San Francisco, the late 1990s; 19-year-old Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) is trying to become an actor and is awestruck by the take-no-prisoners approach of the mysterious Tommy Wiseau (James Franco). The story behind The Room (2003), the cult item that’s often called the most unintentionally hilarious bad movie ever made, is pretty straightforward, as we follow an impressionable young man who’s seduced by the sheer ambition and charisma of an older man with a shady past and limitless funds. Funny and tragic; an effective portrait of the daunting challenge awaiting anyone who’s trying to make it in Hollywood. James Franco leads a great cast; he’s perfect as the man with no age and a New Orleans accent (mmh?).
2017-U.S. 104 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by James Franco, Evan Goldberg, Vince Jolivette, Seth Rogen, James Weaver. Directed by James Franco. Screenplay: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber. Book: Greg Sestero, Tom Bissell. Cast: Dave Franco (Greg Sestero), James Franco (Tommy Wiseau), Seth Rogen (Sandy Schklair), Ari Graynor, Josh Hutcherson, Jacki Weaver… Megan Mullally, Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, Zac Efron. Cameos: Bryan Cranston, Judd Apatow, J.J. Abrams, Zach Braff, Kristen Bell, Bob Odenkirk, Danny McBride, Kevin Smith, Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Trivia: Sestero and Wiseau appear in small cameos.
Golden Globe: Best Actor (Franco).
Last word: “For the actors we had an iPad on set where we would play scenes from ‘The Room’, and we would study them so carefully, because we wanted to mimic every single beat exactly how it was in ‘The Room’, down to the way we tilted our head, or every breath that the original actors took. Every department was trying to mimic these scenes as closely as possible, so for example, our DP was trying to match the awful lighting in ‘The Room’.” (James Franco, Den of Geek)
