''The Room'' is a 2003 American
drama film written, produced, executive produced and directed by
Tommy Wiseau, who stars in the film alongside
Juliette Danielle and
Greg Sestero. The film centers on a
melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
tic
love triangle
A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...
between amiable
banker Johnny (Wiseau), his deceptive
fiancée Lisa (Danielle) and his conflicted
best friend Mark (Sestero). A significant portion of the film is dedicated to a series of unrelated
subplots, most of which involve at least one supporting character and are left unresolved due to the film's inconsistent narrative structure. The work was reportedly intended to be
semi-autobiographical in nature; according to Wiseau, the title alludes to the potential of a
room to be the site of both good and bad events.
The stage play from which the film is derived was so-called due to its events taking place entirely in a single room.
A number of publications have labeled ''The Room'' as one of
the worst films ever made. An assistant professor of
film studies was the first to describe ''The Room'' as "the ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'' of bad movies."
Originally shown only in a
limited number of California theaters, ''The Room'' quickly became a
cult film
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...
due to its bizarre and unconventional storytelling, technical and narrative flaws, and Wiseau's off-kilter performance. Although Wiseau has retrospectively described the film as a
black comedy, audiences have generally viewed it as a poorly made
drama, an opinion shared by some of the cast. Although the film was a
box-office bomb, sales and notoriety significantly increased in later years.
''
The Disaster Artist'', Sestero's
memoir of the making of ''The Room'', was co-written with
Tom Bissell and published in 2013. A
film of the same title based on the book, directed by and starring
James Franco, was released on December 1, 2017; the book and film received widespread acclaim and numerous award nominations.
Plot
Johnny is a successful banker who lives in a
San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée Lisa, who has become dissatisfied with their relationship. She seduces his best friend, Mark, and the two begin a secret
affair
An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...
. Meanwhile, Johnny, having overheard Lisa confessing her infidelity to her mother, Claudette, attaches a
tape recorder to their phone in an attempt to identify her lover by recording their phone conversations.
Denny, a neighboring
college student whom Johnny financially and emotionally supports, has a run-in with an armed
drug dealer, Chris-R, but Johnny and Mark overpower and detain him. Denny also lusts after Lisa and confesses this to Johnny, who understands and encourages him to instead pursue one of his classmates. Johnny spirals into a mental haze and calls upon Peter – his and Mark's friend and a
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
– for help. Mark also confides in Peter that he feels guilty about his affair. When Peter asks Mark if the affair is with Lisa, Mark attacks Peter and attempts to kill him, but they quickly reconcile.
At a
surprise birthday party for Johnny, his friend Steven catches Lisa kissing Mark while the other guests are outside and confronts them about the affair. Johnny announces that he and Lisa are
expecting a child, although Lisa later reveals she lied about it in order to cover up the truth about the affair. At the end of the evening, Lisa flaunts her affair in front of Johnny and Mark starts to attack him.
After the party, Johnny locks himself in the bathroom in despair. When he leaves, he retrieves the cassette recorder that he attached to the phone and listens to an intimate call between Lisa and Mark. Outraged, Johnny berates Lisa for betraying him, prompting her to end their relationship permanently and live with Mark. Johnny then has an
emotional breakdown, angrily destroying his apartment and
committing suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...
by shooting himself in the mouth.
Hearing the commotion, Denny, Mark, and Lisa rush up the stairs to find his dead body and the gun that he shot himself with in his hand. Mark blames Lisa for Johnny's death, admonishes her for her deceitful behavior, and tells her to get out of his life. Denny tells Lisa and Mark to leave him with Johnny, and they step back to give him a moment, but ultimately, they all stay and comfort each other as the police arrive.
Cast
Production
Development
Tommy Wiseau originally wrote ''The Room'' as a
play in 2001 after seeing the film ''
The Talented Mr. Ripley''.
He then adapted the play into a 540-page book, which he was unable to get published.
Frustrated, Wiseau instead decided to
adapt the play into a film, producing it himself in order to maintain creative control.
Wiseau has been secretive about how he obtained funding for the project, but he told ''Entertainment Weekly'' that he made some of the money by importing
leather jackets from
Korea.
According to ''
The Disaster Artist'' (Greg Sestero's book based on the making of ''The Room''), Wiseau was already independently wealthy at the time production began. Over several years, he claims to have amassed a fortune through
entrepreneurship and real estate development in
Los Angeles and
San Francisco, a story Sestero found impossible to believe. Although many of the people involved with the project feared that the film was part of a
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
scheme for organized crime, Sestero also found this possibility unlikely. Wiseau spent the entire budget for ''The Room'' on production and marketing;
Wiseau stated that the film was relatively expensive because many members of the cast and crew had to be replaced.
