Oh, hi, Mark. If you’re a fan of, or have had your life changed by seeing, the world’s most epically unintended comedic disasterpiece, The Room, have we got some news for you. James Franco wants to be your new Tommy Wiseau. And we don’t just mean in his role as director of the upcoming adaptation of The Disaster Artist.
It’s already been previously reported that Franco will direct the adaptation of Greg “Sextro” Sestro and journalist Tom Bissell’s book about working on the film, but one of the film’s producers, Seth Rogen, dropped the starring bombshell on us all during his appearance on the Opie and Anthony radio show on Thursday.
“[Franco] might play Tommy Wiseau,” Rogen said to what should have been the surprise of no one, all Franco things considered. After all, the perennial student/actor/director/producer/selfie-lover/author/poet/performance artist/doer-of-all-the-things has a bit of a predilection for the wackily weird and wonderful, and Tommy Wiseau is exactly that. Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Productions will produce the Ryan Moody script alongside co-executive producer/director Franco.
If you haven’t already seen The Room — and if not, what in the world is wrong with you? No, seriously? — the unexpected theatrical juggernaut and hands-down worst film of all time ever for real, The Room burst onto the scene in 2003 in a series of Rocky Horror-style midnight showings. It became so popular because, as Rogen put it during the interview, “A lot of movies, you get the joke ten minutes in, like, ‘I get it. It sucks.’ [The Room]’s not like that. After forty minutes, you’re like, ‘It keeps coming up with new ways to be shitty!’ It’s reinventing the shitty wheel as the movie goes on. It’s truly amazing.”
We have to be honest, though — this news is sort of tearing us apart inside a bit, Lisa.
What do you think: is James Franco man enough to embody Tommy Wiseau on screen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
HT: The Film Stage
hes perfect for the role,i love the guy to death but has anyone seen his directing,, that part shouldn’t be to hard to fake cause i didn’t like his first directed film.. but he will do great acting like he always does,, its hard to see both actors eyes,, so for that reason its perfect for him to play this role
I think it would be difficult to envision anyone, particularly as good looking as James Franco, managing to convincingly portray the physical and mental madness that is Tommy Wiseau. However, that is the definition of acting, transformation, and it would be quite an experience to see what someone as talented as James Franco would do to become Tommy, in his appearance, in his accent, and most importantly in conveying that preternatural incompetence without any hint of self awareness. That would be something to see.