James Franco Recites Byron To The World's Luckiest Middle-School Journalist

This simply must be seen to be believed.

Brought to my attention by former All Songs Considered intern and Monkey See pal Will Butler, this is a video from the Santa Barbara Middle School Teen Press, an outfit that haunts film festivals and other events to grab celebrity interviews.

The setup here, as I understand it, is that the intrepid reporters were at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and they were planning a red carpet interview with James Franco. They were thwarted in their efforts to interview him in that loud, clamorous, unhelpful environment, and wound up instead interviewing him in a quiet green room.

The interview starts at about the 2:40 mark, and it's almost achingly charming. Enjoy. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.