Director and star of The Disaster Artist, James Franco, has revealed that a large chunk of re-created scenes from The Room didn’t make the final cut of his film.
Some of the most famous sequences from Tommy Wiseau’s cult favourite feature in The Disaster Artist, which is released in UK cinemas next week. But, at an early screening at London’s Prince Charles Cinema – better known as ‘The Home Of The Room’ – he admitted they filmed a whole lot more. “We might have as much as 25 to 30 minutes of re-created scenes,” he told the packed audience, immediately whetting appetites for a director’s cut.
As well as directing the movie, Franco plays Wiseau, alongside brother Dave, who takes the role of friend and co-star Greg Sestero. His physical resemblance to Wiseau in the film was the result of extensive prosthetics which took several hours to apply every morning. And he replicated that distinctive voice with help from an apparently secret tape of Wiseau talking to himself, which the audience heard for themselves. Dave Franco, however, only had to grow a beard but what ended up on screen was half natural and half artificial. He didn’t recommend it.
The Disaster Artist traces the making of Wiseau’s The Room, which is widely regarded as the greatest bad movie ever made. Originally a financial disaster, it has since achieved cult status and is regularly screened to enthusiastic fans around the world.
The Disaster Artist opens in UK cinemas on Friday, 1 December.
Freda Cooper. Follow me on Twitter.
Originally published November 22, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