According to Sestero, Wiseau made numerous poor decisions during filming that unnecessarily inflated the film's budget, such as building sets for sequences that could have been filmed on location, purchasing production equipment rather than renting it, and filming scenes multiple times using different sets. Wiseau also forgot his lines and place on camera, resulting in minutes-long dialogue sequences taking hours or days to shoot. Wiseau's antics on the set further caused the film's cost to skyrocket, according to Sestero.
According to Sestero and Greg Ellery, Wiseau rented a
studio
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
at the Birns & Sawyer film lot and bought a "complete Beginning Director package", which included two film and
HD cameras;
Wiseau was confused about the differences between
35 mm film and high-definition video, yet he wanted to be the first director to film an entire movie simultaneously in two formats. He achieved this by using a custom-built apparatus that housed both cameras side by side and required two crews to operate.
Despite this, only the 35 mm film footage was used in the final cut.
Casting
Wiseau selected actors from thousands of
head shots,
although most of the cast had never been in a feature film prior to ''The Room''. Sestero had limited film experience and agreed to work as part of the production crew only as a favor to Wiseau, with whom he had been friends for some time before production began. Sestero then agreed to play the Mark character after Wiseau fired the original actor on the first day of filming. Sestero was uncomfortable filming his sex scenes and was allowed to keep his jeans on while shooting them.
According to Greg Ellery, Juliette Danielle had "just gotten off the bus from
Texas" when the shooting began, and "the cast watched in horror" as Wiseau jumped on Danielle, immediately beginning to film their "love scene."
Sestero disputed this, stating that the sex scenes were among the last filmed. Wiseau said that Danielle was originally one of three or four
understudies
In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...
for the Lisa character and was selected after the original actress left the production.
According to Sestero, the original actress was "
Latina" and came from an unidentified
South American country; according to Danielle, the actress was closer to Wiseau's age with a "random" accent. Danielle had been cast as Michelle but was given the Lisa role when the original actress was dismissed because her "personality...didn't seem to fit" the character.
Danielle corroborates that multiple actors were dismissed from the production prior to filming, including another actress hired to play Michelle.
Even though Kyle Vogt (who played Peter) told the production team that he had only a limited amount of time for the project, not all of his scenes were filmed by the time his schedule ran out. Despite the fact that Peter was to play a pivotal role in the climax, Vogt left the production; his lines in the last half of the film were given to Ellery, whose character is never introduced, explained, or addressed by name.
Writing
The original script was significantly longer than the one used and featured a series of lengthy
monologue
In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...
s; it was edited on-set by the cast and
script supervisor Sandy Schklair, who found much of the
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
incomprehensible. An anonymous cast member told ''
Entertainment Weekly'' that the script contained "stuff that was just unsayable. I know it's hard to imagine there was stuff that was worse. But there was."
Sestero mentions that Wiseau was adamant characters say their lines as written, but that several cast members slipped in
ad lib
In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation.
The ...
s that made the final cut.
Much of the dialogue is repetitive, especially Johnny's. His
speech
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...
contains several
catchphrases: he begins almost every conversation with "Oh, hi!" or "Oh, hi
ame of character #REDIRECT AME
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
" To dismissively end conversations, many characters use the phrase "Don't worry about it", and almost every male character discusses Lisa's
physical attractiveness (including an unnamed character whose only line is "Lisa looks hot tonight"). Lisa often stops discussions about Johnny by saying "I don't want to talk about it."
In ''The Disaster Artist'', Sestero recalls that Wiseau planned a
subplot in which Johnny was revealed to be a
vampire because of Wiseau's fascination with the creatures. Sestero recounts how Wiseau tasked the crew with devising a way for Johnny's
Mercedes-Benz to fly across the San Francisco
skyline, revealing Johnny's vampiric nature.
Filming
Principal photography lasted four months.
Shooting took place mainly on the Birns & Sawyer soundstage in Los Angeles, with some
second unit
Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...
shooting in
San Francisco,
California. The many rooftop sequences were shot on the soundstage, and exteriors of San Francisco were
greenscreened in.
