Seth Rogen and James Franco are not coming out with a bad movie. They’re coming out with a movie about a bad movie. Deco’s bad boy Chris Van Vliet is here with the pair of A-list disaster artists.
“The Room” has been called the “Citizen Kane” of bad movies — it’s so bad, that’s it’s good. And the story behind the movie is just as entertaining. James Franco tells us why he wanted to make “The Disaster Artist” and why he put on a bad wig and spoke in a strange accent to star in it.
James Franco (as Tommy Wiseau): “To be or not to be.”
Judd Apatow (as Hollywood Producer): “It’s not going to happen for you, not in a million years.”
James Franco (as Tommy Wiseau): “But after that?”
Meet Tommy Wiseau, an enigma of a man and the writer, director and star of “The Room” — the especially bad movie from 2003 that has become a cult classic because of how terrible it is.
Tommy Wiseau (as Johnny): “Are you OK, Denny?”
Philip Haldiman (as Denny): “I’m OK.”
Tommy Wiseau (as Johnny): “Are you OK?”
Philip Haldiman (as Johnny): “I’m OK.”
Carolyn Minnott (as Claudette): “What’s OK? He’s taking drugs.”
That’s a scene from the actual movie. Yeah, bad acting, storylines that make no sense and a laughable script.
Tommy Wiseau (as Johnny): “You are tearing me apart, Lisa!”
In “The Disaster Artist,” James Franco plays Tommy as he moves to Hollywood to become a star, but when no one hires him, he decides to make “The Room.”
James Franco (as Tommy Wiseau): “This town, Greg, they don’t want me.”
Dave Franco (as Greg Sestero): “I wish we could just make our own movie.”
James Franco (as Tommy Wiseau): “That great idea.”
James Franco: “He wrote the original copy on the poster, ‘Tennessee Williams-level drama,’ so it kind of tells you what he was aiming for back then. It didn’t really come off that way. Audiences were laughing from the premiere on.”
James Franco (as Tommy Wiseau): “Why you cut, Sandy? This is great. This is real acting.”
The movie was intended to be good, but after audiences laughed at it, it found new life in midnight screenings across the world, where it has been playing for the last 14 years.
James Franco: “A lot of artists don’t talk about their work, they let the audience interpret it, and they don’t want to bother with that interpretation. I guess you could say this is the ultimate case of that.”
Tommy Wiseau is now in on the joke. He claims the movie was intended to be a comedy the entire time. Yeah, sure.
Tommy Wiseau: “I always say, ‘Grab the camera, make your own movie before starting to criticize “The Room,” OK.'”
Dave Franco (as Greg Sestero): “You’re really going to make this thing?”
James Franco (as Tommy Wiseau): “We are. Together.”
“The Disaster Artist” is in theaters Friday, and no, you don’t need to see “The Room” first before seeing it, but it definitely helps put things in perspective.
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