First up for the press interrogation was the title character of the film, played by Jay Baruchel, who had come off a successful run of comedies including Knocked Up and Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder. When we spoke to him last summer, no one could possibly have known how he would have blown up this year with the duo of She’s Out of My League and DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon.
Q: Are you shooting tonight?
Jay Baruchel: I don’t think so.
Q: Just came to hang out?
Baruchel: Oh, God no, I came to see you guys.
Q: Well, that was a mistake!
Baruchel: No, I’d be hanging out, passed out on my couch playing video games otherwise. How’s it going?
Q: How does it feel to be the title character of a movie rather than the fourth guy?
Baruchel: No, it’s fun. It’s daunting, terrifying, it’s a lot to live up to, but I don’t know, it gives me bragging rights when the Happy Meals and sh*t come out. I am in fact the apprentice in question, so yeah, it’s fun as hell, especially something as iconic as this.
Q: Have you seen any likenesses of the toys yet
Baruchel: Oh, God no, I’m totally talking out of my ass.
Q: Nic was very insistent that he did not hire a voodoo doctor, so we can only assume that you did.
Baruchel: Wait
what? No, I hired a Santeria practitioner who lives in my bathroom. No, I got nothing. Nothing like that.
Q: Tell us about working with Nicolas Cage. What’s he like as a guy hanging off-set on the set?
Baruchel: Yeah he’s a good man. I enjoy his company. I get along with him really well. He’s smart as hell. I think he’s really, really talented, he’s incredibly kind and funny, and I assume we have no choice but to get along given how much of the movie is just he and I and a car or in a room for weeks on end. No, I love him, and I get such a kick out of
he has such an iconic and distinct way of speaking, such a unique cadence that I grew up hearing in movies, so to be in conversations with that weird, distinct way of speaking is a trip and a half. It’s a pinch-me moment. I’m pleased as punch. I really really love the dude.
Q: You’ve been in a bunch of R-rated movies and we assume this is going to be PG or PG-13
Baruchel: I would assume. (laughs)
Q: Does that mean you have to tone it down and is it hard to improvise?
Baruchel: This is the main cross I bear (laughs). This is the hardest thing for me to do on a day-to-day basis is to not say “Balls” or “p*ssysh*t” or something random. I can’t even say “damn”; they don’t even like me saying “damn” off-camera. As my mother always said when I was a little kid, “Swearing is an ignorant man’s refuge,” so it makes me have to stay on my toes and have to come up with hopefully funny thing that don’t involve the “F-word” in them.
Q: Have you actually said anything that you thought was okay and they said, “No, you can’t say that”?
Baruchel: Yes, oh constantly. Apparently you can’t say “balls” ever. (laughs)
Q: What about playing a physicist or a physics student? Did you have to do any research into that?
Baruchel: (laughs) I suppose I could have.
Q: But you have to be believable when you talk about things.
Baruchel: Yeah, well that’s just acting, that’s just faking it. No, it’s like my favorite actor is from the set of “Marathon Man” where Dustin Hoffman is being interrogated by Laurence Olivier and Hoffman was running and doing laps around the block and didn’t sleep the night before just to get really into that intense head space and he asked Laurence Olivier “What do you do?” and Olivier said, “Try acting.” (laughter) We had like technical advisors and people on-set to make sure I don’t sound like a jag-off, but no, I have obsessive interests of my own so I just substitute that in my mind with physics in the movie, that’s basically what it is.
Q: Obsessive interests like…?
Baruchel: Oh
cats, martial arts weapons. What else? Hockey. F*ckin’
I really really love Viking sagas. (laughter)
Q: Can we assume you’ve been tasked to provide a lot of the comic relief and improv?
Baruchel: I’ve certainly tasked myself with it. (laughs) Much to the chagrin of anyone who hires me, I’ll ad-lib like it’s going out of style, and they’ve been incredibly kind to me about that. They’ve kind of let me do the Disney PG version of whatever my thing is here, and Nic’s the same way. Nic likes to riff a lot, but his riffs are completely different in that he’ll just yell stuff or say random words but it’s fun. We just like to keep it interesting, so yeah, they let me ad-lib. Every once in a while, I’ll say stuff that they’ll yell “cut” as soon as I said it. “You can’t say that! You can’t do that in this movie!” but for the most part, I like to think I’ve got a pretty good batting average, but of course, I haven’t seen the f*cking thing, so we’ll see what happens.