A behind-the-scenes feature shows that some of the roof scenes were shot in August 2002. The film employed over 400 people, and Wiseau is credited as an
actor,
writer,
producer
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
,
director, and
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
. Other executive producer credits include Chloe Lietzke and Drew Caffrey. According to Sestero, Lietzke was Wiseau's
ESL tutor and had no involvement in the film, and Caffrey, who had been an entrepreneurial
mentor to Wiseau, died in 1999. Wiseau had several problems with his behind-the-camera team, and claims to have replaced the entire crew four times.
He also assigned multiple (and often disparate) responsibilities to several crew members, a process Sestero described as "sandwich
ngtwo roles into one" that frequently resulted in shooting delays: aside from playing the role of Mark, Sestero worked as the film's
line producer, helped with
casting, and assisted Wiseau; Schklair also served as a ''
de facto''
first assistant director, and Birns & Sawyer
sales representative Peter Anway acted as another assistant to Wiseau.
Wiseau frequently forgot his lines or missed cues, and required numerous retakes and direction from Schklair and a
stagehand named Byron; much of his dialogue had to be
dubbed in post-production.
Soundtrack
The
score
Score or scorer may refer to:
*Test score, the result of an exam or test
Business
* Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio
* Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company
* Score Media, a former Canadian m ...
was written by
Mladen Milicevic
Mladen Milicevic (born 1958) is a composer of experimental music, sound installation, and film music. He is a professor and has been for many years the Chair of the Recording Arts Department at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He is b ...
, a music professor at
Loyola Marymount University. Milicevic later provided the score for Wiseau's 2004 documentary ''Homeless in America'' and ''
Room Full of Spoons
''Room Full of Spoons'' is a 2016 Canadian documentary film directed by Rick Harper about the 2003 cult film ''The Room''.
Synopsis
Rick Harper, "Canadian documentary maker and ''The Room'' superfan", a longtime associate of Tommy Wiseau, direc ...
'', a 2016 documentary on ''The Room''.
The soundtrack features four
R&B slow jams which play during four of the film's five
love scenes; Michelle and Mike's
oral sex scene uses only
instrumental music. The songs are "I Will" by Jarah Gibson, "Crazy" by Clint Gamboa, "Baby You and Me" by Gamboa with Bell Johnson, and "You're My Rose" by Kitra Williams & Reflection. "You're My Rose" is also reprised during the end credits. The soundtrack was released by Wiseau's TPW Records in 2003.
Directorial credit dispute
In a 2011 ''
Entertainment Weekly'' article, Schklair announced that he desired credit for directing ''The Room''. Schklair told ''EW'' that Wiseau became too engrossed with his acting duties to direct the film properly and asked him to "tell the actors what to do, and yell 'Action' and 'Cut' and tell the cameraman what shots to get." The script supervisor also said that Wiseau asked Schklair to "direct
ismovie" but refused to give up the director title. This story is corroborated by one of the film's actors (who requested anonymity) and by Sestero in ''The Disaster Artist''. Sestero describes Schklair taking charge of numerous sequences in which Wiseau found himself unable to remember lines or adequately interact with the rest of the cast, but jokes that claiming directorial credit was like "claiming to have been the ''
Hindenburg''s principal aeronautics engineer", and also notes that Schklair left the production before the end of principal photography in favor of the short film ''Jumbo Girl'' due to that project being shot by
Janusz Kamiński. Wiseau has dismissed Schklair's comments, saying, "Well, this is so laughable that...you know what? I don't know, probably only in America it can happen, this kind of stuff"; he similarly implied that Schklair's abandoning of the film during filming was justification for not receiving such a credit.
Analysis
Interpretations, themes, and influences
''The Room'' is considered to be
semi-autobiographical as it draws on specific incidents from Wiseau's own life, such as the details of how Johnny came to San Francisco and met Lisa, and the nature of Johnny and Mark's friendship.
According to Sestero, the character of Lisa is based on a former lover of Wiseau's to whom he intended to propose marriage with a diamond engagement ring, but because she "betray
dhim multiple times", their relationship ended in a break-up. Defining the script as "an advisory warning about the perils of having friends", Sestero has described ''The Room'' as Wiseau's "life study of human interaction", dealing with additional themes of trust, fear and truth.
Sestero further postulates that Wiseau based Lisa's explicit conniving on the character
Tom Ripley, after Wiseau had a profound emotional reaction to the film ''
The Talented Mr. Ripley'', and matches elements of its three main characters to those in ''The Room''; Sestero has likewise indicated that the character Mark was named for the Ripley actor
Matt Damon, whose first name Wiseau had misheard. Wiseau also drew on the
chamber plays of
Tennessee Williams, whose highly emotional scenes he enjoyed acting out in drama school – many advertising materials for ''The Room'' make explicit parallels to the playwright's work through the tagline "A film with the passion of Williams."
