London-born character actor Alfred Molina, 51, is a triple threat this summer, playing the baddie in Spidey 2, himself in the Indle Coffee and Cigarettes and the Tony-nominated lead of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.
ON BECOMING DOCTOR OCTOPUS I used to collect Spider-Man comics when I was a kid. When I got the job, I started looking at old comics to see how the character develops. I did a lot of standing in front of a green screen talking to myself, but we have three massive fight sequences, all worked out to the nth degree. It's like putting together a big mosaic with little pieces of tile, one by one.
ON HIS OTHER BLOCKBUSTER The first time I worked in America was Raiders of the Lost Ark. [Molina had a small role as Indiana Jones's treacherous guide.] In 1981 that movie was state of the art. But when you compare it to Spider-Man 2, it seems almost crude.
ON MISSING ENGLAND There's a scene in Coffee and Cigarettes about how you can't get a decent cup of tea in America. It's true! Boil the water and just let it steep for ages and ages. My wife, Jill [a writer and actress], and I are British. And, yeah, we have Marmite [a popular British spread] in the fridge.
ON BROADWAY AUDIENCES People in the front row put their feet up and chew on a quesadilla. It's really distracting. I was in the middle of a big scene and a cell phone went off. I stopped and said, "Please answer that." And I think they did. That's just so rude.
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