Tommy Wiseau

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About

Tommy Wiseau is an American director, screenwriter, producer and actor^[1] who is best known for the 2003 independent romantic drama film The Room, a cult classic frequently referred to as the worst movie ever made.

History

The Room

In 2001, Wiseau completed The Room as a play, and decided to turn it into a movie as well. After writing the script himself, he amassed $6 million according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly.^[3]

The filmmaker has always refused to discuss where he got the movie's $6 million budget, but he now hints that at least some of the money came from a clothing import business. ''I tell you a little bit, but that's it,'' he says. ''We import from Korea the leather jackets that we design here in America. If you work, you have to save money, right? I didn't get money from the sky. I was preparing, let's put it this way.''

The film premiered at the Laemmle Theatre in Los Angeles on June 27th, 2003.

The Room would become Tommy Wiseau's most infamous work, as it gained a cult following being billed as "the worst movie ever made."

It went on to become a cult classic, with midnight showings in the style of Rocky Horror screenings popping up in major cities soon after its release. In February of 2014, James Franco announced^[5] he would be directing a film about the making of The Room. In June of 2014, it was announced his younger brother Dave Franco would also star in the film. The film would become the Golden Globe-winner The Disaster Artist, based on the book by Sestero.

Tommy Explains it All

On June 1st, 2011, the YouTube channel TommyExplainsItAll^[2] was created. The channel houses the webseries Tommy Explains it All which features Wiseau talking to the camera on a variety of subjects ranging from acting to kissing. The first episode, which was uploaded on October 13th, 2013, covers the classic film Citizen Kane, as of July 2014 the video has gained over 5,000 views. The 9th and final episode, which was uploaded on October 23rd, 2013, was titled "Secrets To Success." As of July 2014, the video has gained over 18,000 views.

The Tommy-Wi Show

On September 24th, 2011, YouTube channel Machinima^[3] uploaded the first episode of the web series The Tommy-Wi Show which features Wiseau playing and discussing video games. The first video focused on Mortal Kombat and as of July 2014, has gained over 700,000 views in six years. The series ran for ten episodes concluding with "Fight Night Champion" uploaded on January 8th, 2012, which has gained over 83,000 views as of July 2014.

[This video has been removed]

The Neighbors

On January 13th, 2009, YouTuber lucienpsinger^[6] uploaded a trailer for Wiseau's upcoming workplace sitcom The Neighbors, which also starred Wiseau. As of July 2014, the video has gained over 390,000 views.

On July 14th, 2014, Wiseau uploaded a new clip from the sitcom, renamed The Neighbors through the YouTube channel The Neighbors.^[7] The clip features a woman entering an "underwear party" and continues with a shot of the party, with little of the dialogue audible. Within 48 hours the clip gained over 46,000 views. The sitcom is scheduled to debut sometime in September 2014. The nonsensical clip and announcement of the show's upcoming release was covered by many sites including IndieWire^[8] and The AV Club.^[9]

Wiseau released an equally nonsensical summary of the show and pilot on its website.^[10]

Between March and May 2015, six episodes of The Neighbors were aired on Hulu. The series received a negative reception from critics. The AV Club^[12] gave the series an "F" rating, describing the series as "an exercise in masochism. Poorly shot, shoddily edited, and equipped with the worst sound quality this side of a home movie, the whole thing is rank with the vibe of arrogant neglect."

On November 21st, 2017, Wiseau uploaded the trailer for the second season of The Neighbors. Within two months, the trailer (shown below) received more than 15,000 views.

The Disaster Artist

On October 10th, 2013, Simon & Schuster released the book The Disaster Artist by Tom Bissell and Greg Sestero, who played Mark in The Room. The book (cover below) tells the story of the film's production, particularly Sestero's relationship and friendship with director Tommy Wiseau.

In February 2014, Seth Rogan's production company acquired the book and film rights to The Disaster Artist, in which James Franco would direct and star in the film version. His brother, Dave Franco, would play Sestero. Principal photography started on December 8th, 2016 and concluded on January 28th, 2016.

With a release date of December 1st, 2017, the film, as of October 2017, has a 94% fresh rating on film review aggregator Rotten Tomoatoes.^[13] New York Magazine^[14] said the film "may soon join Tim Burton's Ed Wood in the ranks of great movies about terrible movies." However, The AV Club^[15] called it "barely a movie."

James Franco would go on to win a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Wiseau in the film.

James Franco's Golden Globes Acceptance Speech

Accepting his Golden Globe for Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, James Franco invited Tommy Wiseau on stage. Wiseau walked up on stage and attepted to take the mic from Franco, which the actor blocked (shown below).

Some online reacted negatively to Franco's pushing away of Wiseau. Twitter^[8] user @davidmackau tweeted a gif of the moment with the caption "when u want to give credit, but not too much credit." The tweet (shown below) received more than 5,000 retweets and 13,000 likes in less than 24 hours.

Personal Life

While Tommy Wiseau has contended for many years that he grew up in Louisana, though spent some time in France, it was later discoverd that he was born in the 1950s in the Polish city of Poznań.^[11]

According to longtime friend, collaborator and author of The Disaster Artist, a tell-all book about the making of Wiseau's most famous work The Room, Greg Sestero says that Wiseau began attempting to work in Hollywood in the 1980s. From there, he took acting classes and film classes at various locations around Los Angeles.