BY DANIEL BAIG |

Meet Harry Osborn, a.k.a. The Goblin, Jr.!

For a little over a year now, Ive had the privilege of talking to actors and filmmakers for CountingDown. And until recently, Ive confined my wish list of stars Id love to talk to to folks whom its conceivable I might indeed one day be able to meet. Meryl Streep, for example, or Tom Green. (Note: Im kidding about one of those two.) (Additional note: its not Meryl Streep whom Im kidding about.) But then something happened the other day to make me waste a moment or two in idle speculation about actors whom Id have loved to meet, but wont ever get a chance to, owing to the obstacle of their being dead. W. C. Field. Humphrey Bogart. Charlie Chaplin. Mae West. Audrey Hepburn. Rin Tin Tin.

What happened the other day was, I met James Dean.

Oh, okay, sure, not really. But I did meet (its not the most accurate word, of course, to describe the interaction between star and press corp member at a movie press day, but you understand Im just using it as a handy term, and am not trying to claim the interviewee in question would remember me or anything, right?) James Franco, at the Spider-Man junket, and thats about as close as I or anyone else, at least on this mortal coil, is ever going to get at this point.

Now, it may perhaps seem unfair for me to discuss Franco as some kind of reincarnation of James Dean. Unfair because, after all, hes not somebody else, hes himself, and should be judged and viewed, etc. for himself and what he does, and not for any spectral associations with dead legends which he may provoke.

And maybe youre thinking, Yeah, he did star as Dean in last years cable TV movie James Dean (for which he won, by the way, a Golden Globe, in addition to getting a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination), but thats just one part hes played among many. Hes had many roles before it, and many after it. And I shouldnt confuse the actor with this one high-profile performance.

The thing is, though  I never saw that TV movie. Im not sure, as a matter of fact, that Id ever seen James Franco before in anything until I saw Spider-Man. I really didnt know who he was until then.

But theres a scene in Spider-Man  a scene in Harry and Petes apartment  where all of a sudden, instead of thinking about the events of the movie, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the resemblance which now manifested itself before me, between this actor and an iconic image of Dean.

The Spider-Man costumers had dressed Franco in a dark turtleneck and matching sports coat, and he looked eerily like Dean in a famous photograph (not a film still). Surely this wasnt an accident? The wardrobe people couldnt have been unaware of this effect they were creating? Director Sam Raimi must have seen it? Perhaps the filmmakers were trying to create subconscious associations in the audiences minds between Harry Osborn and James Dean, both handsome but doomed guys, destined for tragedy.

And then, spending some time with Franco in person (you know, just this little intimate gathering of him and me and some 23 or so other reporters; see parts one and two of this story) . . . Well, Ill just say that by the time James walked over to our section of the ballroom, I, after having talked to Avi Arad, Laura Ziskin, and Kirsten Dunst, and after everything else that had transpired between my seeing the movie and this moment at this table, had temporarily forgotten about my Oh my god! They have him looking just like James Dean!-flash in the movie theater. And remember, I didnt see the biopic, and so didnt have that ready-made association in my mind. So its not like I was sitting there, waiting for James to remind me of James Dean, expecting it.

But shortly after he sat down and started talking with us . . . I found myself having giddy thoughts along the lines of, I wonder if this is what talking to James Dean would have been like. And this experience is what later on gave rise to my engaging in the brief mental reveries I made mention of in my opening paragraph above.

First, there was the physical resemblance.

James (Franco) and James (the long-dead guy) wouldnt, to be sure, be mistaken for twins. (James F.s skin is a lot smoother-looking than Deans was. Deans face looked rough and weather-beaten, which helped, ((along with the beginnings of a receding hair line)), make him look a lot older than Franco, despite the fact that he made his three major movies when he was less than a year older than Franco is now  24.)

That being said, though, for two people who arent related, and who are separated in time by close to half a century, the resemblance, is, as they say, uncanny (just like those X-Men!). Especially considering both men work(ed) in the same field.

And its not just the faces Im talking about. Theres the hair, too. And the overall body type  placed side by side, the two Jameses would, in silhouette, probably be well-nigh indistinguishable, with the same slender, yet muscular, and on-the-short-side (which was perfect for Spider-Man: Harry wasnt taller than Peter, played by Tobey Maguire, whos in the same exact height range) physiques.

And then, overlayed above all of this is the way James Franco acted with us. While not unfriendly in the least, he sat hunched over, speaking  Id almost say mumbling  in a low voice, not making eye contact with us. Indeed, he appeared to think that it was a spot about a foot away from him, on the surface of the table, with which he was engaging in conversation. Thats where he directed all his answers, at least.

When he first came over he was asked right away by a friendly reporter, How are you?

Im fine, he said, in a fascinating way of speaking which manages to be simultaneously weary, slightly bashful, and subtly self-deprecatingly, humorously aware of the inherent silliness of being weary and bashful in these circumstances. (Or perhaps Im just really reading too much into things, in my attempts to give you more than just a he-said, she-said summary!) Howre you guys?

Good! his questioner cheerily responded. She continued, Are you having fun at this big press junket?

Yeah! Great! he replied, in what is most definitely not the most convincing line-reading hes ever given in his career.

Getting this, though pushing it, his interlocutor kind of (in my opinion) rubbed salt in the wounds: Youd rather be nowhere else??

