Friday, Apr. 01, 2005 - 7:00 pm
(Original Posting at http://irmabelle.diaryland.com)
Oh my gosh! I've got such a crush on Alfred Molina now!!!! (I'm such a dork, lol!) Mostly because I admire him as an actor, but also because he's so self-confident and relaxed as a person. (My impression of him based on his behind the scene interviews. The crush part will fade quickly (most of the celebrity crushes I've had only last a week at most), but I'll still admire Molina's skills even after the crush is gone.
I took another look (and another and another) at two of Molina's scenes in Spiderman 2: The first scene in the pier warehouse where he realizes he doesn't have control of those tentacles anymore (DVD Scene 20: Doc Ock's Lair), and the scene at the end of the movie where Peter is trying to convince Dr. Octavius to tell him how to stop the fusion reaction (DVD Scene 47: Peter Appeals to Octavius). I was stunned by how effortlessly, subtly, and realistically Molina's facial expressions changed, how you could see him thinking in between his spoken lines. GOD, I hope I have that talent too! (I don't really know, because I've never had the opportunity to watch a taped performance of myself...)
I *LOVE* Molina's performance in scene 47 how, after being electrocuted, he's laying there, and he opens his eyes, then looks up after a moment, aware that someone is crouching near by, looking at him. But then his brow furrows as Spiderman speaks to him. Spiderman takes of his mask to reveal his face. Doc Ock just stares with his eyes wide open for a moment, then states, "Peter Parker," matter-of-factly placing a name with the face. He stares another moment, then starts to smile and nod a hello. Suddenly a thought occurs to him, he arches an eyebrow, takes in a quick breath with the eagerness of the memory, and says, smiling more widely, "Brilliant, but lazy!" He nods again to Peter, grinning easily.
If it had been me, given those two lines in those circumstances, there wouldn't have been nearly as much in the performance. Perhaps the begining of recognition with the statement of the name, and then only another moment before the next statement, without so much inner life.
Watching Molina just blew me away! I also found it fascinating in the rest of the film how, as Doc Ock, he could be completely charming and seemingly friendly one moment, and in an instant turn into a deadly attacker. For example, Spiderman meets Doc Ock on top of the clock tower, and asks, "Where's Mary Jane?" Doc Ock says almost sweetly, "Aw, she'll be okay." He smiles widely, charmingly, and motions to Spiderman with two fingers. "Come down and let's talk," as if speaking to an old friend. As soon as Spiderman moves, Doc Ock attacks aggresively, with a furious and deadly look on his face. Wow! I researched Molina's film resume, and it turns out he's really good at portraying insanity and bad guys, he's gotten a lot of recognition for those types of roles.
It also turns out he was in Maverick as well, (I knew while watching Spiderman 2 I'd seen him somewhere before, I just couldn't place where) He played Angel, the Spanish cowboy who is attempting to prevent Maverick from getting to the big poker contest. Holy cow, Molina's character was so intense in this movie, and had a much harder edge to him than Doc Ock. But he still displayed the same effortless switch between contrasting attitudes, this time between relaxed carelessness and fighting. I'm thinking about the scene in which Angel finds out that Maverick paid off some guys to loose a fight as a scare tactic. He's relaxed until the moment he throws the first punch, then he's completely into the fight, kicking their butts, and as soon as it's over, instantly he's relaxed again, walking away as if nothing happened.
Back to Spiderman 2: I watched both scenes through a number of times, and then imitated Molina's performance. I figure that's the best way for me to learn at this point since I can't afford classes right now. One of my acting teachers once said that sometimes just presenting the physicality of an emotion will create the emotion itself. So by physically imitating Molina's performance, I'm learning...something, lol. Lost my train of thought there...I'm learning to subtly change my facial expressions and look as if I'm thinking. I'm learning to give a charismatic and visually dynamic performance, not just a flat one-emotion performance (eg: now I'm sad, now I'm confused, now I'm evil, etc, which I don't think I do most of the time, based on comments I've gotten from my teachers the last few semesters, but there's always *always* room for improvement.) And hopefully, in this process of imitation, I'm *not* learning to look as if I'm portraying the physicality of the scene without the inner life that goes with it or with a false, dishonest inner life.
You know who else I love to watch acting? Anne Heche. She is just so *there* with the other person, listening to them completely. She's not thinking about her next line, or what sort of facial expression she should make to react to what she's hearing, she just *there*, in the moment, listening.
I WANT TO ACT!!!!! But I need to take classes! There's so much I still need to learn, so many skills I don't have yet. AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
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