'Ghost Rider' fan faces debut fashion decision

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (Feb 14, 2007)

Stephen Harris is having trouble deciding what to wear tomorrow.He's not going to work, nor is he taking his girlfriend out for a belated Valentine's dinner.

Harris will walk the red carpet in New York with Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes and Peter Fonda at the premiere of the movie "Ghost Rider."

"I'm not sure what to wear and I'm really nervous about that. I have no idea," Harris said. "It's a biker movie, so there's probably going to be a bunch of people wearing leather, but they told me business casual. I've been dreaming about walking a red carpet for 20 years."

Harris, a native of Churchill Falls, is an actor living in St. John's who ran for the Green party in last year's federal election. To say he is a fan of the "Ghost Rider" character would be a massive understatement.

"Ghost Rider" began as a Marvel comic character: a man who transforms into a flaming skeleton motorcyclist with supernatural powers.

Harris has about 800 "Ghost Rider" comics, and has posted a total of 15,000 messages in the "Ghost Rider" chat room on superherohype.com, which he now moderates.

"I was always into supernatural things like ghosts and goblins, and, of course, he's the coolest looking character on Earth," Harris explained.

Harris found the website in 2003, after hearing a rumour there was to be a movie, and joined the chat room. At the time, there were less than a half-dozen regular "Ghost Rider" fans that posted messages on the site.

Later, a new member joined, contributing under the alias MSJ before revealing he was Mark Steven Johnson, writer and director of the Sony/Columbia "Ghost Rider" film.

He and Harris have become online friends and last year, Harris received a package in the mail from Johnson containing some posters that had been used as props in the movie, as well as a crew hat, vest and T-shirt.

If that weren't exciting enough, last month Harris got an e-mail from Johnson, asking what he was doing Feb. 15.

"I said, 'I'll probably be having a near heart attack because the movie is being released the next day,' " Harris said. "He wrote back and said, 'Well, a near heart attack isn't good enough. We're going to fly you to New York for the premiere, put you up for the night, you walk the red carpet and you fly out the next day. How's that sound?'

"I wrote back and said, 'Do I still get to watch the movie?' "

Sony/Columbia is flying Harris and two other original members of the "Ghost Rider" chat room to New York as Johnson's special guests. After attending the movie premiere, they will get the chance to meet the stars at an after-party.

"I get to go to the filmmaker party after and do a little schmoozing, and see if I can get in the sequel," Harris said with a laugh.

"It will be cool to meet Nicolas Cage, but it will be funny. What if he says, 'So what do you do, Steve?' How do you tell Nicolas Cage you're an actor?"