Alfred Molinathe Tony and BAFTA nominated actor, known for his iconic role as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 by Sam Raimi, recently shared in an interview with Vanity Fair an emotional story about the tragic relationship he had with his father and how choosing his acting career at an early age disappointed his father in a way that remains to this day. do not forget.
Molina revealed that in the beginning, before establishing himself as an actor, he rejected the opportunity to follow a more conventional career that promised higher remuneration. At that time, thanks to his performance as a waiter in the restaurant where his father worked, there came a time when he was offered a promotion to a higher-paying position.
“When I was very young, my father got me to work as a waiter at the restaurant where he worked. If I must say so myself, he was a good waiter to the point that management offered me the opportunity to take a two-week management course”commented the British artist.
The salary that Alfred would receive was going to be higher than what he already had up to that date. However, the actor, now 70 years old, decided to bet on his passion for acting, a decision that generated deep incomprehension and disapproval on the part of his father, who at that time did not see that art as a true profession. .
Despite his father’s refusal, the interpreter of The Da Vinci Code, chose to follow his vocation. “I turned it down because I got an acting job. My father says, ‘This acting job, how much are they paying you?’ I said, ‘I’m earning union wage, so £15 a week.’”Molina recalled.
The management salary would have started in the £30 range, which led his father to question Molina’s decision to accept a lower salary to follow his dream in show business. “He looked at me and had the look on his face that you reserve for the crazy and the lost.”Molina recalled, indicating how his choice disappointed his father.
“He looked at me as if he didn’t recognize me. The only thing I could say to him was: ‘This is what I love, dad’. She never quite understood it. I disappointed my father. Yes…if my father had lived a little longer, he would hopefully have realized that he hadn’t wasted his time”said Alfred, trying to hold back his tears and clearly implying that this event has left its mark on him to this day.
Despite his father’s lack of verbal support for his acting career, Molina mentioned that after his father’s death, he discovered that he had followed his career more than he thought. During the funeral in Spain, his father’s widow showed him a suitcase full of something he was not expecting.
“He didn’t call me on the phone to say: ‘What are you up to? What’s happening? We didn’t have that kind of relationship,” Alfred said. “When he died, I went to Spain for the funeral and I was with his widow, who she took out a suitcase full of clippings, photos, pieces of magazines and letters from people who wrote to him saying they had seen me. He kept all this, but never spoke about it”he explained.
Molina never kept the suitcase, even though her stepmother offered it to her. Years later, after a life of success in cinema and a great mark on the hearts of Spider-Man fans, Alfred reflects on childhood and fatherhood: “I have always tried it with my children. All you can do is tell them how brilliant you are. That’s all you have to do”.
Currently, Alfred Molina is back on Broadway in a new production of Tío Vania alongside Steve Carell. Likewise, he will soon be seen in the cinema in the film Harold and the purple crayonco-starring Zachary Levi, which will hit the big screen on August 2.
