SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Mexican actress Salma Hayek says she didn't want to wait for the movie industry to create more roles for Latin women, so created one herself in the film "In the Time of the Butterflies."
"I feel that movies, like in real life, have men as protagonists. Only rarely do they make stories about women, and only a few of them are Latin American," Hayek said at a news conference before the Dominican premiere of the film she produced and stars in.
The movie, based on the book by Julia Alvarez, tells the three stories of the Mirabal sisters, who were murdered on a remote mountain road by secret police in 1960.
Hayek, who arrived Monday for the third Santo Domingo International Film Festival, said her job as the film's producer was a "nightmare" but "somebody has to do it."
"I'm not going to sit down and wait and see when there is a project for Latinos," she said. "If we had more women writers and producers, everything would be different. ... I feel good about getting myself into this mess."
Hayek was also set to visit the Mirabal sisters' museum Wednesday in their hometown in Salcedo, 100 miles northwest of the capital.
Copyright 2002 AP.
