The Disaster Artist was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and directed by James Franco.
Neustadter and Weber are working partners, who previously wrote (500) Days Of Summer, The Pink Panther 2 (?), The Spectacular Now, The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns.
Franco is a prolific actor and occasional writer/director. He previously directed twenty or so small films that you've never heard of that I'm not gonna bother to list. Google him if you wanna see what he's done.
The film's based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, The Greatest Bad Film Ever Made, by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell. Jesus, could the title be any longer?
The Disaster Artist tells the true-life story of the relationship between model/actor Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau, the writer and director of The Room, which is widely considered to be one of the worst movies ever made.
I loved this movie! It's the best thing I've seen in the cineplex in a long time. A lonnnnnng time. This was the first time in... I can't remember when that I actually enjoyed watching a movie in the theater!
The Disaster Artist is very much like Ed Wood, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. Both tell very similar stories of delusional filmmakers who had absolutely no talent, yet somehow managed to make their own movies. That said, Ed Wood seems to have a lot more heart and affection for its main character, while The Disaster Artist feels a bit more cold and clinical. I'm not sure whether that's due to the subject matter or the difference between the directors.
There's something very meta about the idea of James Franco playing Tommy Wiseau. He's starring in and directing a film about a man who starred in and directed in his own film! Franco's also directed a couple dozen small, independent and little-seen movies, seemingly for his own amusement. Wiseau did pretty much the same thing with The Room.
You don't need to have seen The Room in order to enjoy The Disaster Artist, as the movie's less about that film and more about the relationship between Greg Sestero and the enigma that is Tommy Wiseau. If you have seen The Room, you'll definitely pick up on various plot points and Easter eggs though. You'll also begin to realize the fact that Tommy wrote his Johnny character as an idealized version of himself, and as the way he wishes his life was— filled with friends who unconditionally adore him.
The film's pretty accurate as biopics go, but naturally it leaves out a few real-life incidents. It also sugarcoats many of Wiseau's darker traits and outbursts that were present in the book. I suppose that's to be expected, since the film had to be made with Wiseau's approval, and there was no way he'd sign off on something that made him look like a total asshole. That's not to say the film completely sanitizes him though, as it actually portrays him as a raving tyrant on set, arbitrarily firing crew members while having little or no respect for his actors. So kudos for allowing a little of his mania to show through.
So far the film's grossed $23 million worldwide against its tiny $10 million budget, which makes it a very, very modest hit. For some reason the film had a very limited release, as its premiere was delayed by at least a month in many areas of the country (like mine!). That's too bad, as it's a good movie that deserves better.
SPOILERS!
The Plot:
In 1998 San Francisco, nineteen year old Greg Sestero (played by Dave Franco) takes an acting class taught by famed method actress Jean Shelton (played briefly by an unrecognizable Melanie Griffith). Unfortunately Greg's a terrible actor, unable to cut loose and bare his soul onstage.
A mysterious fellow student named Tommy Wiseau (played by James Franco) then volunteers to do a scene. He takes the stage and performs a bizarre rendition of Stanley Kowalski from A Streetcar Named Desire, writing on the floor and bleating "STELLAAAAAA!" over and over in a thick European accent.
Shelton isn't impressed, but Greg is captivated by Tommy's fearlessness onstage. After class, he approaches Tommy and asks for pointers. Tommy agrees, and the next day shows up at Greg's house in a brand new Mercedes. Curious, Greg asks Tommy what he does for a living. He deflects the question, refusing to divulge where he gets his money, his age or even where he's from.
They have lunch in a diner, where Tommy insists they do a scene together. Greg's embarrassed to perform in front of the other patrons, but Tommy urges him on. Greg eventually lets down his guard a bit, and bellows his lines loudly, to the amusement and puzzlement of the other diners. Later Tommy takes Greg to a park, saying he's eager to "play the football." It's instantly obvious that Tommy's never even seen a football, much less thrown one, but Greg goes along with it.
