Alfred Molina, star of Spider-Man 2, talks about how his acting career let him down.

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Alfred Molina, a Hollywood legend and star of Spider-Man 2, talks about his father’s response to his acting profession. He talks about how it affected him as a parent as well. In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Molina talked candidly about his father’s reaction when he turned down a lucrative managerial job to pursue a career in theater. “My dad got me a job as a waiter when I was very young,” Molina remembered. Because of my excellent service, I was given the opportunity to participate in a two-week management training program by the management. I declined since I was hired as an actor. “This acting job, how much are they paying you?” asks my father. I replied, ‘I receive 15 pounds a week as my union wage.'” When Molina clarified that this might have been less than half of the money he would have made running the restaurant, his father shot him a look “that you reserve for the lost and the insane.” Molina went on, “He looked at me as if he didn’t know who I was. “This is what I love, Dad,” was all I could say to him. It never really clicked with him. My father was disappointed by me. Yes. I think my dad would have understood I hadn’t wasted my time if he had lived a little longer.” Molina continued by stating that, particularly in regards to his work, he had a distant relationship with his father. The actor was unaware of a cache of letters and newspaper clippings spanning his career that his father had accumulated over the years, until his father’s passing. “I’ve always tried with my kids,” Molina continued. Telling them how smart you are is all you can do. All you have to do is that.”

As Molina has said before, his early love of theater was sparked by his first-ever viewing of Spartacus. Although Molina’s career started on stage, his first cinematic credits are from the British sitcom The Losers from 1978, in which he played Nigel, also known as The Butcher, a young wrestler who was found by Sydney Foskett, played by Leonard Rossiter. Molina has racked up hundreds of credits in theater, television, and motion pictures to date. For his efforts, Molina has been nominated for various connected awards and has won several of them, including Outstanding Actor from the Visual Effects Society Awards, where he played Spider-Man 2’s Otto Octavius, also known as Doctor Octopus. Molina also talked about how he felt about being paired with Kirsten Dunst and Toby McGuire in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.It surprised me greatly since it’s not the kind of movie I would have thought I could do. I’ve never been the physically fit sorts that you generally associate with these huge action movies. “During a screen test for the movie, Molina said, “Avi takes off his sunglasses and goes, ‘Put these on.'” This was the former Marvel head Avi Arad who gave Molina the confidence he needed in the role. The entire room seemed to think, “Oh, this could be the image,” as soon as I put on the sunglasses. And I believe it was the turning point.”