The Room is a sociological phenomenon—a movie so unbelievably bad that it’s baffling that it exists. And despite what Tommy Wiseau—the auteur responsible—might say, it was definitely not made as an intentional comedy. It just so happens that in Wiseau’s effort to create a Tennessee Williams–style drama, he inadvertently crafted one of the most sublimely hilarious films of all time.
As an artifact, The Room will live on forever—like Casablanca or CatDog—but the story of the film is somewhat muddled (for instance, how Wiseau was able to acquire the film’s six million dollar budget is still a source of mystery—the best answer Wiseau has provided cites a successful run importing leather jackets from Korea).
Looking to provide a non-psychotic side of the story, the writer Tom Bissell and actor/writer Greg Sestero (who plays the backstabbing Mark in the feature) wrote The Disaster Artist, a book chronicling the film’s storied production and release. Soon after, actor/writer/Freak/Geek James Franco picked up the book for a feature adaptation and subsequently sent everyone down a meta-wormhole of confusion and speculation as to what the hell that kind of movie would look like.
Yesterday, that wormhole reared its beautiful head online as Franco formally announced the beginning of production by sharing a photo from the set. It depicts himself as Wiseau and his brother Dave Franco as Mark—or is it as Sestero playing Mark, or…
In conjunction with the visual treat, The Hollywood Reporter has also revealed some new casting additions to the movie, including Josh Hutcherson (who is said to be playing Denny) and Zac Efron (presumably playing the vengeful, beanie-wearing Chris-R). Hannibal Burress, Seth Rogen, Kate Upton, Ari Graynor, and Jacki Weaver are all also slated to appear in an as-yet-undefined capacity, though it seems reasonable to assume that Graynor will play Lisa and Weaver will play Claudette (bless her heart). Hopefully Burress will play the weirdo-hating psychiatrist.
For now, the film is still without a release date, but if you’re not excited about this movie anyway, your point of view is just so different from mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOdjtiOMGbA
(via Collider)
Originally published December 8, 1:45 p.m.
Updated: December 23, 12:30 p.m.: It’s happening, y’all.
Now that production has been underway for a few weeks, the wheels are really turning on The Disaster Artist. To prove it, Seth Rogen recently shared a version of the poster that’s been mocked up with reimagined characters. Unfortunately, it remains a mystery as to what role Hannibal Burress will be playing, because if you look closely, that’s definitely Nathan Fielder (of Nathan for You) who’s nabbed the role of the psychiatrist.