In his direction and performance, Wiseau attempted to emulate
Orson Welles,
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
,
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
and
James Dean
James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...
, especially Dean's performance in the film ''
Giant'',
and went so far as to directly use quotes from their films – the famous line "You are tearing me apart, Lisa!" is derived from a similar line performed by Dean in ''
Rebel Without a Cause''.
Inconsistencies and narrative flaws
The script is characterized by numerous inexplicable mood and personality shifts in characters. In analyzing the film's abrupt tone shifts, Sestero highlighted two scenes in particular. In the first scene, Johnny enters the rooftop in the middle of a tirade about being wrongfully accused of domestic abuse, only to become abruptly cheerful upon seeing Mark; a few moments later, he laughs inappropriately upon learning that a friend of Mark's had been severely beaten. On set, Sestero and script supervisor Sandy Schklair repeatedly tried to convince Wiseau that the line should not be delivered as comical, but Wiseau refused to refrain from laughing. In the second instance, occurring later in the film, Mark attempts to kill Peter by throwing him off a roof after Peter expresses his belief that Mark is having an affair with Lisa; seconds later, however, Mark pulls Peter back from the edge of the roof, apologizes, and the two continue their previous
conversation
Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...
with no acknowledgment of what just occurred.
In addition to being rife with
continuity errors, the film has several
plots,
subplots and character details whose
inconsistencies have been commented on by critics and audiences. ''
The Portland Mercury'' has stated that a number of "plot threads are introduced, then instantly abandoned."
In an early scene, halfway through a conversation about planning a birthday party for Johnny, Claudette off-handedly tells Lisa: "I got the results of the test back. I definitely have
breast cancer."
The issue is casually dismissed and never revisited during the rest of the film.
Similarly, the audience never learns the details surrounding Denny's drug-related
debt to Chris-R, or what led to their violent
confrontation on the roof.
Beyond being Johnny's friend, Mark's background receives no exposition; when he is first introduced, he claims to be "very busy" while sitting in a parked car in the middle of the day, with no explanation ever given as to his occupation or what he was doing. In ''The Disaster Artist'', Sestero states that he created a backstory for the character in which Mark was an
undercover vice detective, which Sestero felt united several otherwise disparate aspects of Mark's character, including the secretive nature of various aspects of his behavior – including
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
use – his mood swings, and his handling of the Chris-R incident. Wiseau dismissed adding any reference to Mark's past to the script. The makers of ''The Room'' video game would later introduce a similar idea as part of a subplot involving Mark's unexplained backstory, much to Sestero's amusement.
At one point, the principal male characters congregate in an alley behind Johnny's apartment to play catch with a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
while wearing
tuxedos. When Mark arrives, he is revealed to have shaved his
beard, and the camera slowly zooms in on his face while dramatic music plays on the soundtrack. Nothing that is said or occurs during the scene has any effect on the plot; the scene ends abruptly when the men decide to return to Johnny's apartment after Peter trips. Similar to most of the other plot points of the film, the event is introduced abruptly and is never referenced elsewhere in the story. Wiseau received enough questions about the scene that he decided to address it in a Q&A segment featured on the DVD release; rather than explaining the scene, though, Wiseau states only that playing football without the proper protective equipment is fun and challenging.
[''The Room'' DVD Bonus Features: Q&A] Sestero has been questioned about the significance of Mark's shaving, though his only response for several years was "if people only knew."
He describes in ''The Disaster Artist'' that Wiseau insisted he shave his beard on-set just so that Wiseau would have an excuse for Johnny to call Mark "Babyface," Wiseau's own nickname for Sestero, and that the revealing of beardless Mark would be "a moment." Sestero further detailed how the football-in-tuxedos scene was concocted on set by Wiseau, who never explained the significance of the scene to the cast or crew and insisted that the sequence be filmed at the expense of other, relevant scenes.
Release
Promotion
According to Sestero, Wiseau submitted the film to
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, hoping to get them as the distributor. Usually, it takes about two weeks to get a reply. ''The Room'' however was rejected within 24 hours. Because of this, the film was promoted almost exclusively through a single
billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
, located on
Highland Avenue just north of Fountain Avenue, featuring an image Wiseau refers to as "Evil Man": an extreme
close-up
A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long s ...
of his own face with one eye in mid-blink.
