Trees aren't the only things that grow in Brooklyn.
"Amazing Spider-Man 2" star Dane DeHaan, says he based his performance as Harry Osborn — a childhood friend of Spider-Man's alter ego who becomes the bad guy Green Goblin in the movie opening Friday — on the hipsters and "trust fund babies" he meets in Williamsburg, where the 27-year-old lives.
"I live there (so) I understand this culture," DeHaan tells the News. "Harry is not based on any real person, but I know people he could be friends with … in Williamsburg."
DeHaan should buy them some "thank you" organic kale and heirloom shiitake confit because director Marc Webb admits the actor wasn't at the top of his list — until DeHaan showed up for an audition with that edgier Brooklyn look.
Dozens of other actors showed up looking like dozens of other actors.
Dehaan has impressed co-star Jamie Foxx enough to earn a song - ‘The Dane Train,’ sung to the tune of ‘Love Train.’
(Anita Bugge/WireImage)"I wouldn't say I wasn't at the top of their list," DeHaan says. "I would say I wasn't even on their list. (So) I had nothing to lose. Everyone around me was a very different type than me."
Critics already had known his name since his rave-worthy turns on HBO's "In Treatment," which had filmed in New York. DeHaan moved out to L.A. a couple of years ago to boost his career.
Truth be told, it worked: indie movies like the found footage super hero flick "Chronicle" (2012), the prohibition drama "Lawless" (2012) and the beatnik biopic "Kill Your Darlings (2013) followed.
But this is Spider-Man.
I wouldn't say I wasn't at the top of their list. I would say I wasn't even on their list.
"Yeah this is my biggest movie, but only by about $150 million," he deadpans.
He's won other converts among the cast. During DeHaan's interview with the Daily News, Electro himself, Jamie Foxx, popped in the room crooning "Dane Train" to the tune of the O'Jay's "Love Train."
Foxx' clip of his ode to his co-star posted on Twitter had already gone viral, netting DeHaan thousands of new Twitter followers.
And whatever piece of Brooklyn that DeHaan brought to the Goblin character certainly terrified co-star Emma Stone.
"With Dane it was terrifying," says Stone, whose Gwen Stacy has a run-in with the cackling villain. "Dane has a gaze that is very penetrating and when he's in full wardrobe as the Goblin (so) it was really scary to see him."
To scare be bejesus out of Stone and movie-goers, DeHaan traveled in secret to New Zealand to nail the makeup design with WETA Workshop, the practical effects house behind "Lord of the Rings."
"When we finally knew we got it right, I was in this suit and we did the camera test, it was just such a cool feeling to be able to look in the mirror and go, 'Holy s---, I'm the Green Goblin!'"
The best part of the gig, though, isn't the accolades from his peers. It's the chance to move back to his adoptive home, New York City.
DeHaan’s chemistry with Andrew Garfield (l.) helped earn him the part of Harry Osborn.
(Niko Tavernise/Columbia Pictures)"Honestly, I used this movie as an excuse to move back," says the Allentown, Pa., product turned Brooklynite.
"This time, I'm not leaving."
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