Salma Hayek has received some very sad news following the success of her 2021 movie, Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.
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It has been announced that Brandon Murphy, who co-wrote the action comedy, has tragically passed away at the age of 43.
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Brandon died in Los Angeles on 9 January – although as of yet, no further details have been released. At the time, he was preparing for the release of horror thriller Snow Valley – his directorial debut – which was in postproduction.
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Brandon penned Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard with his younger brother, Phillip Murphy, and with Tom O'Connor, who wrote the original 2017 film.
Screenwriter Brandon Murphy has tragically passed away at 43
Salma first portrayed Sonia Kincaid, the wife of Samuel L. Jackson's titular hitman, in 2017's The Hitman's Bodyguard - although her character spent most of the film in a prison cell. In the sequel, her character is more prevalent as she teams up with Ryan Reynolds' bodyguard, Michael Bryce.
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During an interview on Red Table Talk, Salma revealed how she fought for Sonia. "It was conceived as maybe a girl in her 40s, but the truth is that I said 'Why?'" she shared.
Brandon co-wrote the 2021 movie, Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
"And I said, 'Let's make it a woman in her 50s and I think we should make it about her having to do all this action while she's going through menopause."
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The 55-year-old star, who has experienced symptoms of menopause in real life since her 40s, said that she "had to convince some people" to modify the character in the ways she had suggested.
"And they were like, 'Do we have to say the word [menopause]?' And I'm like, 'It doesn't matter about words. What matters is that we go through it,'" Salma recalled.
Salma starred in the sequel as Sonia Kincaid
Noting it was important to show "there's no expiry date for women", she added: "That has to go because you can kick ass at any age, hold your own at any age.
"You can dream at any age. You can be romantic at any age. We have the right to be loved for who we are at the place that we are. "We're not just here to make babies, we're not just here to baby the men. We're not just here to service everything and everyone around up."
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