The two then form an odd and unlikely friendship. One night they visit the death site of James Dean, their favorite actor. They "pinky swear" to both someday become actors, always support one another and never give up on their dreams.
Later Tommy says they'll never become actors in San Francisco, and suggests they move to LA. Greg says he'd love to, but can't afford it. Tommy says, "No problem," and offers to let Greg stay at another apartment he rents in LA.
Greg's mother is suitably horrified, fearing her son's fallen victim to a much older sexual predator. Greg deflects her concerns and moves to LA with Tommy. Greg, who's a former model, instantly signs with the Iris Burton talent agency. Tommy has a harder time of it, facing constant rejection due to his "malevolent looks" and thick, often impenetrable accent. When Greg hooks up with a bartender named Amber (played by Alison Brie), Tommy becomes jealous, afraid of being abandoned.
Greg's enthusiasm wanes when his agent won't return his calls. Tommy's depressed as well, as he hasn't found acting work either. The two stand on the roof of their building, staring out at the sprawling lights of LA in the distance, ready to pack it in and return home. Greg offhandedly says he wishes they could just make their own movie. This sparks something in Tommy, who takes the idea seriously.
Tommy then begins writing the script for his masterpiece The Room, a drama he compares to the works of Tennessee Williams. The script concerns Johnny (to be played by Tommy himself), an impossibly generous man who's beloved by everyone around him. Unfortunately Johnny's finance Lisa cheats on him with his best friend Mark, which causes Johnny to ultimately commit suicide.
Tommy presents the script to Greg, who finds it incomprehensible, but encourages him anyway. Tommy offers Greg the role of Mark in the film, as well as the associate producer role. Greg's reluctant to accept, until Tommy offers him a huge sum of money.
The two visit the Birns & Sawyer, a production house in North Hollywood. Tommy shocks the owners by insisting on buying their prohibitively expensive cameras instead of renting them, a move which makes no financial sense. He also demands to shoot on both 35mm film and HD digital at the same time, which is just as nonsensical. The owners confer with one another, and eventually agree to sell Tommy the equipment if he shoots his film in their studio.
Birns & Sawyer hire a crew for Tommy, including cinematographer Raphael Smajda (played by Paul Scheer) and script supervisor Sandy Schklair (played by Seth Rogen). Sandy's puzzled when Tommy won't let him see the screenplay, which is sort of a necessity for a script supervisor. Tommy and Mark then begin the casting process.
On the first day of filming, Tommy gives a rousing speech to his assembled cast and crew, filling them all with hope and confidence. That feeling quickly evaporates though, as the production rapidly goes south. Tommy's late every day, he lashes out at the cast and crew, and worst of all, he's a terrible, terrible actor, unable to remember the simplest lines (which he himself wrote!) or understand his own character's motivations.
He also engages in flat out bizarre behavior, spending thousands to construct a private toilet surrounded by curtains, even though there's a perfectly good bathroom with an actual door on it several feet away. He also insists on building an expensive but fake looking alley set, when there's an actual alley just outside the studio.
Tension begins growing on the set when Tommy refuses to pay for air conditioning or provide water, causing older actress Carolyn Minnott (who plays Claudette in the film) to pass out from heat exhaustion. Greg winces through these trials, embarrassed by Tommy's bizarre behavior, but apparently unwilling to quit the film.
During lunch one day, the cast ask Greg about Tommy and his bizarre script. They're puzzled by how he's financing the film himself, and wonder where his seemingly endless supply of cash is coming from. Greg has no answers for them, as even he doesn't know.
Tempers reach their boiling point when Tommy flips out because his love interest Juliette Daniel (who plays Lisa in The Room) has a few small blemishes on her skin. He screams about her "disgusting body," humiliating her in front of the entire cast. This causes Raphael to threaten Tommy, who fires him (but later rehires him). Tommy then reveals he's been secretly filming the entire crew and knows what they've been saying about him behind his back. He even accuses Greg of not believing in him and his grand vision for the movie.
