With yesterday’s tease that “Percy Jackson” star Logan Lerman is in talks for the “Spider-Man” lead, the friendly neighborhood webslinger is on a lot of minds lately.

When MTV News caught up with “Spider-Man” cast member James Franco during the Sundance Film Festival, he explained whether Harry Osborn was originally expected to come back (from the dead) for the now-canceled fourth film, reveals his Spidey-themed birthday gift for former director Sam Raimi, and offers some advice for the next “Spider-Man” cast.

“No, there were no plans,” said Franco when asked about Harry’s potential return.

“Sam Raimi just had a big birthday,” he continued. “All of his friends made little videos for it. I did one about not being in ‘Spider-Man 4,’ because they were making it at the time. He called me up. He loved it and said, ‘I wish I had a part for you in ‘Spider-Man 4,’ but I don’t.”

As for any wisdom he could drop on the future Spider-Man and his surrounding cast, Franco said to “bring a lot of reading material or your DVD set of ‘Lost,’ because when you do the effects you’ll be sitting around for a long time.”

Well, it’s not exactly “Inside The Actors Studio,” but it’s fun all the same. Thanks, James!

Source.

I’ve added another Sundance Film Festival shoot to the gallery. Also added is an old photoshoot James did awhile back, thanks to Shannon!

GALLERY LINKS:
- Photoshoots > Portraits > 2010 Sundance Film Festival Portrait: Set #2
- Photoshoots > Outtakes > Session #36

I’ve added 3 sets of Sundance Film Festival portraits to the gallery and will add one more set in a day or two, so keep an eye out for it!

GALLERY LINKS:
- Photoshoots > Portraits > 2010 Sundance Film Festival Portrait: Set #1
- Photoshoots > Portraits > 2010 Sundance Film Festival Portrait: Entertainment Weekly
- Photoshoots > Portraits > MTV Sundance Film Festival Photobooth

Finally had some time to add tons of photos of James from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. I’ll add in more in the next couple of days. For now, enjoy!

GALLERY LINKS:
- Appearances > 2010 > 2010 Sundance Film Festival – NYU/Tish School Of Arts Party
- Appearances > 2010 > 2010 Sundance Film Festival – “Howl” Premiere
- Appearances > 2010 > 2010 Sundance Film Festival – Diesel Hosts the`Howl` Post-Premiere Party
- Appearances > 2010 > 2010 Sundance Film Festival – Village At The Yard – Day 1
- Appearances > 2010 > 2010 Sundance Film Festival – Variety Studio At Sundance – Day 1
- Appearances > 2010 >2010 Sundance Film Festival – Shorts Program III
- Appearances > 2010 > 2010 Sundance Film Festival – Muscle Milk At Park City – Day 2
- Appearances > 2010 > Celebrity Sightings In Park City, UT – January 21, 2010
- Appearances > 2010 > Celebrity Sightings – Day 3

Pretty nice to hear what James thinks about the unfortunate reboot of the Spider-Man franchise.

James Franco thinks Spider-Man can go on without director Sam Raimi helming and star Tobey Maguire leading the web-slinging.

Columbia Pictures and Marvel Comics announced on Tuesday that (500) Days of Summer auteur Marc Webb will direct the first installment of its new Spider-Man franchise, which will begin with Peter Parker’s high school years…

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Franco, who played Harry Osborn in the superhero franchise, said at tonight’s Sundance Film Festival opening-night premiere of HOWL, his new movie about the late poet Allen Ginsberg. “It worked out well for Batman, and comics themselves have different artists and writers. I think it’s perfectly fine.”

But he cautioned, “I think for the viewers you want a little space [between Raimi's and Webb's flicks], so you can get everyone else out of your head.”

Source.

Something a bit different from the Sundance Film Festival. James talks about his stint on General Hospital.

For months we’ve obsessed over the reasons behind James Franco’s bizarre-but-fascinating decision to join the cast of General Hospital as a murderous artist named Franco. So when we ran into the coy actor Monday night at a Cinema Society screening of his Sundance-bound Allen Ginsberg biopic, Howl, we asked for — nay, demanded! — a straightforward explanation for his soap-opera move. And he finally gave it to us.

The idea came to him while preparing a second movie with the artist Carter. The new film (which will also feature Catherine Keener) is called Maladies, and Franco plays a former soap star. “Now, just because I’m playing a character who was formerly on a soap opera doesn’t mean I had to go on a soap opera, right?” said Franco. “So going on General Hospital isn’t directly related to Maladies. But we got to talking, like, ‘Hey, what if I really did a soap opera? That would be kind of amazing!’”

