa impersonators during the season; a demanding chef hires a new assistant; and a transgender woman who reunites with her family for the holidays after a long absence.

The latter story is one that Hayek Pinault finds universal, as the season is “a good time to try to get back together,” she says. “This can apply to anything.”

Producing a movie set during the holidays was the perfect project for Hayek Pinault. “In my family, we love Christmas,” she says. “We like to go shopping for decorations and little treats and make them original and special.”

For Hayek Pinault, vacation is a multi-day affair every year. “I have some new traditions and some old ones because when you get married you have two families,” says the Mexican-born actress who has been married to French businessman François-Henri Pinault (61) since 2009.

The couple shares a 16-year-old daughter, Valentina, and Pinault has three other children, François, Mathilde and Augustin, from previous relationships.

“One Christmas we celebrate with my Mexican family and one Christmas with my French family,” explains Hayek Pinault. “And my mother-in-law is the most wonderful person when it comes to good taste and organizing dinners and making them delicious.”

For the Mexican celebration, Hayek and her mother, Diana Jiménez Medina, often do the cooking — even on the rare occasion they hire someone to do the work for them.

“Even though I have the option of maybe not cooking, we say, ‘Oh no, we’re so tired. Yes, let someone else cook.’ And we can’t help it. We are in that kitchen three days before,” says Hayek Pinault.

She will even fly to prepare a meal for loved ones. In August, Linda Evangelista — whose son Augustine is Hayek Pinault’s stepson — revealed Frida The Oscar nominee did everything to ensure a festive vacation for a year.

Linda Evangelista is the ‘family’ of Salma Hayek.

Getty Images

“I was sick on Thanksgiving,” the supermodel said Vogue. “And Salma got on the plane with her daughter, came here and made Thanksgiving dinner.”

Recalling that story, Hayek Pinault tells PEOPLE, “It was a pleasure to cook for Linda. And she is family.”

Evangelista told the magazine that she asked for Hayek Pinault’s Mexican chicken and truffle fries, which House of Gucci the star probably had to do it from memory.

“I don’t have recipes,” she says. “I like to go look at food and come up with a recipe as we go. That’s my special thing.”

El Sabor de la Navidad debuts on streaming service ViX this November.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education