Salma Hayek wasn't interested in Marvel's Eternals initially until she learnt who the director was

Salma Hayek didn't want a role in Marvel's new movie Eternals at first.

The actress - who plays spiritual leader Ajak in the film - wasn't keen to even audition for the upcoming hotly-anticipated movie because she figured she'd just be playing an extra or "the old prostitute" but she snapped at the chance when she found out Chloe Zhao was involved.

She recalled to Entertainment Weekly: "I said, 'Forget it.' I said, 'God knows what kind of grandmother they want me to play.' I'm used to being told I'm going to be the extra or the old prostitute. And then they said the director was Chloe Zhao, and I said, 'Okay! Let's have the meeting!'"

Meanwhile, Zhao revealed she signed up for the latest Marvel movie because she loved how "diverse" the cast was.

The filmmaker said: "That really impressed me, how diverse the cast was [in early drafts]. Not just in terms of gender, race, age, but overall, I could see the desire to reflect the world that we live in, as much as possible.

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"That is great, but what was most important to me was actually to be able to tell a story and to craft characters to be as individual as possible, and to really showcase what's underneath the surface of what they look like and what they represent.

"These are unique, flawed, and complicated individuals, just like you and I. That's what drew me to these actors. That's what drew me to the story of each of the characters."

Salma had recently admitted she feels lucky to be in such a diverse Marvel movie, which also stars Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, the first openly gay superhero in a Marvel movie, as well as Lauren Ridloff - who plays deaf superhero Makkari.

She said: "I love it that I'm in the one Marvel movie that is completely diverse and very different than all the other ones."