Q: What’s it been like shooting in New York on location, having all these people around watching? How’s that been for you as an actor and doing what you do?
Baruchel: Well, it’s weird. I mean I love it here. I’ve loved this city ever since the first time I’ve come here and I live only about a 45-minute plane ride away, so I’ve been able to go home a lot, and the city is just like everyone knows, it’s the capitol of the world. Do we need one more schmuck to tell everybody how great New York is? Everybody knows how great it is. It’s a bit insane shooting in the middle of it sometimes, especially when you’re driving around in a very visible car like a Mercedes or a vintage Rolls Royce and you’re sitting next to one of the most famous humans on the face of the planet. Nicolas Cage in midtown on a Friday is a very interesting thing. So that stuff’s been interesting to contend with. I just like to be making a movie here period.
Q: Why did you want to make the movie? Was it because of Bruckheimer? Was it the potential for a franchise?
Baruchel: No, I have far more naïve ambitions. It was really because it just seemed like a fun thing to do. I’m a huge nerd, and I love any movies with sorcerers and wizards and monsters and people shooting energy out of their hands and all that kind of thing, and I never get to be the lead in those movies. I’m a fan of those movies but they never cast me for the main guy, they get Milo Ventimiglia* or something. (*That was random) So for me to get my chance to do what I do whilst flying around and shooting energy out of my hands, that was the main reason. At the first mention of plasma bolts is when I decided I wanted to be in the movie.
Q: What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done on set or that’s coming up that you’re looking forward to?
Baruchel: Um
boy. I have to say that when we shot – the nucleus of that whole movie is that one sequence from “Fantasia” where all the mops come to life, and we do that sequence. We do our modern-day big budget Bruckheimer version of that sequence, and that’s the happiest I’ve been during the shoot, because it’s going to be absolutely incredible. Whatever words I would use would be a disservice to it, but I was really, really psyched and it wasn’t lost on me that I was involved in film history as we were doing it. It was a huge, huge deal, so that was really cool.
Q: How do you spend most of your down time?
Baruchel: When I’m not shooting
it’s been a pretty crazy hectic workload, and so, I haven’t the energy to do anything but play Xbox or my computer, watch movies or listen to music. I’m a homebody, I’ll read a lot. It’s embarrassing how most Friday nights you can find me cross-legged in my apartment eating a tin of tangerines, reading a comic book. That’s most likely what I’m up to.
Q: Do you generally like going back and forth between doing studio movies and independent films?
Baruchel: Yeah, I live in Montreal, so you don’t want to be away from home and your family and your friends and your way of life, so I love working in Canada. Also, I love independent movies because the less money involved the freer people feel and that being said, I get to contribute and put my two cents I a lot of this. There are truly benefits to both. I’m going to be a cliché and say that I dig indies, doing them a bit more, but this is fun as hell. I get to do stuff that I never ever get to do in any of those.
Q: Did anything change for you after “Tropic Thunder”?
Baruchel: I wish I could say “Yes.” I’m a guy who has been on the cusp since I started acting in the cusp. When I was 18, I was the lead in a TV show that everyone loved that got cancelled, then I was in a movie that won Best Picture at the Oscars (“Million Dollar Baby”) and then I was in “Knocked Up” and “Tropic Thunder.” I’m not trying to brag, far from it. My point being that every time those happen, somebody asked me that question, “Have you noticed stuff change for you?” It’s like, “Not f*ckin’ really. I keep workin’, it beats a poke in the face. I can buy catfood and pay my mother’s rent, all that’s good. But no.” Also, I’ve been on TV in Montreal since I was 12 so it’s been a long time since I’ve known a life where people didn’t look at me on the street anyway, so all I can do is be in movies that I dig. I’m psyched that I’m in “Tropic Thunder,” that’s for sure.
Baruchel’s love interest Becky, played by Australian actress Teresa Palmer, who previously starred in Adam Sandler’s Disney movie Bedtime Stories.
Q: Are you doing this in an American accent?
Teresa Palmer: I am. Not this Australian accent. I think it’s a little too thick for Jerry Bruckheimer. (laughs)
Q: You’re not going to do this interview in the American accent?
Palmer: I probably should. My dialect coach would appreciate that. No, I’m so American in the film, playing an American university student.
Q: Tell us about your exposure to the original cartoon. Were you familiar with it and when you got the role did you go back and watch it?
