MARVEL'S MOVIE STARS: CATCHING UP WITH JAMES FRANCO AND KERRY WASHINGTON
Kerry Washington has been an actor on the rise since
Save the Last Dance. Subsequently shes worked with directors like Spike Lee, Doug Liman and gotten rave reviews for her roles in
Ray and
The Last King of Scotland. Like many actors in Hollywood these days, she also got her chance to play a comic book character - Alicia Masters, in 2005s
Fantastic Four.
This coming summer Washington reprises her role in the sequel,
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I got a chance to talk with Washington at the junket for the dark independent film,
The Dead Girl.
Newsarama: I know you cant really answer too many questions about the sequel to
Fantastic Four...
Kerry Washington: I cant. Every script we get has our name printed on every page.
NRAMA: Well in the
Fantastic Four comic book, Alicia Masters is the character who first meets and explains human life and emotion to the Silver Surfer. Will anything in
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer mirror the comic books?
KW: You really want to get me in trouble. You want them to fire me from 3! [laughs] I cant really say but most of my arc is about my relationship with The Thing.
NRAMA: Do you take inspiration from the comic books?
KW: I did for the first one. This one not so much. I felt that I established who she was for me.
NRAMA: What did you think when you looked at the
Fantastic Four comic books and saw that Alicia Masters is Caucasian?
KW: I knew. That me and my teams idea. We knew that
Fantastic Four was being made. I know [
Fantastic Four director] Tim Story. My manager and agents discussed it, we said Lets ask them if they will go black for Alicia. We went to the studio and asked them if they were open to the idea and they said Yeah that might be kind of neat. It was exciting.
My dad actually called me a month ago to tell me that he was with some of my cousins and they were watching cartoons and they saw that Alicia Masters in the Fantastic Four cartoon is now black. I think that is so cool.
NRAMA: Were you ever fan of the
Fantastic Four comic book?
KW: No, I was totally more of a Veronica and Betty girl. I definitely wasnt into those kinds of books. But I am now though. I started going to comic book stores and my fiancé bought me some old classic
Fantastic Four comics so I like them more now but I am in no way a comic book junkie.
James Franco landed his first big role in the cult hit
Freaks & Geeks, he went on to be a part of many independent films before landing the star making role of Harry Osborn in the
Spider-Man movies. While Franco was promoting his role in his latest independent feature,
The Dead Girl, I got a chance to toss some
Spider-Man 3 questions at him.
Newsarama: When youre going from a big movie like
Spider-Man 3 to something very small and indie like
The Dead Girl, how easy or hard is it to switch gears?
James Franco: I think Ive done enough big budget films and smaller budgeted films that Ive found they are essentially the same. The main differences are that on a big film you have a lot more time. I shot one fight scene in
Spider-Man 3 for six weeks while I only spent two or three days on the set of
The Dead Girl.
NRAMA: Your character of Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man films has, unlike the other characters, had an arc that has traveled through the film two films. Do you feel that the third film wraps up things for Harry?
JF: I dont know if it is the final piece but I think it is rare in an action genre to have that kind of storyline through three pictures. Usually youll have a main character that the audience likes and goes through an adventure in the first film. Then in the second one it is completely separate that doesnt have anything to do with the first one. The great thing about Spider-Man is that the arc of my character, the arc of Tobey and Kirstens character have progressed through all three films and a lot of things will be tied up in the third film.
NRAMA: Is the third film the culmination of everything thats come before or is it just another story?
JF: A bit of both I think.
NRAMA: Will there be a fourth Spider-Man?
JF: It is possible. Im sure Sony and Marvel would love to make ten more.
NRAMA: Will you be in ten more?
JF: Im not sure. When Tobey, Kirsten and I signed on for the first one, we all signed one for three pictures. So the next one isnt just an automatic yes. I think a lot of things need to be discussed.
t:.
OH SNAP!
