Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Tommy Wiseau's THE ROOM

okay... so this isn't a documentary. nor is it a serious movie by any means. BUT, it was an outside event with the director present, so i feel that i must post about my awesome experience.

to those of you who haven't seen THE ROOM, you don't know what you're missing. released in 2003, it has gained cult status and has been claimed as the new "rocky horror picture show." it's one of those 'so-bad-it's-freaking-awesome' movies, and one of the best 'worst' movies i've ever seen.

so, tommy wiseau is the director, producer, writer, and star of the film. he shot it on both HD and film just to compare the formats. it's still unknown where exactly wiseau is from, but he has a seemingly french-ish accent. the movie is filled with such bad acting, bad green screen, and over-the-top dialogue that it can't be considered anything less than a modern classic. here's the link to the preview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCj8sPCWfUw

in los angeles, where wiseau currently resides, people gather on a weekly basis dressed up as their favorite characters to throw various items (mainly footballs and spoons) at the movie screen and shout out the lines. stars such as david cross and tim & eric have expressed great fondness for the film, and it's only gaining popularity.

according to wiseau, THE ROOM was "meant" to be a black comedy. i call bullshit. he really put his heart and soul into this thing, and it became popular for all the reasons that he didn't want it to be. people mock it for how terribly terrible it is, but he has seemingly jumped on his own bandwagon. he now claims that it was always supposed to be a comedy and not to be taken seriously. and he sells t-shirts and dvds outside of screenings around the country.

i have been lucky enough to be graced with his presence. tonight was actually my one year anniversary with my girlfiend and we decided that there was no better way to celebrate it than with tommy wiseau presenting THE ROOM at the drafthouse (ritz). there was a Q&A beforehand, and i was lucky enough to ask him a question.

the microphone was handed to me and i asked him where he was from. simple question, simple answer, right? wrong. he basically called me stupid and wondered who would ask such a stupid question and went on a 4-5 minute rant about how stupid i am. i found it hilarious. the microphone was passed to the next guy with his hand up and he asked... where tommy was from. tommy just laughed it off and went to the next question. the mystery remains...

watching the movie on a big screen with a large audience was the best movie experience of my life. everybody was involved and throwing shit everywhere and having a good time. afterwards, my girlfriend and i were the first in line to get our dvd copy autographed and we told him it was our anniversary. he proceeded to sing us an anniversary song and let us take a picture with him. he didn't recognize me as the guy who asked him the stupid question.

okay, sorry for the long post. and even if it's not relevant to our doc class, i figured at least some of you might appreciate it. if you haven't experienced THE ROOM, then you haven't lived.

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