Exclusive Interview: Jordi Mollà Talks RIDDICK, Vin Diesel, Hollywood, Favorite Death, More

Jordi Mollà is one of those character actors that you recognize but can’t remember his name. Hollywood has requested his talent to play mostly villaines with European or Latino flavors in films like Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Colombiana, Knight and Day, Blow, and Bad Boys 2.

But Mollà is much more than a good bad guy. Beyond having an impressive body of work in his natal Spain, he has written and directed his own projects. As if that wasn’t enough, this universal man is also respected painter. His art can be found on the walls of cultural institutions, galleries and private homes like Johnny Depp´s.

In Riddick (in theaters September 6) he plays ‘Santana’, a bounty hunter that tries to get the anti-hero’s head. We had the pleasure of having an exclusive one on one interview with the talented, smart and funny Spaniard.

Desde Hollywood: Can Hollywood satisfy an artist with such a creative hunger?

Jordi Mollà: No (laughs).

D.H.: Is that why you spend time here and in Spain as well?

Mollà: Well, I am where there is a project I am interested in. And while I wait for those I make my own projects. Creativity is like a muscle and if you stop you struggle to get back. I am always in that creative state.

D.H.: You play a very colorful villain. Did you have the chance to mold it a bit?

Mollà: Yes. The director let me do that, luckily. If not, it isn’t organic. It is great when you have approval from the director and actors. I had a great time.

D.H.: How is it to interact with digital creatures in a virtual set?

Mollà: It’s imagination. You think that there is something there and you throw something at it. It’s about evoking things that don’t exist. It isn’t hard at all.

D.H.: Riddick finds himself in a hostile environment. Did you ever feel like that in Hollywood?

Mollà: Sadly, in the world there is a lot of hostility. That’s a word I use a lot. It should be the opposite. One is hostile because is afraid. But I also find enjoyable situations. If you are in a place is because you want to be there. If not “The door is big” like we say in Spain.

D.H.: Some people may have a limited perception about Vin Diesel. But he is a creative force, right?

Mollà: Yes. He directed one or two movies, I didn’t know that. He also produces so he has an important vision of the entire product. In this movie he made a lot of creative decisions.

D.H.: Playing the antagonist means to often die on screen. Do you have a favorite cinematic death?

Mollà: Man, in “Jamón, Jamón” dying from a piece of ham… That was my first movie and Javier Bardem killed me. I have a special memory of that death because it is a very ironic thing to die from a “jamonazo”.

D.H.: And it wasn’t the cholesterol, it was the ham literally…

Mollà: It was the ham’s bone that hit me right here [points to his forehead].

D.H.: Is doing blockbusters and small films in Europe the balance you want for the future?

Mollà: Yes. For example now I have an American independent film. I also have a role in Ron Howard’s latest movie. Small and big movies, but not only American but Spanish and Italian. I keep combining the thing, the spider web.

-The following exclusive video interview is en Español.