HOLLYWOOD -- Playing Peter Parker's dark doppelganger tickled Topher Grace's inner geek. Actually, more than tickled. More like molested.

"I'm probably the geekiest dude to ever be in one of these films," proclaims the former That '70s Show star, who portrays Eddie Brock -- a.k.a. Venom -- in Spider-Man 3.

In fact, "just to let you know I'm legit," Grace, while talking to reporters in L.A., even expounds enthusiastically about Todd McFarlane, the famed Calgary illustrator who designed Venom in the 1980s comics. "McFarlane illustrated The Amazing Spider-Man, which is the main Spider-Man comic book, but then he had his own title ... which was just Spider-Man ...

"I bought the first issue and he signed it for me when I was younger at a mall signing ... I don't know if he knows that so write about that because he'll probably look in the paper and go, 'What?' "

Not that the 28-year-old actor's love for all things Venom is limitless. Although much of the character is computer-generated, it nonetheless required Grace to don layers of latex and even fangs. "No, I don't want to see (the fangs) again. They were, like, really painful.

"It was weird. It was an hour to put on the suit, but that's actually not very painful.

"The only thing about the suit is there's no way to go to the bathroom, which Tobey never told me. You have to be kind of careful with that. I mean, just not drinking a lot of liquids in the morning ... but the fangs were actually bruising my gums. It's good, though -- I guess it's kind of a method way to get into being mean."


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