Alfred Molina’s first big breakthrough and Hollywood movie debut, Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Hollywood legend Harrison Ford, opened the doors for the actor to more potential roles. Molina now has more than 200 acting credits to his name, but when he joined the Steven Spielberg film, he was broke.
Molina recently revealed that Spielberg saved his life and career as an actor. Of course, we all remember the British actor as the Spider-Man villain, Doctor Octopus in Tobey Maguire’s MCU movies (who also appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside Maguire). But he owes a lot to the Hollywood gentleman for reducing Molina’s sinking boat as he struggled to walk through life.
Alfred Molina Admitted That Steven Spielberg Saved His Life
Alfred Molina has forged his cinematic legacy, but it was not before Steven Spielberg saved the actor, as he rescued Molina when he was broke. Molina played a minor role in Spielberg’s 1981 action-adventure classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, appearing alongside Harrison Ford. It was a jackpot for the actor, “I learned very quickly that the level of fun you have on a movie isn’t always commence with the level of success,” Molina told Vanity Fair.
“And I came away from that experience having the time of my life on that film not for not just creatively and working with wonderful people but also practically I mean my daughter was about to be born we were broke this movie kind of paid me like a big chunk of money certainly in my terms and it meant we could have our daughter in a modicum of comfort and security so that movie saved my a*s.”
Molina has walked a long way since, but his acknowledgment has revealed the humble nature of the Spider-Man 2 star. Now, the actor has a net worth of $10 million (per Celebrity Net Worth).
Alfred Molina Reflected Landing On The Role With Harrison Ford
Molina has revealed details of what happened during the shooting of Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Undoubtedly, Ford’s Indiana Jones franchise has been one of the most popular movie series in cinematic history. But for Molina, the movie was career-defining, and the actor revealed how he landed the role.
“When I first got the call to come and meet Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall in London for a car in session for Raiders, I was on tour with a production of Oklahoma. I dashed back to London to do the interview. You can imagine, I mean Steven Spielberg was already a huge big star director I’d be working with Harrison Ford who was also a big star by that time and I went in there very very nervous very excited we kind of got on well he was describing the part and saying look you know it’s not a huge part but you’re right in the beginning of the movie and it sets up the whole thing and he just made it sound like a great gig,” Molina told Vanity Fair.
Molina further revealed that he wanted to convince Spielberg that he was the only one to play the character.
“He then said, so this character is kind of like you know Latin American how do you feel about that and I said oh that’s good you know you know my dad’s Spanish I was trying to make him feel like I was the only person who could play this part then it was like oh well thanks for coming in handshakes,” he added.
At the end of their meeting, the director asked Molina if he fears spiders. The actor did not hesitate. Molina appeared in a scene where his character, Satipo, found himself with several spiders climbing his body.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is available to stream on Disney+.
