The Disaster Artist



The Room has gone through several transformations in the 14 years since its unfortunate release in 2003. From flat out rejection due to its sheer incompetence, the film quickly found a second life on the midnight circuit as a cult curio, which attracted more and more fans into its bizarre world. Fans delighted in its awful script, dreadful acting, and inept filmmaking. The story of Tommy, Mark and Lisa stuck in a clichéd love triangle really connects with fans because of how unintentionally funny it is. Fans revel in the bizarre choices, such as the framing pictures of spoons for back ground decoration, the plot inconsistencies and the truly awful delivery of the strange script. But it's also a window in the strange pschye of one man - Tommy Wiseau.

Stories began to leak out about the disastrous production, with Wiseau often at the centre of it all. With broken English and a seemingly endless supply of money, Wiseau tried to make a film to match the passion of Tennesse Williams (or so the posters claimed). It wasn't long before other actors came forward with their "confessionals" of the making the film, the most famous of which is Mark actor Greg Sestro's memoirs The Disaster Artist. The novel is a very funny and engaging read. It reveals how Sestro and Wiseau were good friends, trying to make it together in Hollywood. However, Wiseau's incredibly eccentric personality (and that's putting it mildly) and focus to make his passion project The Room invariably drove the two apart. The story had, ironically, the makings of a Hollywood film ... which has, at long last, arrived

Greg (Dave Franco) is a struggling 19-year old actor living in San Francisco. He suffers from crippling shyness which is getting in the way of his acting ambitions. Everything changes though when he meets the bizarre Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in an acting class. Tommy is incredibly eccentric, confident and something of a dark enigma. The two begin to form a strange friendship based on a mutual interest in each other - Greg wants to try and tap into Tommy's unbound confidence, while Tommy is jealous of Greg's youthful looks. More and more questions begin to pile up as Greg gets to know Tommy more. Where does his seemingly endless supply of money come from? In fact, where does he even come from? And just how old is he? The duo decide to move to L.A. to try and make it big, however after several failures and Tommy's increasingly strange behaviour, things don't seem to be moving fast for the two friends. Until, Tommy has the 'brilliant' idea to just write, produce and direct their own film for them to star in. Fairly quickly, Greg finds himself on the set of what is destined to be one of the most beloved so-bad-it's-good films of all time...

The Disaster Artist re-creates in loving detail the process of making The Room

At the centre of this whirl-wind of madness is James Franco as Tommy Wiseau, clearly the highlight of the film. Most of the time, I'm not fan of Franco but here the role is just perfectly suited to his biggest strengths. You get the impression that Franco basically wanted to make this film so he could play Tommy. Everything from the Eastern European accent to the greasy long black hair to the vacant expression are all here and accounted for. I do think Franco manages to move the role past from being a straight caricature into a real character. Ultimately, Tommy's lack of self-awareness becomes his greatest curse. He is fearless when performing in the middle of a crowded diner but doesn't know how to interact with a Hollywood producer, in a particularly awkward scene in a fancy restaurant. His increasingly agitated diva persona blows up on the set of The Room, leading to one very awkward scene in which he struts around naked on set whilst filming the already very awkward sex scene. I wish the same attention to detail could have extended to Dave Franco's performance as Greg Sestro. He's likeable enough in the role but he is a far cry from the voice readers enjoyed in the novel. While I was sold on James as Tommy, Dave never quite did the same with Greg, at least not for me. The book communicates that the pair shared a complex relationship which the film boils down to more simplistic terms. I don't find it completely distracting but the book really builds up well to the two falling out - in the film it just kind of happens...

Tommy and Greg form a friendship based on mutual interests

Like Wiseau, Franco also directs. The style of the film goes for a faux-documentary style, which is serviceable for the material. To its credit though, the film is not mean spirited - Franco has a clear love for the source material. I think it's fair to draw comparisons between The Disaster Artist and Tim Burton's masterpiece, Ed Wood - a biopic about the life and times of a similarly terrible filmmaker. I actually re-watched Ed Wood recently and found it utterly absorbing. Ed Wood succeeds because of how romanticised the whole thing is and the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography helps to back up this conceit. The Disaster Artist lacks any kind of real style, which I think is harmful to the film overall. Maybe, like Wiseau, Franco was just too absorbed in his performance ..

The real treat of the film though are the recreations of the filming of The Room, which is the meat of the running time This is also the film at its funniest. Every actor cast to fill the roles of Lisa, Denny, Claudette and Peter are pitch perfect. As Tommy squanders millions of dollars on his passion project, the actors and crew become increasingly angry at the he treats everyone, his un-professional approach to filmmaking and complete lack of experience of working a set. Every scene you know and love is here, as pretty much everyone questions the logical behind the script and Wiseau's awful directing decisions. As a side-character, Seth Rogan is great as the hapless script supervisor, who basically ends up directing the film and acts as the voice of reason. I love the increasing realisation that Greg has been drawn into a nightmare as he has to defend more and more of Tommy's eccentric behaviour, almost like a cheerleader. However, Tommy is just stuck into making his "all-American movie".

Now, as a fan of The Room this is exactly what I want to see. However, I do wonder how The Disaster Artist would play to someone who has not seen The Room. Unlike Ed Wood, which could be enjoyed with no knowledge of the director, I do think some prior knowledge is required with The Room. Otherwise, it's hard to know exactly what things are building up to and lacks the catalyst that Ed Wood had.

Despite some gripes, The Disaster Artist is a very entertaining watch that pretty much meets the expectations of all fans of The Room. I would have liked to seen more of the morally grey material from the novel but, as a cinematic representation of how The Room was made, The Disaster Artist ticks nearly all the boxes. James Franco is great in the lead, putting his often mis-spent creative energy into a role that perfectly suits him. While there are certain details that are either missed or could have been expanded on, The Disaster Artist still weaves a feel-good spell that will not doubt make more people aware of the continuing saga of Tommy Wiseau.