“The Disaster Artist” (2017) chronicles the endeavors of Tommy Wiseau and is based on “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, the Greatest Bad Film Ever Made” by Greg Sestero.
The plot begins with Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero, who are attending an acting class. Tommy wants to be the next Marlon Brando or James Dean. The problem is his strangeness, his foreign accent and inability to get an agent. Thru Tommy’s unlimited income, he produces his own film, titled “The Room”.
Some critics have called this one of the worst films ever made, but it isn’t. Wiseau’s take on things, his script, his direction, create a surreal world of his own. Like Ed Wood, he crosses the boundaries of what we expect. You cannot say this is similar to other films. Hollywood is a mass Xerox machine, printing out imitative product, one after another. “The Room” is one of a kind and so is Tommy Wiseau.
Star/director James Franco does a remarkable impersonation of Tommy Wiseau, so much so, he’s already won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic Film.
The book that it’s based on is a more detailed and a funnier look at Wiseau’s quest for artistic expression. Ultimately, the message many might miss: this is an anti-Hollywood story about a man forced to produce his own movie, against all odds. While some may laugh at an outsider trying to be a moviemaker, it’s better than being somebody who never tried, stood on the sidelines and did nothing.
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