Saturday, Apr. 02, 2005 - 4:03 am
Okay, I've got a nasty sore throat, so I've made myself some hot tea with honey to drink, and I'm awake now (blah), so I might as well write here while I'm drinking it.
I'm going to start tearing those Spiderman 2 scenes apart, analyzing them and Molina's performance, see if I can figure out what makes them tick, lol.
I've already made an interesting discovery: The upper tentacle on the left side of the screen(Molina's right) is the one "in charge". That's the one that seems to be speaking to him, the one he reacts to when he hears the voices, and that's the one he speaks to in the end when he says "Listen to me now!" Don't know whose choice that was, could've been Molina's, could have been Sam Raimi's (the director), could have been one of the puppeteers, could have been a collaboration.
I *wish* I could get into Molina's head and find out how he prepared for these two scenes (20 & 47), what his process was while performing.
So, here's my analysis of what may have been going on in his head during the scene, based on what I saw:
Scene 20: Doc Ock's Lair
He's standing on the edge of the pier in the warehouse, staring into the water, vulnerable, remorseful, perhaps summing up where things stand, because what do you do after your life's most important work, your experiment went horribly wrong, killed your wife, your tentacles are permanently grafted to your body, and they have killed several doctors at the local hospital? [God that sounds so corny, but that's the reality of the circumstances being played in the scene, that's what needs to be connected to as an actor]
"My Rosie's dead. My dream is dead." He becomes aware of the tentacles moving next to him, looks at them. "And these..." his brow furrows remembering the horror at the hospital, "monstrous things should be at the bottom of the river." Stares deep into the water again with certainty, then his focus becomes internal as he realizes the only way to accomplish this. His expression becomes one of 'this is my fate, this is what needs to be done, I have no choice.' Resignation. "Along with me."
The tentacles move sharply, drawing his attention to them, but then he starts to hear something. He's not sure what he's hearing, or where the sound is coming from..."Something..." [What does he hear? Perhaps a soft hissing? These are a few of the questions the actor must ask himself to effectively perform the scene] He continues to focus on the sounds, his face showing uncertainty, his eyes begin to travel upward as he pinpoints the sound, "In my head..." The sounds begin to take shape, he listens more closely, they are words, he can't quite make them out, he's trying to understand them. "Something talking..." He becomes afraid, Why is he hearing voices in his head? What is the logical explanation for what's happening? (He is a scientist, after all) [What is the voice saying? 'Stop. Listen to us...' perhaps. How do they speak? Do they use complete sentences or at this point is it only one or two words? Do the tentacles communication skills improve throughout the movie, or does it stay the same?]
The message becomes clear, and he begins to realize it's the tentacles that are speaking to him, but how is that possible? His expression is one of urgent logical thought, and he's looks down & slightly out as he thinks. They shouldn't be able to get inside his head unless...suddenly he remembers the electric shock he recieved, and realizes with eyes wide and mouth open what may have happened: "The inhibitor chip!" His hand flies to the back of his neck to check it, he can feel that it's been destroyed. "Gone." He stares ahead, frozen with the horrible realization. He has no protection from the tentacles, they can control him. The dominant tentacle zips up to his face, Otto's eyes move to the tentacle instantly. The tentacle is speaking, perhaps it says 'Listen to me. We must rebuild.' Otto's eyes drop towards the floor, as he considers the statement cautiously. "Rebuild." Perhaps he remembers all the work that went into the project the first time around, perhaps he considers how easy or difficult it might be to rebuild, perhaps he remembers that first moment of power when the reaction began to work, but then the pain of failure, of Rosie's death. He closes his eyes and breaths out, emotionally hurting, releasing the possibility. "No." He opens his eyes again, still staring downwards. He concedes: "Peter was right." He presses his lips together with remorse. "I miscalculated." He moves his jaw slightly to the side and raises an eyebrow slightly, an intellectual (rather than emotional) gesture indicating his annoyance, frustration, hurt in admitting he made a mistake.
But then his brow furrows slightly as a thought occurs to him. What mistake did he make? His eyebrows lift with realization as he reconsiders all his data, all of his work, how the events unfolded. Maybe it would have worked if Spiderman hadn't interfered. Looking forward with new determination and urgent hope. "I couldn't have miscalculated!" He shakes his head. "It was working! Wasn't it?"
The dominant tentacle speaks to him, his eyes move towards it, acknowledging it, then forward as he listens. Perhaps it says, 'It was working, rebuild, it will work this time.' He likes the idea. He begins to smile as he realizes the possibility of his dream still exsists, he can still have the power and the recognition. "Yes." There is greed in his smile. He begins planning eagerly. "We could rebuild. Enlarge the containment field, make it bigger and stronger than ever." Then he stops, realizing an huge obstacle that he doesn't know how to solve. "But we need money." The dominant tentacle offers a suggestion. He looks at it, eyes wide with pure surprise. "Steal it?" He shakes his head. The thought isn't an option. "No, no, no, I'm not a criminal." He turns away but is stopped short by the dominant tentacle. He looks at it surprised by its movement. It speaks to him, he listens almost as if in a trance, eyes glazing slightly turning downwards. "That's right." he says softly. "The real crime would be not to finish what we started." He considers for a moment, then decides. "We'll do it here. The power of the sun in the palm of my hand! Nothing will stand in our way! Nothing!"
