10 Actors You Won't Believe Almost Played Spider-Man

3. James Franco

What? James Franco? But he's... he's Harry Osborn, isn't he? That's true, although back before Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was actually a thing you could watch in cinemas, James Franco was legitimately considered to play Peter Parker before he went on to play the villainous Harry Osborn, Peter's long time friend, enemy and then friend again, over the course of three very successful films. Given how much we associated Franco was the role of Harry Osborn, then, it's strange to think that he might well have ended up wearing Spider-Man's costume. The role eventually went to Tobey Maguire, of course, but how might Franco have done as the lead in this massive franchise? Granted, he's a little bit weird (in real life and in the movie, actually), so we can certainly see why the producers tapped him for Harry instead, but he might well have pulled off a convincing Peter Parker. Thing is, he's still very handsome in a far more conventional way - it's hard to picture him all nerdy, and there's also something about Franco's mannerisms that make him oddly difficult to root for. He was made for Harry.