James Franco apparently tries to arrange hotel hook-up with 17yo fan Lucy Clode in leaked messages

JAMES Franco has apparently been caught trying to hook up with a 17-year-old fan on Instagram.

Scandal ... James Franco tried to get a 17-year-old fan to meet him in a New York hotel r

JAMES Franco has apparently been caught trying to hook up with a 17-year-old fan via Instagram, asking her ‘should I book a hotel?’.

Scottish teen Lucy Clode briefly met Franco at his broadway show Of Mice and Men while in New York City with her mum for an early trip to celebrate her 18th birthday.

When Clode took an Instagram video with the actor outside the theatre, he told her “you gotta tag me”.

The pair embarked on a flirty exchange later that night via Instagram.

The messages have lit up gossip blogs in the US, with speculation over their authenticity or whether the entire thing is merely a publicity stunt for Franco’s new movie.

Young fan ... Lucy Clode, 17, posted a video of herself meeting Franco outside his Broadway show. He told her to tag him, and then tried to convince her to meet him in hotel room for a hook-up. Picture: Instagram

In the messages, the 35-year-old Pineapple Express star asks Clode if she’s 18, and she answers “nearly”.

He then asks if she has her boyfriend and for her phone number. The legal age of consent in New York is 17.

“You’re single? What’s the hotel? Should I rent a room?”, he writes.

Proof ... The first of two selfies the actor sent Clode to prove it was really him.

The actor even sent two photos of himself to Clode, when she asked for proof it was really the Hollywood star, saying “you sound so dodgy though”.

She agrees to meet if he writes her name on a piece of paper and sends her a photo of himself holding it. Franco quickly obliges — while flipping his middle finger as a final seductive touch.

Bizarre...Franco texted Clode another selfie after she called him “dodgy”.

However, the whole thing was too strange for Clode, who begs off saying “I’ll come back when I’m 18”.

“Don’t tell”, Franco writes.

“If you don’t want to meet, then text me when you do. Bye”.

Clode posted screengrabs of Franco’s flirting to Instagram, and the leaked exchange has onlookers wondering if it is a hoax cooked up as apublicity stunt for Franco’s new film Palo Alto, in which he plays a soccer coach who seduces a 14-year-old babysitter, played by Emma Roberts.

The eccletic actor hasn’t confirmed the messages, but he did tweet “Why are you thirsty for underage ones?” in a post that has since been deleted.

He also wrote “I’m not! I hope parents keep their teens away from me. Thank you.”