Although more conventional artwork was created for the film, featuring the main characters' faces emblazoned over the
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
, Wiseau chose the "Evil Man" for what he regarded as its provocative quality; around the time of the film's release, the image led many passers-by to believe that the movie was a
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
.
Wiseau also paid for a small television and print campaign in and around Los Angeles,
and hired publicist
Edward Lozzi in his efforts to promote and self-distribute the film after it was turned down by Paramount.
Despite the film's failure to enjoy immediate success, Wiseau paid to keep the billboard up for over five years, at the cost of a month. Its bizarre imagery and longevity led to it becoming a minor tourist attraction.
When asked how he managed to afford to keep the billboard up for so long in such a prominent location, Wiseau responded: "Well, we like the location, and we like the billboard. So, we feel that people should see ''The Room''.
..we are selling DVDs, which are selling okay."
Critical reception
''The Room'' premiered on June 27, 2003, at the
Laemmle Fairfax
Fairfax may refer to:
Places United States
* Fairfax, California
* Fairfax Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California
* Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California, centered on Fairfax Avenue
* Fairfax, Georgia
* Fairfax, Indiana
* Fa ...
and
Fallbrook
Fallbrook is a CDP in northern San Diego County, California. Fallbrook had a population of 30,534 at the 2010 census, up from 29,100 at the 2000 census.
Fallbrook's downtown is not on a major highway route. It is west of Interstate 15 or n ...
theaters in
Los Angeles. Wiseau additionally arranged a screening for the cast and the press at one of the venues, renting a
searchlight to sit in front of the theater, and arriving in a
limousine.
Ticket buyers were given a free copy of the film's
soundtrack on
CD. Actress Robyn Paris described the audience laughing at the film, and ''
Variety'' reporter Scott Foundas, who was also in attendance, would later write that the film prompted "most of its viewers to ask for their money back—before even 30 minutes
adpassed."
IFC.com described Wiseau's speaking voice in the film as "
Borat trying to do an impression of
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...
playing a mental patient."
''
The Guardian'' described the film as a mix of "
Tennessee Williams,
Ed Wood, and
R. Kelly's ''
Trapped in the Closet''."
''The Room'' was unanimously panned by critics for its poor acting (particularly Wiseau's), screenplay, dialogue, production values, score, direction, and cinematography. The film is described by several publications as one of the worst films ever made.
On the
review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 26% approval rating based on 31 reviews, with an average score of 3.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A bona-fide classic of midnight cinema, Tommy Wiseau's misguided masterpiece subverts the rules of filmmaking with a boundless enthusiasm that renders such mundanities as acting, screenwriting, and cinematography utterly irrelevant. You will never see a football the same way again."
On
Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 9 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike."
Despite disdain from
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
s, the film has retrospectively received ironic acclaim from audiences for its perceived shortcomings, with some viewers calling it the "best worst movie ever."
In 2013, ''
The Atlantic''s Adam Rosen wrote an article titled "Should Gloriously Terrible Movies Like ''The Room'' Be Considered '
Outsider Art'?" where he made the argument "The label
f outsider art
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
has traditionally applied to painters and sculptors... but it's hard to see why it couldn't also refer to Wiseau or any other thwarted, un-self-aware filmmaker."
In a 2017 interview for a ''
Vox'' video, ''
The Disaster Artist'' co-writer
Tom Bissell explained his views on ''The Room''s popularity, as well as his personal enjoyment of the film, by noting that:
Midnight circuit
''The Room'' played in the Laemmle Fairfax and Fallbrook for the next two weeks, grossing a total of before it was pulled from circulation.
Toward the end of its run, the Laemmle Fallbrook theatre displayed two signs on the inside of the ticket window in relation to the film: one that read "NO REFUNDS" and another citing a blurb from an early review: "This film is like getting stabbed in the head." During one showing in the second week of its run, one of the few audience members in attendance was
5-Second Films
5-Second Films or 5 Second Films or simply 5SF is an American film group and website that develops and produces an online comedy web series of five-second long short films, as well as a series of long films that have been viewed over 500 million ...
