Spider-Man 2 (2004)
The Interview with Alfred Molina
Octavius in Zurich! A chance not to be missed by the Daly Bugle... excuse us, OutNow.CH. We met the bad guy. Alfred Molina is a very versatile actor, which started his movie career in Raiders of the Lost Arc. He has been switching from stage to the small and the big screen since. He played in such different films like Prick Up Your Ears, Not without my Daughter and Chocolat. To the OutNow.CH-Interview on July 7 2004 Molina appeared with a beard. He seemed very likeable and professional. He had great fun with the Spider-Man Comic we brought along and continued to talk to OutNow.CH for several minutes after the interview was done.
» Das Interview auf Deutsch übersetzt
OutNow: Hi, we are pleased to meet you. Congratulations, you're performance was great
Alfred Molina (AM): Thank you
ON: What interested you in playing the part of Doc Ock?
AM: I think the main thing was never having done a movie like this before. Most of the films I've always been associated with have been sort of low budget independent films. Or low budget certainly in comparison to Spider-Man. I never thought I'd think of a 60 Million Dollar film as low budget. And just the very different style of work, a very different style of making a film, was very intriguing and interesting. And also that this is a piece of movie history. So I wanted to be part of that. To be a part of what is one of the most important franchises in the history of film seemed like a very nice thing to do.
ON: We noticed, that you seem to like spiders because you already had to confront them in Indiana Jones.
AM: Yeah, that's right.
ON: Did this part influence your career already?
AM: No, I think what happens with a movie like this is that if you are a brand new actor no one really knew this kind of film can propel you into a different area. And certainly one wants to know about you. But I've been making films since 1979 and so I've been around a long time. I've been acting professionally for thirty years. Although I'm new to this franchise and I am new to this kind of movie, I've been around. It doesn't have that same impact on me. But what it does do, I think, is it makes perspective employers think "oh he doesn't just do the Fridas and those kind of little art films". It may help to make the prospect of employing me more commercially viable and if that happens, that's great.
ON: This character is very surreal and there is a danger of overacting such a role. And you put a lot of humanity in Doc Ock
AM: Oh, thank you very much.
ON: I was wondering if this was something you discussed with Sam Raimi.
AM: Oh yeah we talked about that a lot and I think that's something that I think is very typical of Sam's work. Even in his early movies, you know, the Ëvil Dead series and the horror movies he's done. Even when he was working in the horror genre there was always something very human about Sam's work. And I think it's because he himself is much more interested in the idea of planting every character in some very real, human, plausible sort of element. So that when the story becomes more and more fantastic and when all the fantasy elements come in everything is still rooted in something very real. And so yeah, we talked about that a lot. 'Cause I didn't want to play Doc Ock as some kind of snarling villain, you know like Grrrrrrrrrr! It was much more interesting to make him more human and more developed.
ON: Did you always know what the tentacles were doing?
AM: Oh yeah. Somebody asked me once if there was any improvisation involved and there was no improvisation. Everything was choreographed because we had to. They were so big. The tentacles were a mixture of computer graphics and animation and what we called practical tentacles. real tentacles. When they were attached to me with the puppeteers operating them, we had to, they were very cumbersome. And when they were strapped on, they limited ones movement so everything had to be choreographed in order to make it look as natural as possible. And also to make it work in the shot . So yeah, it was all choreographed and rehearsed because we had to work out how do you take of the glasses, lighting the cigar, taking your hat off, all the delicate things as well as all the big things like smashing through the walls and throwing cars in the air.
ON: Did you talk to Stan Lee about your character?
AM: I met Stan a couple of times when we were shooting. Stan is a very discrete, very sort of nice and polite guy. He kind of let the film makers do their thing, you know. But he was very excited about what we were doing with Doc Ock and with Spider-Man 2 and in some stage he was obviously very much involved but once I was filming I only met him twice I think.
ON: Why do you think Doc Ock lasted so long and is one of the most popular villains in the comic book series?
AM: I don't know. I've often asked myself that 'cause it's interesting how certain villains capture the imagination of the fans and others kind of don't. My theory, and t could be wring, my theory is that the reason why he's so popular is that in many ways he's a sort of mirror image of Peter Parker. Both of them are men of science, both of them become their alter egos almost accidentally. And I think those kind of connections make their relationship, both before and after the event, a bit more special. And also I think Doc Ock is a popular villain because the way his look is so outrageous. And he's very much a human. It's not like he's an extra terrestrial. He's not a complete fantasy figure, He's actually human with this extraordinary extra thing. Maybe it's none of those things, I can't pin it down. But it's true he has been one of the most popular villains in the history of the whole Spider-Man series, it's fantastic.
ON: Have you seen any of the other Marvel movies and aren't you afraid that the quality might diminuish if there were too many made?
AM: I have seen some of the other Marvel movies but I think all the Marvel producers, Avi Arad and Stan Lee and all the people involved in Marvel and all the people involved with the franchise of Columbia Pictures, are all very conscious about the fact that there's a very loyal, very large fan base. It's the fan base that makes this movie successful. It's the people who will go and buy a ticket two or three or four times to go see this movie. And that's a very important constituency and I think they're very mindful of sort of not selling them short. A lesser director or a less serious producer might have cashed in on the success of Spider-Man 1 and just made another version and probably he would have gotten away with it. But they didn't want to do that because that would have led to a diminishing, as you say, of the quality. But the fact that they wanted to improve the product, make it a bit more interesting and a bit more complex. I think also it's a testament to the respect they hold the fans with because the fans that go and see this movie are not stupid people. They love this material and they're very knowledgeable. And they can be challenged and the movie doesn't have to be simplistic or one dimensional to work. It can be interesting and complex.
ON: To finish this up I have some keywords and when you hear them, just give me a short answer of what comes to mind.
ON: Internet
AM: Complicated.
ON: Switzerland
AM: Small
ON: Comic Books
AM: Big.
ON: Raiders of the lost Ark
AM: Long time ago. (laughs)
ON: Hotel Rooms
AM: Boring.
ON: CGI
AM: Complicated.
ON: Okay, that's it! Thank you very much.
AM: Thank you.