Later Greg and Amber go out for coffee and run into actor Bryan Cranston (played by... Bryan Cranston). Amber knows Cranston from their pilates class, and introduces him to Greg. Cranston says he's about to direct an episode of his series Malcolm In The Middle, and points out that Greg, with his full beard, would be perfect for the part of a lumberjack. Greg eagerly accepts the offer.
Unfortunately, Greg remembers The Room script features a scene in which the Mark character shaves his beard. Greg begs Tommy to postpone the scene until after the Malcolm episode as a personal favor. Tommy refuses, saying he has to choose between "movie and Malcolm." Greg reluctantly backs down, which disgusts Amber and causes her to break up with him.
On the last day of shooting, Tommy shows up with an all new crew, having fired Raphael and Sandy. He takes Greg and this new crew all the way to San Francisco, where he tries to recreate the time they played football in the park.
Greg's finally had enough, and calls out Tommy for being an asshole to him as well as the cast and crew. He once again asks Tommy his age, background and source of income, saying they're all simple questions. When Tommy still refuses to answer, Greg walks off in disgust.
Eight months later, Greg, who's now acting in a Tennessee Williams play (!), receives an invitation to the premiere of The Room. He shakes his head and throws the invite in the trash. Later on, Greg exits the theater and sees Tommy waiting for him. Tommy apologizes as best he can, and invites him to the premiere in person. Greg sighs heavily and accepts.
Tommy picks up Greg in a stretch limo, and the two arrive at the premiere in style. Tommy even splurged for searchlights to advertise his film! Greg's surprised to see the entire cast and crew there, including Raphael and Sandy. Tommy takes the stage and welcomes the audience, fumbling through an awkward introduction. The film then begins.
As the movie plays out, the audience experiences a wide range of emotions, including shock, horror, curiosity and ultimately puzzlement. As the film becomes more and more incomprehensible, they begin to snicker. Eventually their giggles turn into fits of outright laughter.
Horrified, Tommy flees the theater. Greg follows him into the lobby, where he sees him banging his head against a pillar. Tommy's understandably upset that the audience is ridiculing his opus. Greg says it may not be the reaction he wanted, but the audience is obviously loving the film. Amazingly Tommy accepts this, and as The Room ends, he takes the stage and says he's glad everyone enjoyed his "comedic" movie.
Title cards then explain that in its initial release, The Room grossed just $1,800 dollars against its $6 million budget (which was all financed by Tommy). Incredibly, he paid to keep it in theaters for two weeks so it would qualify for an Oscar. Since then it's become a profitable cult film, earning back its cost and more.
Tommy and Greg remain friends, and still speak every day. Tommy's age, origin and source of income are still a mystery.
There's also a post credit scene in which the real Tommy Wiseau cameos as a waiter who badgers movie Tommy.
Thoughts:
• My least favorite part of The Disaster Artist is the very beginning. For some reason, the movie starts with shots of various celebrities like Kristen Bell, Ike Barinholtz, Kevin Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Lizzy Caplan and JJ Abrams waxing fondly about The Room.
Supposedly early test audiences were apparently unfamiliar with Tommy Wiseau and The Room, and refused to believe The Disaster Artist was based on a true story. Maybe these talking heads were inserted afterwards to assure audiences that The Room is an actual film, and the story we're about to see is true (more or less)?
• As a general rule I'm not a fan of biopics, as they're usually highly inaccurate and filled with fabrications to make the story more cinematic. The popcorn-munching general public doesn't know that of course, and takes these often misleading films as pure fact. (I'm lookin' at you, Hidden Figures).
Amazingly, The Disaster Artist is one of the more accurate biopics I've seen. It's difficult to believe, but virtually everything in the film actually happened!
— Greg and Tommy really did meet in acting class and ran lines together in a restaurant.
— The two really formed an unlikely friendship. They were both obsessed with James Dean and really did visit his death site.
— Tommy offered to let Greg stay at his LA apartment. Although in real life Tommy didn't move to LA until a few months after Greg did. And Tommy charged him a much-reduced rent.