Palmer: I think I first saw “Fantasia” probably in 1990 when I was five years old. I’ve been a big fan of all the Disney stuff, and “Fantasia,” especially the music behind it. I listen to that, and I get very nostalgic. I remember being a kid and watching that and the hippotamuses (sic) and all the dancing and I think especially the segment of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was a highlight for me of “Fantasia,” so obviously I’m very excited to be affiliated with the film.
Q: How did you get this role? Was it something you went after or they approached you?
Palmer: I had just done a film called “Bedtime Stories,” which is Disney, and I think that helped because I got in the know with the Disney executives from that film. It’s the same process with every movie. My manager hands me a script and tells me what he thinks of the script, and says, “We should definitely pursue this” and “This is on the top of our pile, this is the one you’ve got to get. Now go in there and win the audition,” so I went straight in and read for Jon Turteltaub, and we had very similar energies in the room, and we were both laughing in the first five minutes. I felt like it was going well, so I read through and did that one, and then I tested with Jay actually, because he came in and read with a bunch of different girls, and found out about two weeks later that I got the role, which is so exciting.
Q: What did you have to do for the auditions?
Palmer: Oh, well the first one is just pretty standard. You have a sheet of sides and you learn lines and you come up with different things you want to play, but for a test, it’s completely different. You go into hair and make-up. There’s a whole crew. I met half of this crew there on my test before I even knew I had the film, so it’s incredibly nerve-wracking, because you feel like you’re almost there. I tested for things before and hadn’t got them, and it’s so disappointing because you meet the people and you think, “Oh, this could be me,” but sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. Luckily enough for me, on this one it worked out.
Q: You’ve done a lot of films in Australia, but what’s been new about this experience for you?
Palmer: I say the scale of the production. Obviously, I’ve never been on a film that was such a huge production, and it’s so exciting, and it’s a big action film, and I’ve never done an action movie before. I’ve done comedies and psychological thrillers and I’ve done a few dramas, but this is my first real hands-on action. I get to do some stunts, and it’s all very exciting, and obviously working with Jerry Bruckheimer is such a dream. He’s just such an incredible presence. You see he’s on set today and he’s really hands-on, and it’s really refreshing, and yeah, I’m just blessed. I’m so happy!
Q: What’s your favorite sequence so far?
Palmer: I think it was probably that iconic sequence from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with the brooms that come to life and the mops and they’re chasing Jay Baruchel, and he’s so funny. He’s hilarious in the film. Very slapstick comedy, and he’s trying to hide but the brooms and the mops are hitting him, and it’s as we’re just about to go on a date, and it’s just disastrous, but just such a hilarious scene. He’s just brilliant in this film. I think this is going to blow him up.
Q: Are there any big CG sequences that you’re involved in?
Palmer: Yeah, I’m in a few actually, which is great. I’m in the very last sequence in the film, which is a lot of stunts, and I get captured by Alfred Molina’s character who is the evil sorcerer, and I have to save the world. I had to push this big satellite out of the way and then I’m dangling off the edge of the building. It’s kind of exciting and I haven’t shot that yet. I do that in the next few weeks.
Q: What’s it like working with the rising star Nicolas Cage?
Palmer: Oh, yeah, I think this will make him a big star. He’s incredible. First of all, it’s so amazing to actually be standing there and doing a scene with Nicolas Cage. I’ve been a fan since I was so little. I still pinch myself every day when I’m on set that I get to work with him. He’s so humble and he’s lovely and so talented. I couldn’t say any more. He’s such a brilliant person, and yeah, I’m happy.
Q: What about Jay? He’s very funny and he’s always joking and cracking people up on set, so is he able to be on set without making everyone laugh during takes?
Palmer: Yeah, I think he has the whole crew in stitches all the time. Not only is he really funny but he is the most down to earth person. He’s very unaffected by the success that he’s had, and I think that’s so refreshing and inspiring to me as someone who is rising out from watching other people on set. I love how he does that, and everybody enjoys him and his work, as do I.
Compared to Teresa Palmer, Italian actress Monica Bellucci is an old pro, except when it comes to keeping plot points a secret as she gave away a pretty major spoiler for the movie’s plot in her very first response! So yeah if you don’t want to have that point spoiled, you might want to skip ahead a couple of questions. Although Bellucci wasn’t filming on the night we visited the set, we know from pictures taken from the set that her character plays a pretty big role in the scene that takes place in the location, probably appearing after what we watched being filmed.