' Michael Rousselet, who found unintentional humor in the film's poor dialogue and production values. After treating the screening as his "own private ''
Mystery Science Theater''", Rousselet began encouraging friends to join him for future showings to mock the film, starting a word-of-mouth campaign that resulted in about 100 attending the film's final screening. Rousselet and his friends saw the film "four times in three days," and it was in these initial screenings that many of ''The Room'' traditions were born, such as the throwing of
spoons and
footballs
A football is a ball inflated with air that is used to play one of the various sports known as football. In these games, with some exceptions, goals or points are scored only when the ball enters one of two designated goal-scoring areas; football ...
during the film.
After the film was pulled from theaters, those who had attended the final showing began emailing Wiseau telling him how much they had enjoyed the film. Encouraged by the volume of messages he received, Wiseau booked a single
midnight screening of ''The Room'' in June 2004, which proved successful enough that Wiseau booked a second showing in July, and a third in August. These screenings proved to be even more successful and were followed by monthly screenings on the last Saturday of the month, which began selling out and continued up until the theatre was sold in 2012. Wiseau frequently made appearances at these screenings, and often engaged with fans afterwards. On the fifth anniversary of the film's premiere, it sold out every screen at the Sunset 5 and both Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero did Q&As afterward. The film was featured on the 2008 Range Life tour, and expanded to midnight screenings in several other cities soon after. Celebrity fans of the film included
Paul Rudd,
David Cross,
Will Arnett,
Patton Oswalt,
Tim Heidecker,
Eric Wareheim,
Seth Rogen, and
James and
Dave Franco.
Kristen Bell acquired a film reel and hosted private viewing parties; ''
Veronica Mars'' creator
Rob Thomas would also slip references into episodes "as much as possible."
The film eventually developed national and international cult status, with Wiseau arranging screenings around the
United States and in
Canada,
Scandinavia,
the United Kingdom,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, and
New Zealand.
The film had regular showings in many theaters worldwide, with many as a monthly event. Fans interact with the film in a similar fashion to ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show''; audience members dress up as their favorite characters, throw plastic spoons in reference to an unexplained framed photo of a spoon on a table in Johnny's living room, toss
footballs
A football is a ball inflated with air that is used to play one of the various sports known as football. In these games, with some exceptions, goals or points are scored only when the ball enters one of two designated goal-scoring areas; football ...
to each other from short distances, and yell insulting comments about the quality of the film as well as lines from the film itself.
Wiseau has claimed that it was his intent for audiences to find humor in the film, although viewers and some of the
cast members
In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra (acting), extra for a particular role or part in a scr ...
generally have viewed it as a poorly made
drama.
Home media
''The Room'' was released on
DVD on November 4, 2003, and
Blu-ray in December 2012.
The DVD's special features include an interview with Wiseau, who is asked questions by an off-screen Greg Sestero. Wiseau sits directly in front of a
fireplace, with a mantle cluttered by various
props from the film;
next to him sits a large framed
theatrical poster
A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...
for the film. A few of Wiseau's answers are
dubbed in, although it is evident that the dubbed responses match what he was originally saying. Wiseau fails to answer several of the questions, instead offering
non sequiturs.
Among the outtakes included on the
Blu-ray is an alternate version of the Chris-R scene, set in a back alley; instead of tossing a football, Denny is playing basketball and attempts to get the drug dealer to "shoot some
H-O-R-S-E" with him to distract him from the debt. Another bonus feature on the Blu-ray is a more than half-hour long
fly-on-the-wall style documentary about the making of ''The Room''. The documentary includes no
narration, very little dialogue, and only one interview (with cast member Carolyn Minnott), and consists largely of clips of the
crew preparing to shoot.
Wiseau first announced plans in April 2011 for a
3D version of ''The Room'', scanned from the
35mm negative.
Later, in 2018, he revealed his intentions to reshoot the film in 3D, citing cost-effectiveness reasons. ''The Room'' was uploaded to
YouTube by Wiseau on September 21, 2018, but was removed the day afterwards.
''The Disaster Artist''
In June 2011, it was announced that Greg Sestero had signed a deal with
Simon & Schuster to write a book based on his experiences making the film. The book, titled ''The Disaster Artist'', was published in October 2013. The book was made into an audiobook with Sestero's reading in May 2014 and, in November 2014, won for Best Non-Fiction at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
A
film adaptation of ''The Disaster Artist'' was announced in February 2014, produced by
Seth Rogen and directed by
James Franco.
Franco described ''The Disaster Artist'' as "a combination of ''
Boogie Nights
''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American period comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic fil ...
'' and ''
The Master''."
