You know him. He played James Dean on TV (looks just like him!) and he's Harry, Spider-Man's friend/nemesis in the Spider-Man films. Talented and gorgeous actor James Franco has got a rep for being a brooding loner. Hey, the guy likes to sit alone and read sometimes, okay? That's a plus, certainly not a minus. In his new historical war/rescue film The Great Raid, James plays true to type as a bright strategist who stays to himself a lot while figuring out how to rescue 500 American prisoners of war about to be executed by the Japanese in the World War Two Philippines.

James Franco in the hotel for our interview. Credit: Wilson Morales

This story is very interesting and heroic. We learn in school about the Holocaust but not much about the war in the Pacific against the Japanese. Almost nobody, including teachers, knows much about this amazing true-life rescue effort that saved hundreds of U.S. soldiers from certain death. As James told us, that's because the guys who did the rescuing are so modest. Hey, it was just part of being a soldier. You don't leave your friends behind.

James as Harry Osborn in Spider-Man 2 Credit: Columbia Pictures

Dressed in black shirt, tie and designer suit with subtle pinstripes, James looked very corporate for our chat in Beverly Hills. We learned everything from what he'd be doing if we weren't interviewing him on a nice Sunday afternoon to injuries while making the film, what's up with the next Spider-Man flick and the fact that we'll see him soon as an action hero in two more war-related films.