The Room is one of cinema's most known disasters and one of its biggest flops. A 2003 drama from Tommy Wiseau, the movie itself could be described as a specimen of hubris. Wiseau himself is a clear auteur, having controlled every aspect from what could only be described as a train crash of a production. Between cast members leaving, plenty of retakes and reshoots, accidents, and a $6 million budget, many thought that The Room would never release. It did release, but to highly negative press and a box office total of only $1,800. But strangely enough, The Room is one of the most notable success stories. Wiseau himself worked like crazy to create this movie, and the fact that it was released shows some dedication and heart, even if it was misplaced. Plus, The Room became a cult classic of Rocky Horror-sized proportions. Even over a decade later, the movie still has midnight screenings and tours worldwide. It may be considered the Citizen Kane of bad movies, but it's one of the most enjoyable movie-watching experiences ever. It's worth experiencing and even cherishing, thanks to amazing (though unintended) humor and quotable dialogue.
But as hilarious and unexplainable as the movie is, the biggest mystery surrounding it revolves around both its production and Wiseau himself. Rumors have been around for a long time talking about them. About how Wiseau supposedly jumped onto actress Juliette Danielle to begin their character's romance scenes immediately. About how The Room was funded through a money-laundering scheme. Some people even believe that Wiseau himself is some kind of alien, which could explain that accent and speech pattern. For many years, there hasn't been much truth to these events. Only rumors. That is, until now.
Co-written by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, The Disaster Artist is the first true look into the making of The Room. Written from the perspective of Sestero, who was the line director and actor of Mark in the movie, it looks at the long, frustrating, and even comedic production of The Room. But not only that, it looks into Sestero's past. Along with brief glimpses at his ambitions for acting (including writing a script for a Home Alone sequel as a kid), it primarily focuses on the long and unlikely friendship between him and Wiseau. The result is two stories: A hilarious look at one of the most entertaining movies to date, and a hilarious and unexpectedly touching tale of friendship. Either way, it's a book to check out.
The book starts the day before The Room is to begin production, and immediately we see the contrast between Sestero and Wiseau. The former is a sandy-blonde California kid and the latter is a mysterious man with an unidentifiable accent or past. We see how Sestero is reluctantly dragged into the role of Mark before it changes to years prior. Here we see Sestero's early acting ambitions, which start from a note from John Hughes regarding the previously mentioned script. Then, as he gets older, he tries modeling and acting before going to an acting school in San Francisco. It is here that he meets Wiseau for the first time, as Wiseau utterly butchers Shakespeare.
Sestero does this often, switching between the production of The Room and his friendship with Wiseau. Thankfully, the transitions are seamless, with the chapters regarding The Room starting in famous quotes from the movie. Each chapter feels really authentic and truthful, which is necessary when describing something like this. The book is also littered with humor throughout. Some of it is almost Monty Python-like at times, but it’s all done really well. If you have a good sense of humor, you’ll be laughing very often throughout the book.
For fans of The Room and anyone interested in movies and cinema, The Disaster Artist is worth it just for the history of the production alone. It describes all of the insanity on set, from the use of a 35mm film camera and a HD video camera at the same time to the purchase of all the equipment. It also manages to answer many of the questions surrounding the movie. It answers the questions involving the cringeworthy romance scenes, the framed pictures of spoons, the wave Wiseau gives during the party scene. All of that and more is revealed. That being said, some things still remain a secret, which is for the best. It also gives fun facts about the filming, including original cast members and how many takes some scenes took. But even for non-fans, The Disaster Artist contains something of a surprise: its tale of friendship between Wiseau and Sestero. For something that initially seems to serve as a secondary plot to the book, it’s told amazingly well and is surprisingly moving. Like any friends, Sestero and Wiseau are shown to have their ups and downs, with Sestero being pushed almost to his limit. But it’s shown that they’re the best of friends. These parts of the book also unravel an idea to Wiseau’s shadowed past, showing him to have escaped a poor Eastern country to spend some bad years in France before coming to the US. It’s really eye opening, especially when Sestero sees that The Room and their friendship were the most human interactions Wiseau may have ever had.
The Disaster Artist is a rare treat in modern books. It doesn’t focus on romance or vampires or any of the stuff you could coin as popular in the modern age. Instead, it tells a moving tale of an unlikely friendship between an aspiring actor and a mysterious auteur, and the cult movie that spawned from it. Certainly, just for telling the story of The Room, it should go down in history as being one of the most important books to ever be printed. But the fact that it tells such a true and moving story of friendship is a miracle. It’s a must read for any reader, whether you’re a fan of The Room or not. In the immortal words of Wiseau himself, “What a story, Mark.”