After making his mark in the TV biopic James Dean as the young leading man who lived fast, died young and left a good-looking corpse, as well as in the blockbuster Spider-Man films, actor James Franco is ready to take center stage in the military drama Annapolis, set at one of America’s most prestigious Naval training academies. Hollywood.com recently caught up with Franco, who talked about learning the ropes from De Niro, what boot camp is really like, and his part in the wall-crawler’s next cinematic adventure.
Hollywood.com: Your Annapolis co-star Tyrese Gibson told us that you stay in character pretty much the whole time on set. Is that something that you’ve been doing since you started acting?
James Franco: I don’t know if I stay in character. But early on in my career I did a movie with Robert De Niro called City by the Sea, and I saw it as a chance as a young actor to learn from one of my idols and so I went and watched him everyday even when I wasn’t working and what I picked up from observing him is that he does everything while the camera is rolling and then when they say cut he kind of goes off on his own and stays focused. So it’s not like if I’m playing some military guy that I’m going to go around like this all the time, or at the hotel ask them to call me “Lieutenant.” I just kind of keep to myself. That’s what I do to just stay focused.
HW: Your relationship with Vicellous Shannon seemed so natural. Can you talk about that?
JF: Well, Vicellous is just that way naturally. He was in The Hurricane with Denzel Washington and he’s just a great young actor, and it was a young cast and everyone is still pretty new to their career. So everyone is happy to be there and isn’t jaded and really wanted to do the best job that they could. We were all away from home and it had that sort of summer camp feel, and so it’s easy to fall into that relationship.
HW: And how was it working with Jordana Brewster?
JF: I guess that we had a connection going. She’s great. I signed on before everyone and then I helped Justin cast Jordana’s role and Tyrese’s role, and she’s gorgeous–an interesting part of the movie is that it shows women at the Academy and some of the challenges that they have in fitting in what is traditionally a man’s world, and I thought that she had the drive to get there.
HW: We hear Tyrese walked into the audition wearing full military gear.
JF: Yeah. He was wearing camouflage. I respect that. I respect when you go into an audition that the people who are most prepared are definitely the people that you want to get the role because you know that they’re passionate. I told Justin that I thought Tyrese was the one. Before Tyrese came in they were leaning in a different direction and after he came in I said, “I think that he’s the one.”
HW: You went through boot camps for both this film and your other recent project, Tristan and Isolde. Which was one was more difficult?
JF: Well, I’d say that both are equally strenuous. I worked for about as long on both and maybe I might feel a little silly swinging a sword, but it’s just as hard as boxing. But the difference is when you make a mistake in the boxing you just get capped a little and you shake it off, but with the swords you’re using real swords and so every actor had cuts on their hands and you’d get hit on the arms. So that was a little harder.
HW: You also play soldiers in both films. Do you think that you personally could be a soldier?
JF: That’s rough. I don’t know if could do it. I have a lot of respect for what they do, but it takes not only physical stamina to do all that, and–what the Annapolis consultant told us about it is that the biggest challenge for most people is the mental shift that’s required to be there. You really have to leave your ego at the door. It’s a really different way of life than most people are used to. I don’t know if I could do it, because it’s tough.
HW: Was there ever a point during boot camp that you felt the instructors getting on your case were crossing the line a little bit?
JF: No. I mean, it’s nowhere near what real boot camp is like, and so I just take all of that gladly, and I know that from experience that it only helps you. It’s invaluable because you have a bunch of actors who’ve never been in the military and don’t know anything. All they have is an idea of what that’s like. So the more that you can have contact with someone who’s really been there to put you through the paces the better, and you can’t take it – if that’s too much for you, then I feel bad for you.
HW: You’re about to reprise your role as Harry Osborn for Spider-Man 3. How do you feel about coming back to that character?
JF: It’s fine. It has the possibility… You do a character three times and there’s the chance that it’ll get stale, but they’ve written a great character for me and he has a great arc and he changes in every film. And I have a great time with Sam [Raimi] and Tobey [Maguire].
HW: The ensemble of that franchise is growing, with the addition of the villains played by Thomas Hayden Church and Topher Grace. Does that ease your burden so you can come in and have some fun?
JF: I’m glad that they’re onboard. They’re great actors. I approach them all with the same intensity and the same level of seriousness. There are a lot of Spider-Man fans and people ask me a lot… They’re like, “You’ve done all these other movies, and then you do Spider-Man. Is that a vacation?” But it’s not. It’s the same kind of thing. We’re playing real people, but it’s just that someone swings around on webs in that world, but it’s a real character that I treat just as seriously as all my other roles. I mean, it’s just as deep. I have dramatic scenes in that as well.
