Tommy’s Movie: The Best of the Worst
On December 8th, 2017 James Franco’s The Disaster Artist was released nationwide; an insanely comedic yet oddly moving film that tells the story of Tommy Wiseau, and the making of his cinematic achievement, The Room (2003). It has been called “the Citizen Kane of bad movies” and has gained a cult following of fans that know The Room by heart and constantly make fun of the film. Tommy Wiseau, wrote, directed, starred and produced The Room with 6 million dollars of his own money, whose origin remains a mystery. Tommy himself is an enigma, nobody knows exactly who or what he is. When asked where he comes from, Tommy claims to be “full American person” and when asked about his age he laughs off the question with his now iconic laugh. Yet, despite his strange nature and hilarious persona, it’s hard not to admire Tommy, and in fact aspire to one day be like him. The reason why Tommy is to be admired rather than ridiculed is simple: his vision, commitment, and passion for his dream were always there. Tommy never gave up.
The Disaster Artist is based on the memoir by the same name, co-written by Greg Sestero, costar of The Room and Tommy’s best friend. It tells the story of how The Room came to be, and how a movie so fascinatingly bad could ever be made. At its core, The Disaster Artist is a story of friendship, a story of two dreamers who, like many others, travel to Los Angeles, pursuing their delusions of becoming the next big Hollywood stars. Tommy and Greg received countless rejections, and showed no sign of success or even progress. But society’s dismissal of Tommy never made him give up. Instead, he remained hopeful and perseverant throughout: fearless and willing to do anything to achieve his dream. The Disaster Artist dives into Tommy’s dream, how all he ever wanted was to be an actor, and how society prevented his fantasy from flourishing. The entire purpose of The Room was to prove Hollywood wrong, to show them that Tommy could create a masterpiece without their help. He first got the idea of developing this film in 2000 while he was stuck in LA traffic caused by the Golden Globes, when Tommy turned to his best friend Greg and said “Golden Globes? So what, I’m not invited. I know they don’t want me, guy with accent, long hair, so I show them. I don’t wait for Hollywood. I make my own movie.” Now, 19 years later James Franco has won the Golden Globe for best actor for his role as Tommy in The Disaster Artist. The Room and Tommy Wiseau finally came full circle that day, and the irony of Franco bringing in the Golden Globe for playing a man who wanted society’s acceptance and recognition by receiving that same award is the cherry on top of it all.
Tommy fulfilled his dream and became famous in his own right, although not the way he expected. He has become a cultural phenomenon and a worldwide sensation. The Room made 18 hundred dollars on its original 2003 box office run, less than one percent of it’s 6 million dollar budget. Tommy believed in the films success so much that when no theater was willing to pay him and show his movie he actually paid the local theaters in order for The Room to qualify for The Academy Awards. From the beginning, Tommy believed he was making a masterpiece, something that would change the face of cinema forever, and in more ways than one he was right.