James Franco says Harry Osborn’s not bad, just misunderstood – in spite of S&M costume
By Damara Popoola
Franco as SM goblin
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/29/07 – In “Spider-man 3”, which swings into theaters May 4, Peter Parker battles not only himself, but also a series of new villains – the Sandman, Venom, and former friend Harry Osborn as a hipper, bondage-garbed Goblin. For James Franco, this film turns a new leaf for his character as Harry finally takes action, but also, in a way, finally redeems himself.
Since the end of the first movie where Harry Osborn found the dead body of his demented father being returned by Spider-man, it was clear Harry would take a turn for the worse. Still, Franco sees his character as a guy just trying to do what is right.
“Although misinformed, [Harry] thinks he is doing the right thing. His father, as far as he knows, was murdered. And so, he is just trying to avenge his father’s death,” Franco told Hollywood Today. “Peter does the same thing. Peter’s uncle is murdered, and in the start film you see him trying to avenge his uncle’s death. So, [Harry] is a confused character, but I don’t think he is a villain.”
Villain or not, Franco finally dons a modified, way cooler, suit of the Goblin in this installment which means hours of painstaking stunt work in front of a green screen. “It is a very slow process, Franco said. “You had to get strapped in and put the suit on and everyone gets set up. It takes hours just to set up each shot, as the effects’ team has to make sure everything is lined up with the green screen, and the stunt team have to rehearse the move and you get strapped in and then you shoot for twenty seconds, and then you get undone, and they set up again, and two hours later you do the same thing. And then you do and that goes on for about a month and half.”
Despite the seeming monotony of that process, however, Franco still enjoyed it. He said, “I am just grateful that I had Sam directing this movie, because he makes everything very fun. If I didn’t have him here I think it could be dreadful, but he made it good.”
Franco’s accustomed to learning new skills for a role. Besides his stunt work for “Spider-man 3”, he’s also learned boxing, horseback riding, fencing, and even cooking. Audiences will catch a glimpse of his latest learned behavior in “Spider-man 3” when he actually dances with Mary Jane.
“Sam likes those classical motifs. He is a bit stuck in the past sometimes, so he wanted us to do the twist,” Franco said. “I don’t know if I would ever do that in my real life, but I thought it was fun.”
The scene brings a lightness to Harry Osborn who remains in a dark place for most of the film. About it, Franco said, “He is a villain, but you also get to see the good side of Harry, you see a more innocent Harry. It is, I would like to think of it as, the Harry that could have been had he not had a tyrannical monstrous father who skewed his life, skewed Harry’s life. And so, in the middle of the film there is a couple of scenes where I get to be a bit more goofy, and the romance with MJ is reignited and it was fun. It was a relief, [since] those scenes are rare for me in these films.”
Again there seems to be a juxtaposition between the kind-hearted nature of Harry versus the psychosis imbued Harry, a contrast that adds dimension to his character making him less villainous and more misunderstood. The character owes these nuances to the comic books and Franco’s performance, but also to Sam Raimi’s vision.
“Even if you don’t condone their actions, Sam really will make sure that all the characters are grounded including the villains, and that speaks to his approach to the films and his treatment of them as character pieces,” Franco said. “And so, I don’t think you will ever get a villain that is out and out malicious, just for being malicious sake, they all have reasons.”
And if ever there was a character who had a reason to become a villain, Franco’s Harry is one of them.
“[Harry] is not putting on that suit for any kind of personal gain, he is not going to try and steal money with it, he is not going to try and manipulate people, kill people, or terrorize people. He just wants to kill the murderer of his father,” Franco said. “And in another story you could just twist that slightly and he would be a hero, I mean look at Hamlet. And so, I think it makes him a more of a sympathetic character.”
Though everyone is sure to catch Franco in “Spider-man 3”, he’ll be seen next in September’s “In the Valley of Elah” and in “The Pineapple Express,” hitting theaters in 2008.