It turns out Franco has been a soap fan for a long time. “I was home sick a lot because I didn’t like school when I was little,” he said. “So if I wasn’t watching my VHS copy of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or Whoopi Goldberg’s movie Jumping Jack Flash — because those were the only two movies we had the foresight to record — I guess I was watching soap operas.” So he called up the folks at General Hospital, who were, of course, ecstatic. He only gave them one bit of direction: “I said, ‘I want to play an artist, and I want him to be crazy.’ And they wrote this character that was better than I could have ever asked for. It was their idea to call the character Franco. I said, ‘That’s crazy. Thank you.’” It was only after he’d signed up that he decided to bring his own crew along to film the filming, he said, “because I wanted to really have ownership over the piece.” (This footage would be part of his yet-to-be-confirmed performance-art show at Deitch Projects’ Long Island City space this spring. And, in true meta form, that show might in turn be taped for a special episode of General Hospital.)

Click here for the rest.

Leave it to MTV to ask these kind of questions. Haha.

If you’re even a casual observer of viral videos, you’ve probably seen James Franco and Mila Kunis’ hilarious take on the cast of MTV’s “The Hills.” So naturally, with “Jersey Shore” now firmly entrenched in the pop culture zeitgeist, we were curious whether Franco would next turn his attention to the antics of Snooki and friends.

Another great interview with Movieline from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Here at Movieline, we’re proud Franco-philes. Whether we’re watching James Franco’s guest appearance on 30 Rock, dissecting every episode of his General Hospital stint, or unmasking the real reason behind his soap opera inspiration (as Franco’s artistic collaborator Carter told us, it’s all background for an upcoming film the two are planning), we’re happy to follow Franco’s every move simply because the moves make up such a notable zig-zag.

Now, the actor has come to Sundance with two more feathers in his multimedia cap. Festivalgoers caught him last night in Howl, where he stars as poet Allen Ginsberg for directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and he’ll soon be screening his NYU student film Herbert White, which he wrote and directed himself. Movieline caught up with Franco today to shed some light on his novel career.

I know you have a short film here at Sundance this year. Which were you more nervous to present, that or Howl?
I don’t know if it’s about being nervous. The directing thing is definitely a lot newer to me than the acting thing, and I’ve been to a lot of premieres for films that I’ve acted in, but I haven’t been to many for films that I’ve directed. I guess I always get a little more nervous when I’m presenting material that I wrote or directed.

More nervous than when it’s your face up there on the screen?
In a way, yeah. Although you’re right…I directed two low-budget features before I went to film school and I also acted in them, so maybe I’m remembering the anxiety I had then. Now, I don’t particularly like acting in stuff I direct, so I’m not acting in [Herbert White] — it stars Michael Shannon. I don’t know, I don’t tell people I’m proud of the things I do. I work hard, but for whatever reason I just…I don’t know, but I feel really proud of this short. Michael’s basically my favorite actor, and it’s based on a poem by this guy Frank Bidart who’s one of my favorite poets. I think it turned into something really good! I don’t know, I’m proud of it.

Expect tons of Sundance posts in the next couple of days. In fact, here’s a great interview/article with James from it!

“One thing that I love about playing characters based on real people,” James Franco told indieWIRE at the Sundance Film Festival yesterday, “is that it gives me this extra jolt of responsibility where I feel like I especially need to get it right because I owe it to the original person or the people that love that person and respect that person. I feel much more obligation to just do my homework and really do everything I can to nail that role. And the other side of it is, usually when I’m portraying a real person it’s somebody that I love or at least respect in a lot of ways. So I want to celebrate them and do the best job I can. I like the idea of showing that to audiences through a portrayal of what I love about this person.”

Here at Sundance, Franco showed audiences what he loved about Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg in “HOWL,” Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein’s unique retelling of the obscenity trial that faced Ginsberg’s poem of the same name.  While the film – which opened the festival Thursday night – has been met with a generally mixed response, critics are unanimously praising Franco’s performance.

Click here for the rest.

Here are caps from James’ amusing guest appearance on 30 Rock! Enjoy!

GALLERY LINK:
- Television Series > 2010 | 30 Rock > 4×09 – Klaus and Greta