After meeting 17-year-old Scottish tourist Lucy Clode outside his Broadway show Of Mice and Men, actor James Franco (or a very good impersonator) apparently tried to arrange a hotel hook-up with her over Instagram.

The young tourist took an Instagram video of Franco, who asked her to “tag me” when he noticed her filming. She obliged and the 35-year-old actor/author/MFA student proceeded to send her a selfie and ask her if she was single on the popular photo-sharing app.

Franco requested her phone number and the pair switched to text messaging. When Franco asked her if they could meet up, the teenager was understandably suspicious, asking for proof that the actor really was behind the messages.

After Ms Clode shot down Franco’s requests due to her age, he became noticeably standoffish.

Eager to share her strange encounter, Ms Clode went straight to sharing site Imgur, posting the entire exchange online.

There are suggestions that the incident is a stunt to generate publicity for Franco’s next film, Palo Alto, in which he plays an older soccer coach trying to seduce a 14-year-old babysitter.

Franco appears to have denied the incident, cryptically tweeting, “I’M NOT! I HOPE PARENTS KEEP THEIR TEENS AWAY FROM ME. Thank you.”