Watch James Franco Recreate Tommy Wiseau’s Cult Classic ‘The Room’
James Franco delivers the most brilliantly bad performance of his life – after 60-plus takes – in the hilarious first trailer for The Disaster Artist. The film stars Franco as cult film legend Tommy Wiseau and chronicles the making of Wiseau’s infamous movie, The Room.
The new clip captures the making of one of The Room‘s many preposterous scenes, in which Wiseau’s character, Johnny, storms onto a roof denying accusations that he hit his girlfriend, sees his friend and offers a casual, “Oh hi, Mark.”
Ostensibly a simple moment to film, The Disaster Artist details a painstaking shoot. Franco’s Wiseau continually forgets his line and misses his cue, much to the chagrin of the crew, which includes Seth Rogen as the script supervisor and Dave Franco as Greg Sestero, the actor who played Mark. At one point, the entire crew shouts Wiseau’s line back at him and when the auteur finally nails a flat, but accurate, reading, everyone cheers.
Wiseau wrote, directed and produced The Room, which opened in 2003. Despite horrendous reviews, word about the movie’s awfulness spread around Los Angeles and the film quickly became a cult classic, complete with Rocky Horror-esque traditions at midnight screenings. The Disaster Artist is based on Sestero’s 2013 book of the same name, which details his friendship with Wiseau and the making of The Room.
Franco directed The Disaster Artist, which will also star Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, Jacki Weaver and more. The film opens December 1st.
James Franco‘s action packed career has spanned over a decade. Check out some of his best roles below.