The Frida Diary is written by Morris & JacindaPlease note:
This diary is not official and includes details of the script as well as major spoilers.
The information has been collected from Mexican newspapers and will be updated frequently.
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Day 1 (April 7)
After six years of dedication Salma Hayek's dream became true when she entered the set of her movie about the life and loves of Frida Kahlo.
In the morning the first scenes where shot in Puebla City.
Salma Hayek was dressed in red with her hair tied in a knot.
According to Mexican newspapers three different scenes were shot on the first day:
- Frida is looking desperately for Diego Rivera as she wants him to look at her paintings. Rivera finally accepts to have a look at them.
- Trotsky gets followed by people who want to kill him. He hides in Frida's house while she
paints. Frida gives orders to close all windows with bricks to protect Trotsky.
- Frida's and Trotsky's love affair is discovered by Diego Rivera. When Trotsky tries to run away a group of armed civilians arrives.
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Day 2 (April 8)
Today Salma Hayek visited a café of Parisian style to film a scene in which Frida gets nostalgic and decides to write a letter to Diego.
More scenes were filmed in the Avenida J. de Palafox y Mendoza including the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.
The crew also visited a market called "Paseo de los Sapos" where you can buy all kinds of antiques.
They bought several old books, clocks and the glasses which Geoffrey Rush is going to wear as Trotsky.
The next scene portrayed how Frida posed for
a French photographer for the 1938 issue of Vogue magazine.
This photo shooting lead to a sexual relationship between them.
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Day 3 (April 9)
Shooting on the third day started at 7:50.
Frida comes back home to her house where she hides Trotsky.
She finds her desperate aunts with tears in their eyes outside the house.
They all think of Trotsky as the incarnation of the devil. Frida wants them to leave and frightens them by firing her pistol
in the air. Salma seemed to have problems firing the old gun as the scene had to be filmed more than 5 times.
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Day 4 (April 10)
On the fourth day several events that happened between 1929 and 1936 were filmed - for example Matilde Kahlo's death, the stay at the Hotel Barbizon and the Día de Muertos of 1936.
Locations included the restaurant La Guadalupana
and the municipal cemetery where Matilde's funeral was shot.
Later this day a scene was shot in which a drunk Frida leaves a celebration after having broken a glass bottle on the head of a man. According to the Mexican press Salma Hayek had several tequilas to portray this scene accurately.
At dawn they shot the scene of Trotsky's arrival. He is accompanied by Frida and protected by a caravan of cars.
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Day 5 (April 11)
Today's scenes were set in 1932 and connected to the Barbizon Hotel.
Diego is told about Frida's pregancy and finds her after the miscarriage lying in her own blood.
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Day 6 (April 12)
The last day in Puebla included one of the most important scenes. It shows Frida shortly before her death in an almost paralyzed state.
The make-up artists Judy Chin, John Jackson and Raul Sarmiento are in charge of turning Salma Hayek into Frida Kahlo.
The costumes were designed by
Julie Weiss. After 6 days of shooting the production is moving to the historical center of Mexico City.
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Day 8 (April 14)
Edward Norton accompanied Salma on the set. The shooting location was the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) in Mexico City. The scenes involved how Frida and Diego get to meet, talk a while and like each other. It was situated in 1926 and showed how Frida, in a wheelchair, asks Diego to criticize her paintings while he is painting one of his many murals in the place. The second series of scenes involved Frida leaving and Diego looking closely at the paintings, on which he saw her address and because of the impression they left on him, asked her if he could visit her sometime. During the 12-hour shooting time, copies of original Frida paintings were used.
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Day 9 (April 15)
The shooting place is now Texcoco, a small village near Mexico City. Salma had one tough day. The scenes recreated the way Frida painted herself and created “The Broken Column”, in which she appears with a disfigured face and a broken chest, and in which she shows her back column destroyed by the accident. For this scenes, Salma had to use a corset made of aluminum. The scene is situated in 1944. Because of the difficulty of it, Salma was helped by three people for her makeup, because it had to go along with the corset and the wounds. Salma had to use prosthesis on her breasts. Frida used this strange artifact, with an aluminum bar at the back as well, to be able to stand still. Production will now move for 2 days to the Centro Histórico in Mexico City, where they’ll shoot in the Colegio de San Ildefonso, an antique cultural building.
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Day 10 (April 16)
The call was at 6 o'clock. Both Salma Hayek and Diego Luna attended makeup and were dressed to appear as college students. The scenes were shot in the Colegio de San Ildefonso and they involved the moments when Salma meets Diego. She was dating Alejandro González Arias (Luna) at the time. Diego was painting one of his murals, which was reproduced by 12 painters for the movie. Salma ate with the rest of the staff in a building next to the location. She dressed in a uniform and had really short hair. It seems that there’ll be lots of scenes shot there, because they will stay there for another day and will then move on to the Estudios Churubusco.
