Not to toot my own horn but I’ve been fortunate enough to bag some of the most memorable interviews with Hollywood’s finest.
And Alfred Molina is undoubtedly up there with the best. Also, I’ve admired his work for the longest time.
I got to chat with the veteran British actor, who has firmly embedded himself in Hollywood by bagging some of the best big screen roles in his over four-decade tenure, over a Zoom call at the end of last year.
And it was for the 8-part crime drama, “Three Pines”, which is based on the novel series by Louise Penny.
Molina is a bonafide thespian. The passion with which he speaks is underpinned by knowledge and experience.
Also, it was a bit of a pinch-me moment, realising I was chatting with the actor who played Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus in “Spider-Man 2” (2004) and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021).
He was so grounded by his confidence, especially in his role as an executive producer and the lead (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache), in the TV series.
He explained: “It came about the usual way. I was approached by my agent. He said, ‘You know, there is some interest in you for this series, would you be interested?’ And, at the time, I had not read any of Louise Penny’s books.
“But I was working on another project and I just happened to mention I had been approached on this thing and I was talking to the producer of this other project, and I said have you heard of Louise Penny, she went, ‘Oh my god, yes, she is great. I’ve read all her books’.
“And I said, well, they are asking me if I would be interested in doing a TV version of it and she said, ‘You must do it, you must do it’.”
Molina continued: “And she was so passionate and so enthusiastic about this whole idea, so I thought this is someone whose opinion and take I respect, so I must take this seriously and, as you suggested, I’ve played a lot of different characters but I haven’t played detectives to a really great extent.
“So I went and bought a couple of the books and started reading and straight away I began to understand why this character is so loved and why it sustained through 18 - 19 novels.”
Sold on the idea, he came on board.
Molina added: “The thing that was really important to all of us and, as an executive producer on the show, I was involved in the creative discussions much, much early in the stage than I would have been had I been an actor for hire, and I find that was probably the most rewarding thing.
“To be able to see how the sausage gets made if you know what I mean. That was a real kind of education and a very creative experience.”
It was evident that he took his character seriously and understood the essence of who he was.
Molina shared: “I was talking to someone recently about whether there is a connection between what an actor does and what a detective does. And I never really thought about it.
“And I suddenly realised, yes, and I think this is why detectives are popular to play.
“Why detective stories are so popular with audiences is that in the same way that a detective is trying to understand the underlying motive for the crime, actors are trying to understand the underlying motives of their characters.
“So, in a sense, we are on the same path of discovery but obviously coming from different directions and I think, that was one of the great joys of working on something like this.”
Of course, the saturation of whodunits on TV has resulted in a cauldron of lovable detectives. On where his character slots in, the actor explained: “There are a couple of things that make him stand out.
“It’s his approach to the crime, where he wants to understand not so much who and what happened but why they did it.
“There is a moment in one of the episodes when someone talks about how evil seems to be limitless, and Gamache basically believes that there is a limit to evil and part of his job is to find it and to find the good in people.
“And, at one point, someone says to him, you can’t imagine that so and so could do this and Gamache says, ‘The truth is we are all human and, pushed hard enough, we are all capable of all kinds of things’.
“So I think what makes him unique in a way is his empathy and his moral compass where he refuses to carry a gun because he doesn’t believe confrontation is the way to solve anything.
“The way to solve something is through communication. That is one of the things that really stood out for me in the novels.”
Molina points out that the series was written in a way that diehards would find something interesting in it, and audiences watching the series would feel compelled to check the books out.
Creative liberties are an essential part of the process in any book-to-screen adaptation.
Molina added: “And you are right, just the mere process of translating a novel to a piece of screenwork involves a kind of reduction but, at the same time, we are still able to maintain the spirit and the core values of the novels, certainly in terms of character and the interrelationship with the characters.”
Molina doesn’t disappoint with his role in this well-paced and wonderfully cast crime drama.
“Three Pines” airs on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Mondays at 10.10pm.