Learning by observation

I just watched "Frida" for the first time today, and Oh. My. God. It is such a good movie! I found it extremely powerful and moving. I wanted to see it because Alfred Molina was in it, and I just got swept away by the story. And some of the songs that are featured through-out are just so raw and emotionally powerful even though I don't understand Spanish! I'm going to attempt to find translations for them online, because I think knowing the lyrics to those songs will make the impression even more powerful than it already is. This movie's definitely going on my Amazon Wishlist!

And I'm learning so much about acting just by watching Molina in different roles. In Frida, his portrayal of Diego Rivera was much deeper, richer, and more realistic than his portrayal of Dr. Octavius/Doc Ock in Spiderman 2. Both characters were portrayed with total emotional honesty, but Doc Ock was more of a charicature, an outward representation of a character (very skillfully done, IMHO) which is entirely appropriate for a film based on a comic strip. (But I wasn't aware of Molina's charicaturistic style of acting in "Spiderman 2" until I saw "Frida" today.) I've been reading on the message boards that Molina is brilliant, and I'm starting to learn why.

I'm also noticing other little things he does that add to his performance. For example in Spiderman 2, he adds to his spoken lines with physical action: The bit where Spiderman meets Doc Ock on top of the clock tower. Spiderman asks, "Where's Mary Jane?" Doc Ock's line is: "Oh, she'll be okay. Let's talk." Molina added 'Come down' to the line "Let's talk" by motioning to Spiderman with two fingers. Another example: Doc Ock has just bust through the doors into the train. The passengers step between Ock & Spiderman saying, "If you want him, you'll have to go through us." Ock's line is: "Very well." Molina added 'If you insist' with a quick cock of his head before "Very well."

But then in contrast, with each role, I've noticed how sometimes he communicates something he's feeling or thinking simply with his eyes. He remains beautifully still, and just through his eye movements you see what's going on inside of him.

And his character Angel in the movie "Maverick" was different yet again. I noticed that he made his voice more gravelly and a touch deeper for that character, and that the character's attitude is much harder. At first glance, to me, the character seemed to be the type of guy who has a short temper. But on closer look, there are instances in the story where Angel could have lost his temper very easily, but there wasn't even any anger in his expression. Excellent choices by Molina, made the character much more intriguing and definitely NOT a stereotype.

I feel like I'm totally gushing, here, and that perhaps all this I've been writing about is totally apparent to more experienced actors. But I don't have the experience, and I feel like I'm learning a lot of useful tidbits through my observations.

And I feel like, for the first time, I'm really starting to discover and understand what I want to accomplish. When I started my Diaryland journal in 2003, I really didn't have a clue, just that I wanted to be an excellent actress in the movies. I was picking role models based on how they were regarded by the industry, and whether or not I liked the movies they made. Now I'm crystalizing what I really want: I'd like to be an excellent character actress in mostly independent films. And I'm choosing Alfred Molina as a role model for myself, because his career has been as a character actor in mostly independent films, because he has awesome talent and skill that I can learn from by watching how he portrays his characters, and because of who he is as a person, self-confident and comfortable with himself both on-set in-character, and off-set. I believe that my personality is similar to his: He seems to be a nice person, unassuming, honest, and down-to-earth, and he still has a child's sense of play, of wonder & discovery. Here are some quotes I found in articles about Molina, I found them interesting:

QUOTES

Molina on people knowing his movie roles, but not his name: "In America it's odd because when you talk to journalists they ask things like 'Does it bother you that people kinda often refer to you as, you know, aren't you the guy that played so and so?' And I'd say, 'No, it's actually a compliment if the actor is disappearing and what remains in the memory is the performance.' " (Guardian Unlimited)

"If they are recognizing the performance, then that's a great compliment. The fact that they don't know who I am suits me fine," says the actor, known to his friends as Fred. "Maybe it's self-serving, but that means I'm keeping the work really varied and hopefully taking people by surprise." (St. Peter's Berg Times: Floridian)

"Fiddler on the Roof" director David Leveaux on Molina: "Fred doesn't have many solemn bones in his body. He's much too serious an actor to be solemn." (St. Peter's Berg Times: Floridian)

Molina on his acting career: "But I've just worked, and I don't think that there's such a thing as a career. I think that career is a myth. A career isn't what you have ahead of you. A career is what you've got behind you. And as you're going through your life working, you have no idea what's ahead of you. A career is simply what you see behind you after ten, fifteen, or in my case thirty years as an actor." (Blackfilm.com)

"I don't think that I've ever had that wonderful feeling when you've finished a job or where you feel like you've mastered it or sort of nailed it. I certainly never trust actors when they come off stage from a performance and they say, 'Oh, I nailed that tonight.' I always think that never happens. You never nail it. I went to see this movie [Spiderman 2] and I sat there thinking, 'Oh, shit. I could've done that better. No. No. Oh, no. That was a bad choice.' You can never be satisfied. If you're satisfied, it's time to retire." (Blackfilm.com)

DID YOU FIND IT DIFFICULT TO ACT IN FRONT OF THE GREEN SCREEN?
MOLINA: No. I didn't because I love the sound of my own voice and there's no one else there to give you notes. It's great. When I'm on my own, I think that I'm Lawrence Olivier. It's when I'm working with other people that I realize how bad I am. (Blackfilm.com)

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE 'SPIDER-MAN' PART, DID YOU GO AFTER IT, DID THEY COME AFTER YOU?
MOLINA: I was on a list with a whole bunch of other actors. I was asked to come in and read for Sam. I thought that it was a meet and greet. I didn't think that for a minute they'd be interested in me just because this isn't the kind of film that I'm associated with. Then we had a second meeting where I read again. I was very relaxed. There was nothing at stake. Then by the third meeting, I realized I could smell something in the air. I thought, 'Something is up here.' Of course when I realized that, the stakes were a bit higher. The third meeting, I sucked. I read very badly because I was nervous. The first two meetings, I just walked in like, 'Oh, hi everyone. How are you doing?' because there was nothing at stake. By the third meeting, I was nervous and sweating and I just fell apart making stupid jokes. Avi Arad handed me a pair of sunglasses and said, 'Try these on,' and I tried them on and they put me on video with these sunglasses and I said something stupid like, 'Oh, is this my screen test?' No one laughed. I thought, 'That's it, I've screwed this up,' but as it turned out, that's what got me the part, the sunglasses. (Blackfilm.com) [Note: Director Sam Raimi has been quoted as saying it was Molina's performance in "Frida" that got him the role as Doc Ock in "Spiderman 2".]