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Day 11 (April 17)
Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina and Diego Luna continued shooting at the Colegio de San Ildefonso. Alfred was the first one to be called, since scenes of him painting the mural “La Creación” (“The Creation”) were to be shot. An important scene was also filmed portraying how Diego's second wife, Lupe Marín (Golino), surprises him while painting a portrait of a nude model. She throws food at him from a basket she is carrying and leaves. Then he starts making love to the model, but Frida, who is hidden, tells him to be careful because his wife was returning which wasn't true. Salma arrived in a grey dress and a white skirt looking like a college student once again. The location was set to recreate the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, where Frida studied before going on to medicine. Her boyfriend Alejandro then left her when he decided to continue with his studies in Paris. The scenes involved the first encounters between Diego and Frida as he was his teacher and lots of extras were needed to play the students that also witnessed the scenes. Production will now move on to the Estudios Churubusco. In May they will go to San Luis Potosí, where they'll shoot the moment when Trotsky is imprisoned and Frida is declared a suspect. They will stay there for 3 days, only to return to Mexico City later that week.
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Day 12 (April 18)
The first day of shooting in the Churubusco Studios turned out perfectly as planned. Reports say that the scene of Frida's accident was shot, although I have my own doubts. I think of it as a very elaborate scene which must be filmed outdoors. Anyway, for weeks, technicians have been building a replica of the Casa Azul, which is the place where Frida lived. The construcion is filled with details, both outside and inside in its rooms. Everything has been decorated to appear like in the 20's. The day started at 7 o'clock and scenes 9, 10, 23, 25 and 28 were shot. The first two scenes involve Frida and Alejandro while having a romance. One scene recreates the way Frida and Alejandro get into a closet and start fooling around while her mother and sister arrive and surprise them unclothed. Around 3 o'clock the staff went to eat and a Mariachi was brought to celebrate producers Ann Ruark's birthday. Scene 23 involved Frida lying in bed in the room that belonged to Diego's second wife. She was suffering from a lot of pain that was caused by her wounds and a device covering her entire body for sanation. Frida drew butterflies and a replica of her own foor in this uncomfortable device. Another dialogue that was shot was that of Alejandro telling Frida that he was now heading for Paris. Then he kissed her. During the day, various extras started to get tired, so Salma had to talk to them in a humorous way to calm them down.
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Day 13 (April 19)
Shooting in the Churubusco Studios continued. Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Diego Luna and Patricia Reyes Spíndola worked from 8 in the morning until late in the evening. The production was using the 4, 5 and 6 forums. Salma's publicist said they would shoot there for nine days, although not necessarily in a consecutive order. Scenes shot yesterday recreated the time when Diego and Frida lived for a while in New York. An exact replica of the Casa Azul was finished and it is said to be high on detail. For the next days, production will move on to some exterior locations, just before they head to San Luis Potosí and end at the Teotihuacán pyramids. The shooting of "Frida" will take a rest tomorrow, although Salma will use this day to continue with her painting lessons as some of the paintings used in the movie are said to be painted by herself.
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Day 32 (May 7)
We're back with some news on the shooting of "Frida". The recreation of the infamous accident which the artist suffered when she was still very young is being done with a lot of attention to detail. The production shot in the Plaza de Armas in San Luis Potosí, where they built a small bus made of wood in which the artist was travelling. The train went on to hit a wall, which caused the many injuries in Frida's body. Filming will now continue in San Luis Potosí.
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Day 38 (May 13)
Production on 'Frida' returned to Mexico City after several days of shooting in San Luis Potosí. Early in the morning Salma arrived in the San Rafael area where a big structure was built which said "Cantina tu Suegra". In that place, several scenes with Frida and Diego Rivera were shot. Salma supervised everything and had no makeup for the entire morning. Shooting went well since there weren't people trying to see the actress or making the task more difficult for the production. Shooting will continue in San Rafael for a couple of days. Then it will move to some important buildings in the city.
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May 28
Geoffrey Rush joined the cast of 'Frida' last Friday and has been shooting on the Estudios Churubusco until this Monday. Salma and Geoffrey were spotted early in the morning at the Pirámide de la Luna, the Palacio de los Jaguares and the Calzada de los Muertos. They shot a scene in which, after a lot of effort, they reached the first resting spot of the Pirámide de la Luna, which is way north, just at the end of the Calzada de los Muertos. The take was ready after eight tries, in the middle of which Salma tried to rest by covering her face and using a big umbrella held by Miramax production members. It was a hot sunny day, and shooting was interrupted at noon so that the actors and about 30 extras could eat.
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June 5
Antonio Banderas was filming his three scenes for 'Frida' on Tuesday in Xochimilco.
As this was the only day Banderas could film 'Frida' the cameras rolled for more than 12 hours.
One of the filmed scenes is about an argument between David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera.
Being asked about his role in the movie Mr. Banderas said:
"I feel well, David Alfaro Siqueiros is a person that I admire because I am a politically interestest person myself. I tried to portray him faithfully in only one scene.
Working with friends like Alfred Molina, Salma Hayek and Ashley Judd is a great feeling for me, I am very content.
My performance is a small collaboration. I wanted to be with Salma because it has been her greatest dream to make this film and here I am."
Banderas was joined on the set by Ashley Judd, who plays Tina Modotti in the movie.
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