— Greg's mother really did think Tommy was a sexual predator who was after her son. In real life though, Greg's mother was French and spoke with an accent.
— Tommy really did decide to make his own movie after no one would cast him in anything.
— Amazingly, Tommy really did buy all the expensive film equipment for The Room, rather than just renting it. Plus he really did shoot on film AND digital at the same time, for some inexplicable reason. This necessitated the invention of a special rig that could hold both cameras at the same time.
— Tommy really was proud of his lumpy physique, and insisted on playing his numerous love scenes nude. He also had an obsession with perfect bodies, and really was put off by Juliette Danielle's "disgusting" pimples and moles (which in reality were barely visible blemishes that everyone has).
— Tommy really did arrive late to set every day of filming of The Room. He'd often be up to four hours late, which greatly angered the cast and crew, who were always on time. After a while they began arriving late as well, knowing it was a wast of time to be there bright and early. Tommy also insisted that the entire cast be on set every day, even if they weren't in any scenes!
— Tommy really had sets constructed for scenes that could have easily been filmed in actual locations, because he thought that's how "Big American Movies" were made. And he really constructed his own private toilet in the middle of the set, even though the studio had a perfectly adequate and clean restroom facility several feet away.
— Sandy Schklair really did take his paycheck from Tommy to the bank, convinced it would bounce, and was honestly gobsmacked when it cleared. And the teller really did tell him in confidence that Tommy's account was like "a bottomless pit."
— Tommy really did become paranoid and evasive whenever anyone asked him details about himself, and would fly into a rage if any personal info was divulged.
— Tommy really did have terrible trouble remembering his lines during the making of The Room. Lines that he himself wrote.
It actually took him thirty two takes to get his infamous and iconic "I did not hit her! It's not true! It's bullsh*t! I did not hit her! I did nahhht! Oh, hi, Mark!" line right (the film exaggerates this a bit though, claiming it took sixty eight takes).
— In the film, Mark tells Johnny about a cheating girl whose boyfriend beat her so badly she ended up in the hospital. Tommy really did punctuate this tale by laughing and saying, "Ha ha! What a story, Mark!" Even when Sandy Schklair pointed out that this was a totally inappropriate reaction to the serious story, Tommy kept on performing like Mark had told a joke.
— Tommy really did wear two belts, one of which was usually slung under his butt. He claimed he wore it like that because it made his butt look "amazing."
• Ninety nine percent of the elements in the movie are from the book. However, not everything in the book is in the film. The Disaster Artist actually leaves out a few of the more outlandish elements of the story— probably because the audience would never believe them. A few examples:
— For example, Greg was hired as a line producer on The Room, and was never meant to star in it. An actor named Dan (who Tommy constantly referred to as "Don") was hired to play the part of Mark. The night before shooting began, Tommy decided Greg would be a much better Mark, and offered him the part. Greg declined, since they'd already hired Dan/Don, and it wouldn't be fair to fire him. Tommy then made Greg a monetary offer he literally couldn't refuse, and he accepted.
Instead of just firing Dan/Don, Tommy came up with a cunning plan. He explained to the cast and crew that "The Producers" wanted to see some audition footage of Greg, so he was going to film him doing "a few" of Mark's scenes. Amazingly, the cast and crew— including Dan/Don— bought this.
So Tommy would film Greg performing as Mark. When that was done, he'd then shoot Dan/Don as Mark, but secretly didn't turn on the cameras! So there was never any actual footage of Dan/Don filmed!
Incredibly, it took Dan/Don a week to figure out what was going on, before he confronted Tommy and was fired!
— Tommy wanted his Johnny character to have a flying car (!). And to possibly be a vampire, which would have been revealed as a big plot twist (!!).
— Tommy has a bizarre hatred of farting. During the filming of The Room, he flipped out when a crewmember farted, calling him out in front of the entire cast.
He also refuses to let any valets park his car, terrified that they might fart on his seat (?).
— In the film, Tommy tells Greg about the time he was in a near fatal car accident caused by a drunk driver, which resulted in him spending several weeks in the hospital.
