For 10 years.
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of seeing The Room, a movie widely considered to be the greatest bad movie ever made. (Check out my review of the eventful night here.) It's hilariously funny, weirdly awkward, and best of all, surrounded by the best fans. Fans who participate by throwing spoons at the screen and screaming obscenities at their favorite lines. But there's one question that goes through everyone's mind - who is Tommy Wiseau? What does it feel like to be him? Why would ANYONE stay in this movie?!
Well, this lowly blogger had the opportunity to find out. As one of four people excited enough to wait 3 hours before the show even started, I had the pleasure of offering Greg Sestero help to set up his merch table and, from there, an unbelievably cool interview with the man!
So who is Greg Sestero? Well, he's most famous for playing Mark in the film. Recently, Sestero came out with a laugh filled novel titled "The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made". He happened to be traveling through Purchase College to promote the book, as well as one other fun activity that will be mentioned later...just you wait...anyway, here's a clip of Sestero...ahem..."performing" in this film. He's the one that doesn't look like a freaking alien.
Sadly, my interview didn't have any record. I didn't think it was gonna happen. Lord knows I'm not professional. At all. But I can answer some frequently asked questions (even if I can't quote him...)!
Why THE HELL did he act in this atrocity??
Well there's a few reasons. The book he wrote suggests that Tommy Wiseau, the creepy guy in the video who wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the film, offered him a very large sum of money. But Sestero also talked about obligation, that Tommy was a friend and he was doing it to support a friend. He was also doing it for tape, to have something to send to producers to demonstrate his acting talent (oops...). Most importantly, Tommy did it knowing that this film would never see the light of day. (Again...oops...)
Does Tommy Wiseau actually talk/act like that?!?!
Yes. And Sestero does a SPOT ON impersonation of it. According to him, Wiseau often claims to also speak French. And in his spot on impression, Sestero suggested that Tommy claimed to "speak French and two other language".
More hilariously, a member of the audience asked him later on if he was ever insulted by Wiseau impersonators, considering his was so spot on. He said he thought they had the best Tommy impersonator he ever "cast" that night. (Oh don't worry...I'll explain later on. Just you wait. Just. You. Wait.)
What does he think about the success of The Room? Did he think it would happen?
Not at all. When the first bits of the cult started to form in LA, he thought it was funny that these guys actually took part in some way to give to this movie. He felt overwhelmed that such a failure of a film could be his greatest claim to fame. Now he hopes to move back into acting, with a few projects lined up over the next few years, including a feature length adaptation of his book with the involvement of James Franco and Seth Rogan. (He hinted that Sacha Baron-Cohen approached them about the project, as well as his desire to see Javier Bardem potentially take on the role of Wiseau!)
What's his book like?!
It's hilariously funny and uncomfortably sad. But that's me talking. I'll let him read his own book to you. (P.S., he forgot to bring a copy out with him. After I chucked my book to him, we learned that catching footballs on set paid off wonderfully.) Click here! For some reason, I can't embed it. But here's a picture of my signed book to fill the space.
To Tommy. You're my Rose :)
What does Tommy think of the book??
He refers to it as the "Red Bible". According to Sestero, Tommy's opinion of the book is on and off. Sometimes he loves it. Other times he doesn't like how he's portrayed. Apparently he doesn't like that Sestero implies that he dyes his hair.
Where the heck did Tommy get $6 million for his movie?!
The short of it - retail. Tommy was apparently very good at selling jeans. In fact if you look hard enough on the internet, or watch the new documentary about the film, you'll see a commercial Tommy made solely to get into the Screen Actors Guild for his store and jeans selection. But then again, there's no way this covered the whole thing. It still remains a mystery.
What's next for The Room?!
I think my favorite possibility was the audio book idea. Apparently Sestero was approached to do an audio book. He had the idea of narrating with Wiseau reading whenever he talked. When he brought up the idea, Wiseau agreed. "My price is half million dollars."
As I mentioned before, The Disaster Artist is being adapted into a film. When I asked him his thoughts on the involvement, he described the film as being told from his perspective, with a hint of sadness to the reality of what was actually happening around him. I love the idea, and he seemed excited at the idea of Franco being involved.
What does Sestero do in his spare time?
Well this is my favorite - we have SPOT ON the same taste in video games! He went to sign someone's N64 game cartridge (for some reason...), which prompted me to ask him his favorite video games. His answer? Uncharted, The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption, and Bioshock. AWESOME.
BUT NOW FOR THE BEST PART
The best thing to possibly happen in this scenario happened. Sestero brought out several copies of the original script to the film...and let US, the audience, PLAY IT OUT. That's right, we got to be in The Room! And when Sestero met my best friend Mark and I, he immediately suggested that we play Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) and Mark (his character)!!!! After the performance, he said that I was an really good Tommy Wiseau impersonator, and I'm 99% sure he started to say I was the BEST Johnny he cast on the tour. So that's it. My ability to be a horrible actor is validated. So here's the video. For the record, it gets good 12 minutes in :D ENJOY!!! I hope...
No comments:
Post a Comment