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CINDY PEARLMAN
NYT Syndicate
It began with a billboard on Highland Avenue in Los Angeles. For five years James Franco kept driving past it and, each time he stopped at the light, he was intrigued.
"I wondered, 'Is this for a movie?' The weird thing is, it looked like a movie poster, but there was a phone number on it," he recalled."I learned that, if you called the number, it went directly to Tommy Wiseau's apartment."
Wiseau is the filmmaker who directed, wrote and starred in a movie called The Room (2003), not to be confused with Room (2015), the film that earned Brie Larson an Oscar as Best Actress. The Room has been called"the Citizen Kane of bad movies." It's an odd film that has become a midnight-cinema classic.
"The Room became this film phenomenon at the Sunset Five," Franco said."All my friends went to see it five, six, 10 times. It was covered by CNN as event cinema. I still hadn't seen it, but I read a book about the making of the film called The Disaster Artist.
"The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, because I love Hollywood stories, but this was a Hollywood story unlike any other," Franco said during an interview in Toronto."It was a universal story about following a dream."
Franco directes and stars in The Disaster Artist, opening worldwide on December 1. Based on The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside 'The Room,' the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made (Simon & Schuster, 2013), by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, it's a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Room.
Franco's film, which also stars his brother, Dave Franco, plus Alison Brie, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson and Seth Rogen, is an intricate account of how Wiseau (Franco) wrote, starred in and directed what some call one of the worst movies ever made. Many who love it affectionately call it a"disasterpiece."
One reviewer wrote:"Wiseau's misguided masterpiece subverts the rules of filmmaking with a boundless enthusiasm that renders such mundanities as acting, screenwriting and cinematography utterly irrelevant."
Wiseau himself starred as Johnny, a successful banker living happily in a San Francisco townhouse with his fianc`e, Lisa. She ends up seducing his best friend, who was played by Wiseau's friend Greg Sestero, who later co-wrote the book on which Franco's movie is based.
The Room did little business when it opened, but then rumours began to spread around Los Angeles about this unintentional comedy. People began to flock to the few screens that were showing it. Loyal audiences, back for repeat viewings, would shout at the screen, making the film into a latter-day The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).
"I saw the movie with Jonah Hill at the Sunset Five," Rogen recalled in a separate interview."It was such a fun time because people were shouting things at the screen. Then I was making The Interview (2014) in Vancouver and saw James on the set reading The Disaster Artist, about the making of the movie. We kept talking about the book, and that's when James told me he wanted to make it into a movie.
"I immediately confessed, 'I've seen Citizen Kane three times, but I've seen The Room about 10 times."
"I wasn't part of the OG posse who saw it at the Sunset Five," Franco said."I saw it at a Vancouver screening, and now I've seen The Room about 50 times. When we were in prep, I saw it every single day. I was even given the dailies, so now I've seen every single take of that film. I've seen more than I should of The Room.
"What I identified about the whole thing is that The Room was about dreamers trying to make it in a really hard business."
Franco could identify with Wiseau's struggle to get his voice heard.
"I really respected that he came out to Hollywood, like so many millions have done, and got his movie made," he said."That was the key. He got his story on the big screen. The more I sat with this movie in postproduction, the more I thought, 'I am Tommy.' I relate to him in so many ways. I want to get my stories out there too."That's why I didn't want to make a movie making fun of his film," Franco said."I love that film and could watch it again right now."
Franco spent copious hours researching Wiseau, a mysterious loner with long, black hair and a distinct, hard-to-pin-down accent.
"Greg gave me a lot of material, but the best was old tapes of Tommy talking," Franco said."I had private moments of Tommy just talking to himself. It was an actor's dream to get great insight into this interior world.
"I studied his voice the same way I did with James Dean when I played him, years ago," he added."I just obsessively drove around in my car listening to the voice all the time."
"He directed the movie in the Tommy voice," Rogen said."I just did my thing thinking, 'This is extremely weird.'
"This set actually required a disclaimer," Rogen added."One day my parents came to the set and heard Franco talking. I said, 'He's in character.' It was like Daniel Day-Lewis time. Then my grandmother came to the set and she turned to me and said, 'Where's James Franco?' He was just across the room, talking like Tommy. I said, 'Grandma, you're not going to like this movie.'"
"It was just easier to stay in character," Franco said."I thought, 'If I have to speak in this accent, then I better just stay in it.' I already had the hair and makeup on, so speaking like Tommy just felt right."
The film also delves into Wiseau's relationship with Sestero (Dave Franco).
"This isn't exactly the first time we worked together," John Franco said."We had a 'Funny or Die' thing we did together, where I gave him some really bad acting lessons. Then, when I was reading the book, The Disaster Artist, I just knew that Dave and I would have the right dynamic for this movie."
A number of real-life Hollywood names have cameos as themselves, including J J Abrams, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, Zach Braff, Lizzy Caplan, Bryan Cranston and Adam Scott.
"It goes to show how much people love The Room," Franco said."These people just wanted to be part of it. I'd say, 'I'm making this movie about the making of The Room, not the Brie Larson movie, but the other one,' and always heard, 'OK, I'll be there.'"
Franco said that he was wary when Wiseau, who has a bit part in the film, saw it for the first time.
"I showed it to him at SXSW and was really nervous," Franco said."I hoped he wouldn't get on stage and bash it. But I kept looking over at him and he was smiling. Afterward he told me, 'I approve 99 percent of it.' I asked, 'What's the 1 percent that you don't approve?' He said, 'I think there was one moment where the lighting was a bit off.'
"I said, 'OK, I'll talk to the DP'"
Franco's film received standing ovations at both SXSW and at a coveted 'Midnight Madness' screening at this year's Toronto Film Festival. At both events Wiseau walked the red carpet next to Franco.
"This is for him," Franco said.
