HOLLYWOOD — A lot of actors insist what they really always wanted to do was direct. Salma Hayek isn't one of them.
Oh, she's directing. She helmed Showtime's "The Maldonado Miracle," which premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. But she didn't exactly plan on it.
"I had no idea I was going to be directing one day," Hayek said. "It was not in my plans or anything."
The Oscar-nominee was producing and starring in another Showtime movie ("In the Time of the Butterflies") a couple of years ago when she was pulled aside by a network executive.
"I thought I was fired or in real trouble," she said. "And then he said to me, 'Have you ever thought about directing?' "
She hadn't and she wouldn't at the time. She read the script for "Maldonado" but passed. Then, after producing and starring in the Oscar-nominated film "Frida," she "started reading scripts and I didn't like anything. I said, 'I need to find something that I'm passionate about again.' " Which turned out to be the Showtime "picture of all ages" movie.
"The Maldonado Miracle," based on the novel by Theodore Taylor, is the story of how hope comes to a village full of people who lost hope. The story revolves around an 11-year-old Mexican boy, Jose Maldonado (Eddy Martin), who sneaks across the border and arrives in the small California town (actually, Eureka, Utah, where the movie was filmed) to look for his father. His arrival is tied to what the townsfolk want to believe is a miracle at the local church. It reinvigorates them — but the dispirited priest (Peter Fonda) who leads the flock is conflicted over the events that follow.
The movie, which also stars Ruben Blades and Mare Winningham, starts off slowly but picks up on the way to a satisfying conclusion.
And the actors Hayek directed said their experience was also satisfying.
"She's a born leader and you want to deliver for her," Winningham said. "She's very inspired and excitable and bossy and creative, and you want to make her dream come true. You want to do it for her. Everybody seemed to feel that way. She has this quality of a leader that's hard to find."
"It was wonderful," Blades said. "I hope I get another job with her."
As does Fonda. "I said, 'Next time, don't bother to send a script, just send the plane ticket — we'll talk about the script when I get on the set,' " he said.
Young Martin, a veteran of Spanish- and English-speaking theater, television and commercials, said, "She was great — for being her first time, you know."
But he recovered quickly. "I've never been in another movie or anything — so I don't know how other directors are. But I can't imagine working with another director," said Martin — who ought to go far in public relations, if not show business.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com