This is true, but there was another earlier accident involving Tommy, his friend and two women. The friend was driving and wanted to impress the gals, so he started speeding along a curvy road. He lost control of the car, which flipped over and landed in a lake.
The car filled with water and began sinking, as the girls screamed their heads off. Tommy couldn't get the door open, and legitimately thought they were all going to die. He finally wrenched open the door and they all swam to shore.
These incidents probably explain why to this day Tommy constantly drives twenty or thirty miles UNDER the speed limit at all times— even on the California freeways!
• If I had one complaint about The Disaster Artist, it's that the film doesn't really delve into the friendship between Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau.
In the aforementioned film Ed Wood, the focus is less on the making of Plan 9 From Outer Space and more about the relationship between Wood and Bela Lugosi. The Disaster Artist flips this, concentrating more on the behind the scenes trials of making the film.
As a result, we never really find out why Greg became friends with Tommy. It's not hard to figure out Tommy's side of the relationship— he was a lonely, damaged weirdo without any friends, so when he finally made one in Greg, he hung on like grim death.
But why is Greg friends with Tommy? What does he get out of their relationship? He seemed constantly embarrassed by Tommy's antics and frustrated with his lack of talent. It's almost like he thinks of Tommy as a giant albatross around his neck. So why does he stick around? Is it genuine affection, or does he have some sort of misguided sense of obligation because of their "pinky swear?"
If the film could have devoted a bit more time into the reasons behind their friendship, it would have been nearly perfect.
• There's a definite homoerotic undercurrent in the film, particularly in the fact that Tommy constantly refers to Greg as "Babyface." Not to mention the fact that once Greg begins seeing Amber, Tommy becomes petulant and insanely jealous. I could definitely see certain audience members thinking that Tommy's physically attracted to Greg.
I honestly don't think that was the case though. Tommy definitely had a man-crush on Greg, that much is obvious. But I think Tommy was actually envious of Greg, who was young, handsome and more talented (relatively speaking). Everything that Tommy was not.
I saw it more as Tommy trying to live vicariously through Greg, rather than being in love with him. Or a damaged and wounded soul finally finding a friend after a long time, and not wanting to share him with anyone.
• Amazingly, Tommy supposedly worked on the script for The Room for a whopping THREE YEARS! This isn't evident in the film, as he writes the screenplay in a matter of seconds through the power of a montage.
Wow, just think about that. Three years and it still came out the way it did!
And just to prove art imitates life or something like that, James Franco actually played James Dean in a 2001 TV movie!
• According to Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau said there were only two people who could play him in The Disaster Artist— James Franco or Johnny Depp. Let's all take a moment of silence to thank the Movie Gods that Depp wasn't cast.
This is also the first time the Franco brothers have worked together in the same film.
• Although Tommy Wiseau now really does insist that he intentionally made The Room as a comedy, I have a feeling this attitudinal change didn't happen instantly, as shown in the film. It was a face-saving move he adopted long after The Room gained a cult following as one of the worst movies ever made.
Ehhh... that's a nice little coda, but it's not true. By all accounts he was born in Poznan, Poland. As for his fortune, he bought up several retail properties in San Francisco and LA for cheap and began renting them out, providing him with an endless source of cash. Whether this was a shrewd financial investment on his part or an accidentally brilliant move is unclear. Lastly, he was born in 1955, which would have made him forty eight at the time The Room was filmed.
• According to James Franco, he recreated about twenty five minutes of The Room for The Disaster Artist. These scenes are nearly identical, right down to the camera angles and line delivery. Many of these recreations were used in the big premiere scene in the third act.
The Disaster Artist is a fun and enjoyable film about friendship, failure and success, and one of the best times I've had at the cineplex in many months. It's similar to Ed Wood, and despite its bizarre subject, is one of the most accurate biopics I've ever seen. If I had one gripe, it's that the film concentrates too much on the making of The Room and not enough on the relationship between Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau. Other than that, it's darned near perfect. I give it an enthusiastic B+.
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