Q: The first question has to be about the hair because we’ve seen some concept art of your character, and it looks very different for you.
Monica Bellucci: Yeah, I think its different actually but that’s why I said “Yes” to this movie because (SPOILER!) it was interesting to play a double character because in this film, I’m Victoria and Morgana. Victoria is the long lost love of Balthazar, played by Nicolas Cage, and there’s a moment in the film where she’s possessed by the evil sorceress Morgana, so that’s why I said “yes” to the movie. For the chance to play the good and the bad and a double personality, and also to make a movie that my child can watch. Finally!
(SPOILER OVER)
Q: Very different than “Shoot ‘Em Up”
Bellucci: Yeah, or “Irreversible” or “The Passion of The Christ” or all those tough movies.
Q: You tend to do a lot of movies overseas and then do a big Hollywood movie every year or two. Do you like working that way?
Bellucci: It’s so strange, because I never said I was going to go to America, I’m going to live there, live in New York or stay in Los Angeles. I live in Rome and Paris and sometimes London, once in a while, so actually, it’s quite incredible when once in a while, American directors think about me, because I’m not part of the system at all, and I like to work that way actually, because I like my quality drives in Europe. Once in a while, it’s good to be here, and I have all this energy, but this energy is so overwhelming for me, you know? I’m so European and kind of lazy.
Q: The Italian film industry is very different.
Bellucci: I think it’s small. It’s so incredible because it’s so great to have a chance to work in Italy and then go to Paris and work with French directors and then come here and once in a while get a chance to be in big movies or small movies. Because I’ve done the last Rebecca Miller movie, “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee,” and it’s a small movie, so it’s great to have the chance to do different things with different directors and do small parts, big parts
Q: What was the biggest challenge of this part for you?
Bellucci: As I said, it was just for the chance to play two roles at the same time, and also because I’ve never done a film that my baby could watch, so this time she’s going to see a movie and I’m going to be in it, because I think she’s going to see “Irreversible” when she’s 40. (laughter)
Q: How’s it been working in New York where you have all these people watching you work? Has that been very different than you’ve done before?
Bellucci: To be here is the kind of
you have people waiting for you outside and asking you for autographs and pictures. I like to work in the studio I have to say. You’re more protected. I prefer that, but everybody’s going to be fine.
Q: You don’t get that in Rome?
Bellucci: A lot, a lot. In Rome, I’m Italian, so when I go there, it’s really
so that’s why I live in three places: London, Paris and Rome. But now next year, it’s going to be a change because my baby’s going to be five and she’s going to school. Right now, she’s in different schools with different languages: Italian, French and English. Next year I have to decide where I’m going to be for real.
Q: Were you or your daughter fans of the original cartoon? Did you have to refamiliarize yourself when you decided to take the part?
Bellucci: Yes, yes. I love those kinds of movies, we’re all in love with Walt Disney of course, so for a European, it’s great to be in a movie like that.
Q: How do you spend your downtime in New York?
Bellucci: It’s so hard to work here in the United States because as I told you, I’m a lazy girl. I love to sleep, and for me, it’s very hard to shoot in the night, really hard. I take too much Vitamin C, and it’s not very easy, but I have to make the effort. I’m a sorceress, and sorceresses, they work during the night.
Q: What’s the most exciting scene you’ve shot or is there one coming up?
Bellucci: We did one, it was really amazing. I’m so happy because the scene made the base for all the rest, and actually, I was a bit anxious because I said, “How are we going to do that?” and finally, we found two or three ideas that were great, and you’ll have to see this in the movie.
Q: Tell us about working with this rising star Nicolas Cage
Bellucci: (laughs) I love to work with him because I respect him as an actor and he’s a very nice person. I respect him as a person because he’s very sweet, very open, and I played already a few scenes with Alfred Molina, he’s a great actor with a great sense of humor. I love to work with Jon Turteltaub, because Jon gives me the freedom to search for different things, and different ways to act, and I like that. At the same time, he knows what he wants.
Q: Is there anything that surprised you about Nic Cage?
Bellucci: No, actually, because from the films, you already have an idea, and there’s something very human about him. When I met him, I felt the same thing. He’s very human, very nice, very open, so I wasn’t very surprised.
