Los Angeles, May 20 (IANS): Actress Salma Hayek says she was "shocked" when asked to reprise her starring role of Sonia Kincaid in the upcoming action comedy "Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard", sequel to the 2017 hit "The Hit Man's Bodyguard".

The 54-year-old plays is cast alongside Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman in the sequel.

"Quite frankly, I was shocked. I've been in so many movies where we get the call: 'Oh my God, you're one of the most liked characters in the film.' So many times," she said, according to contactmusic.com.

She is happy that director Patrick Hughes listened to what the audience wanted.

"For the first time, there was a director that said, 'I'm gonna listen to the audience'. But I didn't trust him. At the beginning, I said, 'oh, he's just exaggerating. He's just being nice'," she said.

She added: "But then when we started talking about it, he told me the storyline and then I realised, 'oh, my God, this guy is not for real, but he also wants me involved in the process.'"