The film stars Franco as Wiseau and his brother
Dave Franco as Sestero, with the script written by ''
The Fault in Our Stars'' screenwriters
Scott Neustadter and
Michael H. Weber
Michael H. Weber (born January 13, 1978) is an American screenwriter and producer. He and his writing partner, Scott Neustadter, are best known for writing the screenplay for the romantic comedy film ''500 Days of Summer''. The film is based on t ...
. On October 15, 2015, it was announced Rogen would co-star (playing Sandy Schklair), and cinematographer
Brandon Trost served as the DP. On October 29, 2015, it was announced that
Warner Bros. and
New Line Cinema would distribute ''The Disaster Artist''. Filming began December 7, 2015. A work-in-progress version was screened at
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
in March 2017, with the
wide release beginning on December 8, 2017. The movie opened with "impressive" box office returns and was nominated for the 2018
Academy Award for
Best Adapted Screenplay
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
.
Other media
Books
Besides ''The Disaster Artist,'' a second
memoir, ''Yes, I Directed The Room: The Truth About Directing the "Citizen Kane of Bad Movies"'', written by Schklair, was published on December 4, 2017, in which he again asserts his desire to receive credit for directing the film.
Films
A Canadian
documentary about the film, titled ''
Room Full of Spoons
''Room Full of Spoons'' is a 2016 Canadian documentary film directed by Rick Harper about the 2003 cult film ''The Room''.
Synopsis
Rick Harper, "Canadian documentary maker and ''The Room'' superfan", a longtime associate of Tommy Wiseau, direc ...
'' and directed by Rick Harper, was initially given a brief theatrical release in April 2016. However, the film was pulled from theaters, and plans for a wide release in conjunction with the release of ''The Disaster Artist'' were hampered when it became the subject of
legal proceedings by Wiseau, who claimed
copyright infringement and
defamation
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
. Ultimately, Wiseau's
lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
was dismissed in 2020 by
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges.
...
judge
Paul Schabas, who ordered Wiseau to pay the
filmmakers nearly $1 million
CAD in countersuit damages and lost
revenue.
Video game
In September 2010,
Newgrounds owner Tom Fulp released a
Flash game tribute, in the form of a
16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...
styled
adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
played entirely from Johnny's point of view. The game's artwork was provided by staff member Jeff "JohnnyUtah" Bandelin, with music
transcribed by animator Chris O'Neill from the Mladen Milicevic score and soundtrack.
Live performances
On June 10, 2010, the
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center presented a live play/reading based on the film's original script. Wiseau reprised his role of Johnny and was joined by Sestero playing the role of Mark.
In 2011, Wiseau mentioned plans for a
Broadway adaptation of the film, in which he would appear only on opening night: "It will be similar to what you see in the movie, except it will be
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
. As well as you will see... like, for example, Johnny, we could have maybe 10 Johnnys at the same time singing or playing football. So, the decision have to be made at the time when we actually doing
choreography
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...
, 'cause I'll be doing choreography, as well I'll be in it only one time, that's it, as Johnny."
He mentioned the plans again during a 2016 interview, describing his idea for it to be a "musical/comedy."
Web series
On October 21, 2014, cast member Robyn Paris launched a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign to raise the budget for her comedy
mockumentary web series, ''The Room Actors: Where Are They Now? A Mockumentary''. On completion, the campaign had raised from 385 backers. Although a number of the original cast appeared in the series, Wiseau, Sestero and Holmes are not involved. The series premiered at the
24th Raindance Film Festival on September 30, 2016, and debuted on the website
Funny or Die on November 30, 2017.
Musicals
A satirical fan-made musical called ''OH HAI!: The Rise of Chris-R'', written by Tony Orozco and Peter Von Sholly, was released on
SoundCloud on July 27, 2017. The work builds on the backstory of the film, particularly the character of Denny and his relationship with Chris-R.
In 2018, ''Oh Hi, Johnny! The ‘Room’sical Parody Musical'' premiered at the Orlando Fringe Festival. Written by Bryan Jager and Alex Syiek, the show subsequently ran at the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival in February 2019. The work explores what if Tommy Wiseau actually made a stage adaptation of ''The Room''.
In popular culture
The comedy show ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' on
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim
Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
featured Wiseau prominently in the fourth season episode titled ''Tommy''. Recruited as a "guest director", Wiseau is interviewed in mockumentary style, along with the show's leading actors, during the production of a fake film titled ''The Pig Man''. Two scenes from ''The Room'' are featured during the episode. Adult Swim broadcast the movie three times from 2009 to 2011 as part of their
April Fools' Day programming. In 2012, they showed the first 20 seconds of it before switching to
Toonami for the remainder of the night.