Last up for the roster of actors on set was Alfred Molina who was actually working on set that evening, sharply-dressed as Max Horvath with well-groomed hair and beard, wearing a black jacket, vest and tie. As he came over having removed the dapper hat we saw him wearing, we noticed that he had what looked like a beetle or a scarab (or possibly a cockroach) on his lapel, which we learned Horvath used as part of his magic. At this point, Molina’s probably an actor who needs no introduction, especially since we just ran an interview with him from the set of Bruckheimer’s other summer movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time not too long ago.
Q: This is a very different look for you than “Prince of Persia,” about as different as you possibly can get.
Alfred Molina: Yeah, yeah. Short hair, no turban, a decent suit, interesting tie…
Q: What’s that on it?
Molina: I think it’s supposed to be a
is there a fancy name for a cockroach? Yeah, it’s a scarab. My character has different insects, there’s this, there’s a beetle, there’s a spider on one of the hats. It’s kind of a running motif of the movie.
Q: Does he use them in his magic?
Molina: Yeah, he does. Without giving too much away, there’s a little moment where he transforms himself from this massive roiling pile of cockroaches, he forms out of that, so yeah, it’s a running idea in the movie that that’s his way of morphing into this.
Q: Can you talk about what you’re shooting here in terms of the fire and everything else?
Molina: Yeah, well this is part of what we’ve been referring to as “the final battle” and it’s like the final showdown between Balthazar and Maxim and they’re basically fighting over control of the Grimhold.
Q: Have you been surrounded in fire?
Molina: We’ve done some of that. We’re going to be doing some more of that tonight I believe, so we’ve doing a lot of pyrotechnic stuff, and we’ve still got a whole chunk of bits to do with when the Wall Street bull comes alive. We’ve still got that to do. There’s going to be some great stunts with Nic and I flying through the air and crashing into cars and all that kind of stuff, but you know what it’s like. You shoot these sequences in increments. I remember my daughter being so shocked when she saw a movie and there was a fight scene which didn’t take up very much time, and she went, “Oh, wow, Dad, that must have been an amazing day.” I said, “Day? That took three weeks!” (laughter) It’s like you make it up in a series of mosaics.
Q: Does your character and Nic’s character have a backstory that goes back a long way?
Molina: Yeah, very much so. They were very old and good friends at one time. The three of them–the triumvirate of Balthazar and Maxim and Morgana–were the three favorites of Merlin, and at one point, they were all on the same side, and something happenedwhich I can’t say because it will give away the storythere’s a terrible cleaving of their friendship, and Balthazar continues to be Merlinean and looking after the good side of things, and my character becomes what we describe as Morganean, which is kind of the dark side. And they’re in this perpetual struggle for power, which we discover in the movie has been going on for a thousand years. This is the latest manifestation of that crisis between them, so they go way, way back.
Q: How does it feel to the big budget films, do you revel in that?
Molina: Yeah, I love it. It’s a very exciting way to work in a way. The stories are usually very, very good, if you choose the right ones, and there’s a real sense of excitement and fun in this kind of material. Also, the fact that we’ve got a producer in Jerry – and this is like my second movie with him on the trot now, so I’m getting to know the way he works and the way he operates. There’s a real enthusiasm on that side of the business for this move and for this kind of material, which is very satisfying and important. There’s nothing worse than working your ass off on a film and then you find out that the producer really couldn’t give a sh*t. (laughter) They might as well be selling cars, but here, you’ve got a whole team of people that are really, really committed, not just to the material but this very genre. This is what for them is important worthwhile cinema, so it’s a good environment to be working in.
Q: Has it been as much fun as playing Doc Ock in “Spider-Man 2”?
Molina: Yeah, it is, but it’s a different kind of fun, it’s a different kind of material, but it’s similar in the sense of the scale of it, the scale is the same. It’s a big budget, lots of green screen, lots of special effects, whereas that was a lot more technological. This has more to do with magic and human power. Doc Ock was all about the technology and the thing at the back of the neck, the missing chip and all that, whereas this is very human and in a sense, it takes in the notion of different periods of time. We travel through different periods of time, as you can see from my costume. This is very Edwardian and that’s part of my character’s make-up, so it’s a different kind of approach but still very much the same sort of thing in terms of the scale of it.
Q: There’s a lot of visual FX involved with your character and his powers but how does that compare to “Spider-Man”?
Molina: Well, again, in a way, it’s simpler stuff because it’s more on a human scale, so there’s lots of running and jumping as opposed to
there’s a not a lot of technological stuff.
