I just got done reading one of the best books ever written. The Disaster Artist is a true story that feels like a hilarious and touching mix of The Great Gatsby and Ed Wood. It's a story about the making of the most awesomely terrible movie of all time 'The Room' (2003) as well as a story about dreams and a bizarre odd couple friendship.
The Room has become one of the biggest cult classics of the past decade and has been hailed as 'the citizen kane of bad movies'. For those who aren't familiar with The Room, its charm lies in its completely uncharasmatic, baffling and mysterious writer/director/producer/lead actor Tommy Wiseau. The film is clearly Wiseau's $6 million dollar vanity project. Wiseau's past and where he got his vast fortune remain a mystery. The Room breaks nearly every possible convention of film and logical thinking imaginable and fails at accomplishing anything it seeks out to accomplish but ultimately it succeeds in being one of the best unintentional comedies of all time.
Over a decade after the films release Wiseau still tours the country doing crowded midnight screenings in which the audience participates in various ways. No matter how many times I see The Room it never fails to entertain me and there are always new mistakes or baffling inconsistencies to spot. Deconstructing the many layers of insanity of the Room is an enjoyable challenge for those such as myself who enjoy awesomely bad movies. The Room's greatest strength is that it feels like it's genuinely trying to be a great drama but failing at every turn. The movie doesn't appear to be winking at the audience despite its absurdity. The first half of the movie could easily be mistaken for a bad porno before the movie descends further and further into Wiseau's ego-driven madness.
The Disaster artist is told from the perspective of another lead actor in the film (Greg Sestero). The book chronicles Greg's ambition as a young man to be a movie star. Along the way, Greg encounters the insanity that is Tommy Wiseau and the two form an unlikely friendship that eventually leads to a behind the scenes view of Greg's experiences working on The Room.
As a long time fan of the movie, I was overwhelmed with excitement to discover just how twisted Wiseau really is and just how absurd the filming of the Room was. It's a miracle that the movie was ever finished and that the film became the cult hit that it has become.
I'd recommend the book to anyone even if you haven't seen The Room or if you don't even like bad movies. There is something incredible about Wiseau as a character as he continually demonstrates some of the most absurd and off-putting behavior imaginable but somehow still manages to be likable in his own unique way. Through Greg's eyes Wiseau appears to be a sympathetic character because of his fearlessness and his unrelenting determination to make himself a star against all odds. It's been a long time since I read a book that was this difficult to put down.
Interestingly enough, Seth Rogan and James Franco are working on adapting the Disaster Artist into a movie. While I definitely look forward to that, I think the movie will be somewhat divergent from the book as a lot of the book relies on Greg's internal thoughts and feelings about his experiences with the infamous Tommy Wiseau.
The Room has become one of the biggest cult classics of the past decade and has been hailed as 'the citizen kane of bad movies'. For those who aren't familiar with The Room, its charm lies in its completely uncharasmatic, baffling and mysterious writer/director/producer/lead actor Tommy Wiseau. The film is clearly Wiseau's $6 million dollar vanity project. Wiseau's past and where he got his vast fortune remain a mystery. The Room breaks nearly every possible convention of film and logical thinking imaginable and fails at accomplishing anything it seeks out to accomplish but ultimately it succeeds in being one of the best unintentional comedies of all time.
Over a decade after the films release Wiseau still tours the country doing crowded midnight screenings in which the audience participates in various ways. No matter how many times I see The Room it never fails to entertain me and there are always new mistakes or baffling inconsistencies to spot. Deconstructing the many layers of insanity of the Room is an enjoyable challenge for those such as myself who enjoy awesomely bad movies. The Room's greatest strength is that it feels like it's genuinely trying to be a great drama but failing at every turn. The movie doesn't appear to be winking at the audience despite its absurdity. The first half of the movie could easily be mistaken for a bad porno before the movie descends further and further into Wiseau's ego-driven madness.
The Disaster artist is told from the perspective of another lead actor in the film (Greg Sestero). The book chronicles Greg's ambition as a young man to be a movie star. Along the way, Greg encounters the insanity that is Tommy Wiseau and the two form an unlikely friendship that eventually leads to a behind the scenes view of Greg's experiences working on The Room.
As a long time fan of the movie, I was overwhelmed with excitement to discover just how twisted Wiseau really is and just how absurd the filming of the Room was. It's a miracle that the movie was ever finished and that the film became the cult hit that it has become.
I'd recommend the book to anyone even if you haven't seen The Room or if you don't even like bad movies. There is something incredible about Wiseau as a character as he continually demonstrates some of the most absurd and off-putting behavior imaginable but somehow still manages to be likable in his own unique way. Through Greg's eyes Wiseau appears to be a sympathetic character because of his fearlessness and his unrelenting determination to make himself a star against all odds. It's been a long time since I read a book that was this difficult to put down.
Interestingly enough, Seth Rogan and James Franco are working on adapting the Disaster Artist into a movie. While I definitely look forward to that, I think the movie will be somewhat divergent from the book as a lot of the book relies on Greg's internal thoughts and feelings about his experiences with the infamous Tommy Wiseau.