So I jumped in, seeking to spare him from having to respond to her with yet another insincere answer, though in retrospect what I choose to say to him sounded a tad amateur-hour 

At most of the many press days Ive participated in, the stars  especially the men  seem to be engaged in some sort of unannounced competition to see just how casually dressed they can get away with when they show up to these things, as if perhaps to let everyone know that, though they may be polite and all, they really dont want to be here and only are because they have to be (stars are contractually bound to do press days), or, perhaps, to let everyone know what down-to-earth, normal people they are. Though there are of course exceptions  Wesley Snipes for Blade 2 showed up looking very mens fashion magazine , for example, and Jet Li for Kiss of the Dragon sported slacks and an expensive-looking, form-fitting sweater in typical Hollywood all black  generally jeans and a T-shirt is the standard uniform. And that T-shirt is very often nothing more than a wrinkled undershirt! (Even some of the women get in on this look, like Angelina Jolie)

But James was actually wearing a navy suit (though without a tie, or an undershirt  after he removed the jacket we could see he just had on a light blue silk dress shirt, now somewhat wrinkled, which he was wearing partially unbuttoned). He looked like hed just come from a cocktail party.

To me, this was refreshing. I mean, for both me and the stars, these functions are work. Theyre not really social gatherings. So it makes sense to me to come attired for work. I, and the majority of my fellow journalists, usually tend to come in, say, casual Friday clothes. I dont really appreciate it when the actors were talking to seem to have gone out of their way to dress down for the occasion. Because the message theyre sending is that theyre more important than we are (of course, they are, but a little pretense would be polite), and so why should they bother doing anything other than roll out of bed for us? (And looking just rolled out of bed indeed is a good description of the typical male stars hair at press junkets. And it doesnt just stop at the hair. At the press day for American Outlaws, CountingDown editor Phillip Nakov reported that Scott Caan showed up in a bathrobe, telling the reporters that he had, yes, just rolled out of bed.

So I told James, Youre dressed up a lot nicer than the other people from the movie here today.

Hmm . . . James seemed to thoughtfully reply. I wont tell them.

So then everybody laughed, and I felt a little silly.

But then he added, in a more sincere fashion, Thank you.

A self-professed big comic book fan present said to James, So is Harry going to eventually be the Hobgoblin?

Actually, Harry became the Green Goblin. The Hobgoblin was  they thought it was, um, Ned, from the 

The big fan (and even if his knowledge of the comic books isnt actually all that big, his, ahem, body shape allows me to accurately refer to him still as the big fan) interrupted: See, Im going from the last television series.

Pause.

Oh! I dont know the series. I read the comic books, replied James. Um . . . , and he paused again, not knowing what else to say.

The gal from before spoke up. Whos the Hobgoblin??

The Hobgoblin has an orange outfit, and he  in the book, in the comic book, he supposedly stole the Green Goblins plans and, you know, learned how to make the glider, and just, sew a costume together and throw bombs   James explained for her.

Hes like, a cousin to the Green Goblin? she interjected.

Yeah, hes very  hes very similar to the Green Goblin  

But hes in orange.

But hes in orange.

But thats not you.

No. Harrys story is, um, he . . . eventually finds out Spiderman killed his  er, who Spiderman is, vows vengeance on him, and takes on his fathers role as the Goblin, becomes the Green  the second Green Goblin. Um, and it, you know, spins off into this whole, uh, series, where hes, uh, torn between his friendship with Peter, but his role as Spiderman and when he killed his father . . . And kind of goes mad a little bit, like his father.

So, I asked, are you signed for the sequel then?

Uh, well, they havent officially, uh, talked to me about it. . . Well see. I dont know.

How, he was then asked, did you get this part?

When I was doing  

But before he got beyond those four words he was interrupted by Mr. Interrupter (in the spirit of all these Marvel villains, thats the nickname Ive come up with for him; you can read about him in part one of this series). Now, I should point out that this was not the first time in this interview, which hadnt been underway for all that long, that Mr. Interrupter had struck against James. Something about the slightly hesitant, soft-spoken manner James had when he tried to answer our questions seemed to provoke Mr. I.

Werent you being considered for Spiderman as well?

When I was doing James Dean  

This time he got two words further before being interrupted, (I think this time by somebody else, actually).

Great job!

James, truly humble and smiling, replied in acknowledgement, Thank you.

Then he started to answer again, but!

The gal also then added, Oh god, it was great!

James, looking appropriately grateful but also a tad embarrassed, again gave a slow, sincere, smiling Thank you, before again starting to answer.

But!!

Mr. Interrupter then apparently felt the need to announce, from his Dad position at the end of the long table, to all assembled, Such a heartbreaking story!

And without even thinking, really, I, at the other Dad end of the table, loudly said, He might even finish a sentence, if we let him!

Which was greeted by some amused giggles around the table. Mr. Interrupter waved his arm in a gesture of acquiescence to me.

James, though, now seemed stuck on pause.

Quickly, a different journalist gave him a prompt: You were doing James Dean, AND !

James smiled, and continued. Um, maybe it helped a little with the James Dean angst, but, they left me waiting for six weeks before they gave me an answer. I went and tested, and . . . every week we thought were going to get an answer, and we didnt. And then eventually they went with Tobey, and, um  which I think is the right choice, hes excellent for Peter Parker.

And then a little while later Sam [Raimi, Spider-Mans director] called me up. And he said, uh, cuz he thought we got along well, and he asked me if wanted to do Harry. And I thought, you know, I still would love to work with Sam, and he was compiling a great cast, and I thought itd be a good experience. Thats how.