On June 18, 2009, a
RiffTrax for ''The Room'' was released, featuring commentary by
Michael J. Nelson,
Bill Corbett
William Daniel Corbett (born March 30, 1960) is an American writer and performer for television, film and theatre. He was a writer and performer on the cult television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''), for which he voiced the r ...
and
Kevin Murphy, formerly of ''
Mystery Science Theater 3000
''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...
''. This was followed up with a live theater show by RiffTrax on May 6, 2015, which was shown in 700 theaters across the U.S. and Canada. The show screened once more on January 28, 2016 as part of the Best of RiffTrax Live series.
On his 2009 DVD ''My Weakness Is Strong'', comedian
Patton Oswalt parodied ''The Room'' with a fake
infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
. The spoof also features a
cameo from
Jon Hamm.
In 2010, the film was mocked on the Internet comedy series ''
Nostalgia Critic
''Nostalgia Critic'' is an American review comedy web series created, directed by and starring web comedian Douglas "Doug" Walker. The series initially launched on YouTube on July 3, 2007, before moving to Walker's own site, That Guy with th ...
'', which highlighted the film's bad acting and writing, but encouraged viewers to see the movie: "It truly is one of those films you have to see to believe." The episode was taken down following claims of
copyright infringement from Wiseau-Films. It was replaced by a short video titled "''The Tommy Wi-Show''", in which host Doug Walker, dressed as Wiseau, mocked the threatened legal actions. The main review was later reinstated.
Both Greg Sestero and Juliette Danielle have praised the review, and Sestero later made several cameo appearances on ''The Nostalgia Critic'', starting with the episode "Dawn of the Commercials", where he reprised his role of Mark.
Both Wiseau and Sestero appeared in separate episodes on Walker's talk show, ''Shut Up and Talk''.
In 2011,
Greg DeLiso and
Peter Litvin directed and produced a video titled "The Room Rap", telling the story of ''The Room''
's production while mocking the green screen work and sub-par acting found in the movie. The video was listed in the Acknowledgements of
Greg Sestero's 2014 book ''The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made''.
In Wiseau's 2014 sitcom pilot ''
The Neighbors'', the character Troy watches ''The Room'' in a scene.
In 2015, Sestero starred in the 5-Second Films feature ''
Dude Bro Party Massacre III'', directed by Michael Rousselet, the
patient zero
The index case or patient zero is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population, or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study.
It can also refer to the first case of a condition or syndrome (not n ...
of ''The Room'' cult movement.
In the 2016
Marvel comic book ''
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
/
Deadpool'' #12,
Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
Carol Susan Jane Danvers is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan, Danvers first appeared as an officer in the United States Air Force and a colleague of the ...
receives a DVD copy of ''The Room'' as a Christmas gift from Deadpool, but complains that she actually wanted ''
Room'', starring
Brie Larson. She also goes on to state that Tommy Wiseau is actually an alien criminal wanted by the
Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Sunday, July 5, 2015, installment of
Amy Dickinson's advice column ''Ask Amy'' unwittingly featured a
hoax
A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...
letter that derived its situational premise from ''The Room'' and, even after being edited for publication, retained phrases from the film's dialogue; Dickinson addressed the hoax in the following Saturday's edition of July 11 of the
National Public Radio comedy and quiz show ''
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'', where she appears as a regular panelist, and in her July 20, 2015 column.
Comic #1400 of the online comic ''
xkcd'', which appeared July 28, 2014, presented a satirical equivalence between Wiseau and still-unidentified hijacker
D. B. Cooper
D. B. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft operated by Northwest Orient Airlines, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portla ...
, with comparisons between the money, age, and speaking style of the two, and speculated on a connection between Wiseau's background and Cooper's fate.
See also
*
List of films considered the worst
References
Further reading
*
James MacDowellan
James Zborowski"The Aesthetics of 'So Bad It's Good': Value, Intention, and The Room" Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media, 6 (Autumn/Winter 2013), pp. 1–30.
Richard McCulloch"'Most People Bring Their Own Spoons': The Room's Participatory Audiences as Comedy Mediators", Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 8.2 (November 2011), pp. 189–218.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Room, The
2003 romantic drama films
2003 films
American independent films
American romantic drama films
2000s English-language films
Films about infidelity
Film and television memes
Films set in San Francisco
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in San Francisco
2003 directorial debut films
2003 independent films
2000s American films