For Alfred Molina, playing Armand Gamache in ‘Three Pines’ is a privilege

Alfred Molina is used to playing just about every kind of character imaginable over an impressive 44-year career, but his latest project presented a different type of challenge.

At first, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache in “Three Pines” sounded like any other role. But after Molina learned the protagonist in Louise Penny’s bestselling mystery novels — the source material for the Prime Video series that debuts Friday — was inspired by the author’s late husband, the character took on a deeper significance.

Penny was married to Dr. Michael Whitehead, the former director of hematology at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, who died in 2016 after a battle with dementia. Playing a character rooted in some of the qualities that Whitehead possessed meant more to Molina than just words in a script. The actor lost his first wife to Alzheimer’s in 2020.

“I was aware of what happened to Louise’s husband and we share that experience,” Molina said in an interview. “It’s exactly what happened to my late wife, in a much different context, but (playing him) wasn’t something that freaked me out in anyway.”

The actor said, instead, that motivated him to do justice to the part.

“The fact her husband was an inspiration made it all the more wonderful to get involved. I didn’t feel pressure. If anything, it made it all the more wonderful to get involved. I was inspired by it.”

One of the show’s most memorable lines comes when Gamache describes sorrow. He says “grief feels like fear, but it’s not. It’s love with no place to go.”

For Penny, the line couldn’t be more poignant.

In an interview, the writer shared a story about her husband playing Santa Claus for kids at the hospital where he worked before his death. Penny caught him crying in a corner. When she asked why he was sobbing, he told her it was because he was the only one in the room who knew which of the kids would never live to see another Christmas.

“He was the doctor you never ever wanted to meet. He had the worst job in the world. He had to tell young parents things no young parents should ever have to hear. Despite that, he was the happiest man I have ever met because he understood what a gift life is,” Penny said

Whitehead’s desire to live life with gratitude and with the courage of conviction, “because these kids wouldn’t get to,” was the same carpe diem attitude she wanted to capture for her books.

“I wanted to bring those qualities to Armand. That he was happy not because he was too stupid to understand how cruel life is, but (as someone) who also understood what a gift life is as well.”

It’s why she backed the casting of Molina.

Penny openly admits to being protective of her work, typically shying away from adaptation requests for fear of her characters not being handled correctly.

“I was so relieved because I was very afraid they were going to miscast, which would have been an easy thing to do,” she said of “Three Pines.” “They didn’t go for someone 20 years younger or some Hollywood pretty boy. They went for somebody who can embody all the qualities and Alfred does.”

The gripping series follows Gamache as he investigates murders that take place in a Quebec village. Besides trying to find the killers, the inspector finds himself in the middle of a serialized story arc that tracks the police department’s failure to properly investigate cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women. That plot adds a layer of reality to the scripted series, but it’s one that Penny is quick to defer the credit for: it’s not something that was in her books and including it in the show wasn’t her idea.

“It was the genius of Emilia di Girolamo (the executive producer and creator of the series). She asked me what I thought about it, which was very respectful of her because she didn’t have to.”

The author, who is a member of the Order of Canada for her contributions to this country’s culture, said the idea only developed from there as a decision was made to turn one of the buildings in the story into a residential school.

“It’s very rare that you get to have the confluence of entertainment and a really powerful message. And we’re not trying to proselytize, but we are just presenting it and allowing people to do what they want with it.”

Molina said the Indigenous inclusion in the plot gave him the chance to learn more about the atrocities committed. He credits the storyline’s accuracy to director Tracey Deer’s Indigenous background, coupled with the casting of Indigenous actors who could draw on their actual experiences.

“It was important to bring this story to life in a way that was authentic and sensitive rather than having my character come in as some kind of white saviour,” Molina said. “It was important to have Ganache in a position where was learning, he was being taught and he was being shown.”

When asked where “Three Pines” stands in his impressive series of credits, the actor said the subtle nuance of Gamache’s behaviour was particularly appealing.

“He’s not your run of the mill male detective that we’ve gotten so used to: the haunted and tortured man who drinks too much, and has a terrible relationship with his wife or is divorced. There’s none of that. Playing a character like Gamache is a privilege.”

Molina joked that the gig pays more than what he made for “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” in 1981, and said he not only enjoyed acting on the series but serving as an executive producer as well.

“Long-form TV is something I haven’t done much of. It’s not something that comes up every day and I’ve reached an age now where I can afford to be a little more selective.”

The actor advises younger actors to not worry about their next part, a mistake many often make.

“I would encourage young actors to not worry about a career because your career is what is behind you. It’s what you’ve done. You’ve been there. It’s important as creative people to constantly look forward into what’s unknown and look forward to what’s possible.”

As for whether the show will resonate with viewers, Molina believes that mystery programs always tend to have an advantage as they offer an interactive element, with viewers figuring things out along with the detective as they watch.

“What makes good detective shows is asking an audience to suspend their disbelief and that’s quite a big demand. You have got to give them something that warrants that kind of investment. The crucial clue has to be done in a way that the audience can be part of that discovery.”

Murtz Jaffer is a Toronto-based entertainment writer and a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @murtzjaffer

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