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Los Angeles - James Franco has slammed Sony Pictures for remaking Spider-Man before "burying the corpse" of the old trilogy.
The actor played Harry Osborn - the best friend of Spider-Man's alter-ego Peter Parker - in the original films and although he insists he has no "emotional attachment" to the franchise, he is critical of the movie studio's decision to reboot the comic book series so soon after the original trilogy.
Franco reveals his disdain in a newly penned review of Superman flick Man of Steel for Vice magazine, writing: "I too have been in comic-book films--the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi.
No time for nostalgia
I mention the director because this distinction is now necessary in the wake of the new Spider-Man series that arose even before there was time to bury the corpse of the old one and enshroud it in the haze of nostalgia.
"I don't have a huge emotional attachment to the Spider-Man franchise as a subject, my biggest sentimental ties are to the people I worked with on those films. I don't really feel much distress over its being remade, for many reasons, but what is interesting to me is that it has been remade so quickly--and the reasons why."
Hollywood greed
The actor-and-director goes on to blame Hollywood greed for the 2012 reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, which was directed by Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield.
He writes: "The answer is, of course, money. We are in the film business, and the studios are owned by large corporations who want to make money. And in this art form, where so much is spent and so much profit can be made, one criterion for success is inevitably the financial.
"When movies become so big that they can make $200 million in one weekend like The Avengers did, everyone from studios to filmmakers are going to want to get in on making comic-book movies."
More Spider-Man coming soon
Franco appeared alongside Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Raimi's trilogy between 2002 and 2007.
Sony recently announced it will produce two more sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man in 2016 and 2018, which combined with the 2012 film and next year's Amazing Spider-Man 2, will bring the new franchise to four films.
The actor played Harry Osborn - the best friend of Spider-Man's alter-ego Peter Parker - in the original films and although he insists he has no "emotional attachment" to the franchise, he is critical of the movie studio's decision to reboot the comic book series so soon after the original trilogy.
Franco reveals his disdain in a newly penned review of Superman flick Man of Steel for Vice magazine, writing: "I too have been in comic-book films--the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi.
No time for nostalgia
I mention the director because this distinction is now necessary in the wake of the new Spider-Man series that arose even before there was time to bury the corpse of the old one and enshroud it in the haze of nostalgia.
"I don't have a huge emotional attachment to the Spider-Man franchise as a subject, my biggest sentimental ties are to the people I worked with on those films. I don't really feel much distress over its being remade, for many reasons, but what is interesting to me is that it has been remade so quickly--and the reasons why."
Hollywood greed
The actor-and-director goes on to blame Hollywood greed for the 2012 reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, which was directed by Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield.
He writes: "The answer is, of course, money. We are in the film business, and the studios are owned by large corporations who want to make money. And in this art form, where so much is spent and so much profit can be made, one criterion for success is inevitably the financial.
"When movies become so big that they can make $200 million in one weekend like The Avengers did, everyone from studios to filmmakers are going to want to get in on making comic-book movies."
More Spider-Man coming soon
Franco appeared alongside Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Raimi's trilogy between 2002 and 2007.
Sony recently announced it will produce two more sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man in 2016 and 2018, which combined with the 2012 film and next year's Amazing Spider-Man 2, will bring the new franchise to four films.
