Hollywood.com recently took a confession from Alfred Molina about his portrayal of Bishop Aringarosa, the high-ranking church conspirator at the center of The Da Vinci Code.
Hollywood.com: You’ve recently appeared in one highly anticipated, highly hyped movie adaptation with Spider-Man 2–how does starring in The Da Vinci Code, a hugely popular bestseller, compare?
Alfred Molina: I think the amount of interest in this film certainly is equal to the amount of interest in Spider-Man 2, but I think the amount of interest in that was almost a foregone conclusion, in the sense that there was already a built in core audience of Spider-Man fans. And also because it was number two, there was a great sort of expectation that already had built up from a couple of years before, from number one. So I think that really was a case of just knowing how to wrangle that audience and how to wrangle that interest and to make it. Whereas I think this was probably a bit more of a gamble, because although the book had been a huge success, it’s never a guarantee that just because the book’s a big hit the film’s going to spark off any interest. So I think in that sense, it was different but it feels now just as–it has a slightly different demographic maybe although I think it overlaps here and there with something like Spider-Man. But I think certainly the interest on this film is enormous. Of course it’s thanks to the absolutely unprecedented success of the book, but also the fact that the film itself is being done by such a high caliber of people that are involved in it. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, the actors playing the leading roles. They really constitute the best of the best, so I think that gives the whole thing a sense that this is very much an event. This is an important film in the year.
HW: Were you comfortable wearing the Bishop’s regalia?
AM: The bishop outfit is actually terribly comfortable. It’s all made to measure, because if that’s what you wear all the time, then you’ve got to be comfortable, so it was certainly a lot easier than wearing the Spider-Man tentacles. It was a nice change, really.
HW: Did you get a sense of the spiritual weight of wearing the raiment?
AM: Not in any real sense. It’s certainly enough to play a bishop to look like a bishop but if you’re asking me did I have some kind of Road to Damascus experience then I’m afraid the answer is “no.”
HW: Are you an expert at portraying very humanized villains now?
AM: I’ve always felt very strongly that playing a villain, you do the same thing–when you play a villain, the last thing you do is in some way turn it into an attitude where you’re basically telling the audience, “I am the villain.” In the same way that if you’re playing the romantic lead in the movie, you don’t walk around carrying yourself around as if you’re the sexiest thing in the world. That would just be really boring. So I think what you try and do is just find. I don’t like using words like the reality because there’s nothing real about it. But try and find that thing that’s very plausible and very authentic, so the audience feel comfortable about suspending their disbelief and are willing to buy you in that role and go on this journey with you.
HW: What is that, in the particular case of Bishop Aringarosa?
AM: I think it’s just with anyone, with any character, you have to believe in what you’re saying in the same way that he does. I always use the example that the actor playing Sister Mary Theresa has exactly the same responsibility as the actor playing Adolf Hitler. The responsibility is to represent those people as accurately as you can, regardless of whether they’re good or bad, evil or saintly, regardless of what they’re like, you have to represent them. You can’t misrepresent them. You can’t suddenly decide, “You know what? I’m playing Mussolini but I’m going to give him an Irish accent because I think that works better for some of the dialogue.” You can’t do that kind of thing. But when you’re playing a character that’s fictitious, really what they’re paying you for is to be as imaginative as you can.
HW: When you signed on, were you sworn to secrecy?
AM: No, we weren’t sworn to secrecy. I mean, unlike what a lot of people outside the film industry think, we’re not all treated like children. But there was a sense of trying to keep it all under wraps, because you want it to be an event. When a movie this big is being made, it’s only natural that you want to protect the product. Like at car shows when the latest models are kept under those wraps. I think that’s where the term comes from, isn’t it? Keeping it under wraps. All these big, intriguing, enticing shapes are kept under these silken curtains until the very last minute when it gets pulled away and everyone goes ooh. I think it’s the same thing. You want the event to be authentic and a real event. You don’t want half of the audience kind of saying, “Oh yeah, we’ve seen it. I saw it on the Internet.” I think it’s only fair that the studios play things close to their chest, because they want the movie to be an exciting thing for audiences to go and see.
HW: Did you shoot any scenes that were not directly from the book?
AM: No, everything in the movie is from the book. There’s no invented storylines or invented scenes or characters even. It’s a very authentic, very truthful, very respectful, very accurate rendering of the book.
HW: Did this feel like a big blockbuster movie, or a more intimate character movie?
AM: It felt like a big movie, in the sense that we all knew it was going to be a big movie. The most talked about book being made into a film by probably one of the most successful directors of all time, starring one of probably the most famous actors of all time, you kind of think, “Well, this ain’t gonna go straight to video.” So you’re sort of aware of that, but in the making of it, it did feel actually very intimate. It felt very cozy, almost. You didn’t feel like, on the set for instance, you didn’t feel like you were part of something that was like being on a runaway train or anything like that.
HW: You get to be bad with fellow Brit Paul Bettany. Any badness off together off-camera?
AM: There was a certain amount of actor-like banter. That’s always inevitable when you get two English actors together. Part of our modus operandi is to kind of slightly laugh at oneself, at one’s antics. Any British actor I know has this. There’s always a small degree of you can’t quite take yourself seriously. You can’t quite believe that you’re actually getting paid to do this. Unlike a lot of–but I think it’s a healthy thing. It’s healthy to have a certain degree of–it greases the wheels. I remember Helen Mirren once being asked about this in an interview and she was asked by the interviewer, “Why is it British actors are always joking?” And she said, “It’s part of our currency. It’s how we communicate, how we grease the wheels. It’s how we create an intimacy, so you can do the work.”
HW: Are you under a contract option to appear in any future Spider-Man films?
AM: Well, there is a legal option for Spider-Man 3 or 4, but the chances are, it seems unlikely, given Doctor Octopus’s style of demise.
HW: Still, dead is never always dead in comic books. Have you looked at the comics recently to see if there’s a way to bring Doc Ock back?
AM: Not really. I was always quite a fan of the comic books when I was younger, but I don’t sort of read them now. But if I get a call, I’ll be the first one to say, “Yeah!”