Q: You just wave your hands and the powers happen?
Molina: Yeah, there’s a sense of the magic and the power come from the character. We see the characters either changing themselves or the power coming from them rather than it being an outside force that infiltrates them. Like in the “Spider-Man” movies both Peter Parker and Doc Ock and all the other villains, they get affected by an outside force that changes them. So in a sense, they become reluctantly what they are, whereas here, the villains and the heroes are absolutely, everything comes from their desire to do good or to do evil.
Q: It sounds like there’s also more humor in this.
Molina: Yeah, there is. There’s a lot of humor in these stories. I think there has to be, because it’s like a diet of broccoli. Broccoli is very good for you and it can taste nice but a lot of broccoli all of the time is really really boring. You’ve gotta have some mac and cheese now and again. I think the same thing applies to movies. If my character spends all this time going “Grrr
” (laughs) he’d be pretty boring after a while, so you gotta keep a nice balance, but also, these stories lend themselves very much to a playfulness, which keeps it alive, keeps it fresh.
Q: Can you talk about working with Monica? She was complimenting you earlier.
Molina: That’s because I paid her. I gave her $50 to say something nice. No, it’s been great, she’s been wonderful. It’s a testament to the class of this cast I think, if I say so myself, there’s a wide range of not just actors and acting styles but actors who are coming in with very, very different backgrounds, and very different histories, and I almost think that makes things really, really good for a movie. And she’s fantastic. She’s very beautiful and she’s got a fantastic way of playing
she can play sexy and scary at the same time, which is really quite brilliant. And I think we’re going to exploit that to the max.
Q: What about being in New York and shooting here?
Molina: It’s great, it’s great. This is one of the most film-friendly–mind you, not if you ask a cab driver–it’s a film-friendly town in terms of the facilities and the generosity of the city in terms of allowing
we’re standing in the middle of a very large space downtown, just off of Battery Park. Wall Street’s just over there, and we’re in the middle of the working week and we’ve got all this access, so it’s pretty amazing.
Q: What do you like doing in your downtime? Are there things you like to do here?
Molina: Oh, yeah. You can’t get bored in New York. I don’t live here–I’ve been living here while we’re shooting obviously–but you can’t get bored in this city. If anyone says to me, “I was in New York for three weeks and I was really bored,” you gotta start questioning either that person’s intelligence or their capacity to have fun. This is one of the most exciting cities in the world.
Q: What’s your favorite place in New York?
Molina: Well, it depends what I’m doing. What did you have in mind? (laughs) If you’re asking me out on a date
(laughter) Well, I’m in my 50s so I don’t have much of a nightlife. My idea of a nightlife is like two beers and a newspaper. I tell ya, there’s some great restaurants here. If you’re a night person, it’s a great city, but what I like finding out is all the ethnic places to eat, like the small little formica top places, a place where you can get a nice Cuban meal or some Vietnamese food. I like finding those sorts of places, and in my spare time–if you really wanna know–I do things like check out all the other boroughs, see what’s going on. The only place I haven’t been to yet is Staten Island.
Q: There’s nothing going on out there.
Molina: Everyone says that, but I bet there’s something interesting there. I bet there are loads of things that are interesting.
Q: They have really good thrift stores.
Molina: Thrift stores? There you go. That’s gotta be worth a trip on the ferry, doesn’t it?
Q: You mentioned “Spider-Man” before, and there’s been a lot of talk of who might play the villain in the fourth movie, so had there been any talks with you about bringing Doc Ock back?
Molina: No, no one’s mentioned it, and I think it’s highly unlikely seeing that he died. Mind you, one of the producers, when the movie came out, “Spider-Man 2,” we were at the premiere and I turned to one of the producers and said, “You know, it’s a real shame that I died because I would have loved to do another one of these,” and he did say, “Oh, characters don’t die in this universe, they simply disappear.” (laughter) Which I thought held out some hope, but they haven’t called me since so maybe that was just bullsh*t.
Q: Do you have any thoughts on who might make a good villain?
Molina: No, I don’t know. There were so many wonderful villains in the Spider-Man stories. Venom was a great character. I’m biased but I thought Doc Ock was a brilliant character in the comics, but the only thing I’d like to see is maybe to concentrate one villain. I think maybe having two or three of them sort of dilutes the potency of it. It would be nice to see one guy
not one guy, one villain. Actually that might be nice. It would be nice to see a female villain, that would be interesting.
