As Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, Alfred Molina has reflected on playing Doc Ock in the movie and how the role changed his life.
First of all, yes… Spider-Man 2 is 20 years old! That’s so crazy to me! That’s one of those films that I still remember watching in the theater for the first time like it was yesterday.
During an interview with Vanity Fair, Molina talked about the experience of starring in the Marvel movie and said: “Apart from the fact that it’s great fun to play, playing that part, in all honesty, completely changed my life. I mean, it did.”
He went on to explain: “It just took everything not just to a different level, but also to a whole other group of cinema fans. There’s a fan group that loved all the movies like Chocolat and Enchanted April and Frida and all those movies, and now suddenly the children of those people are kind of digging Fred Molina ’cause he’s playing Doc Ock.”
Molina went on to talk about being initially cast in the movie and how surprised he was: “It was a big surprise to me, because it’s not the kind of movie that I imagined myself to be qualified for.
He continued: “You always think of these big action films as [casting] physical types, and I’ve definitely never been that.”
But, he ended up being perfect in the role! He is the best version of Doc Ock that has been brought to life on the big screen, and it was so cool and crazy that he actually got to reprise his role years later in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Molina most likely won’t play the character again, but he had an awesome run as Doc Ock!
