Tommy Wiseau must be a hoax

[Hank Venture]

Surely. Just listened to the How Did This Get Made episode about The Room, where they got one of the actors to join in on the discussion. According to him, they met in acting class, where Tommy lit the room up with some sort of monologue. So obviously he went over to ask if Tommy would be his partner, and that is how they met. All the origin stories are like this; incredibly lacking in detail and very vague. The actor says The Room cost six million dollars to make. SIX MILLION DOLLARS. Where did he get the money from? Supposedly an old rich lady who just gave it to him for no apparent reason, hence Chloe Productions.

A polish man who grew up in New Orleans, left at a young age, took a French name and went back to America to sell yo-yos in San Francisco only to happen upon six million dollars which he spent on the magnificent turd The Room, in which he uses green screen outside to make a scene where the characters talk on a roof of the building where they live. Oh, and he sold leather jackets in Korea.

[Space ghost]

Bosnian war criminal laundering money for the Russian mob.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Cool story, Mark.

[clingfilm portent]

You must be kidding aren't you!

[Obel]

The Room is just so much of a clusterfuck, I can't believe it was written intentionally like that.

In fact if you were to prove to me using scientifically proven facts that it was supposed to be this weird ironic spoof comedy thing I would still deny it because that would be too unbelievable.

It's just a complete anomaly and I love it.

[Utter Shit]

Did Tommy Wiseau fake the whole thing?

HE DID NAHT.

[Steve Lampkins]

You're tearing me apart, Hank!

[thugler]

Nah it's too crazy to be faked.

[Pepotamo1985]

Life would be that much more sweet if Tommy never realised he was a figure of ridicule, and continued to disseminate hilariously terrible films with a totally straight face.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Is there a known reason why they used expensive and convoluted green-screen for the roof-top shots rather than, oh I don't know, actually physically using one of the easiest, accessible and cheapest major-city outside locations known to cinema? It gives the film this eerie artificiality that makes it all the more surreal.

[phantom_power]

I haven't seen the whole thing but the clips I have watched make it look like a sketch from Awesome Show, Great Job so it isn't that out of this world to think it is deliberate. Didn't Wiseau appear on AS,GJ as well?

[Hank Venture]

He did, yeah. And acted in a way that he must know they're taking the piss. Why would he do that? For the fame and the pay of being on a niche 10-minute comedy show on Cartoon Network?

[Obel]

The Room was made nearly ten years ago though, it's only in recent years it's been heralded as a so bad it's good film and become popular. As mad as Wiseau seems to be, he's obviously accepted it as an object of ridicule now and is rolling with it.

I think the best thing about the Room and the reason why I think it wasn't intentionally bad is how there's an undertone of it being Wiseau's biography. I think it's literally him lashing out at a girl who wronged him, hence why every character including those related to Lisa still seem to adore Johnny and turn against Lisa. Also there's the bit where he mentions how he met Lisa and he talks about coming over to SF and struggling to get by, I think that bit is literally how Wiseau came over to the states.

[phantom_power]

His acting, scripting and directing seems deliberately bad in the same way that Tim Heidecker's stand-up is deliberately bad. Maybe that is just coincidence though

[prwc]

His acting, scripting and directing seems deliberately bad in the same way that Tim Heidecker's stand-up is deliberately bad. Maybe that is just coincidence though

Nah, no way, like others have said, it's far too organically awful to be deliberate. I love it, maybe the most unique film ever.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

The pace of the film is staggering. Two bewildering nudey love scenes kick off the film, and they manage to drag.

Anyone up for a Let's watch The Room thread?

[Custard]

Despite the ridicule this film gets, you've got to admit - that ending is insanely bleak, devastating stuff

"Everyone has let me down! What's the point of being in this world?!"

His girlfriend and Mark were CUNTS too. He's better off out of it!

[castro diaz]

Further proof that this guy isn't making some kind of meta comment on taste and the visual arts:

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

A trailer made by Colonel Crazy himself for a sitcom with no discernible sit or com.  Although it'd be bound to succeed as it uses a guitar riff a bit like the one they used in Friends, and that's always on E4.  Anyway, it was never made, and the planet earth shed a silent tear.

[QDRPHNC]

Come on, that bit where he pointed at the Take a Number sign was genuine gold. Just 30 minutes of that, possibly?

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Further proof that this guy isn't making some kind of meta comment on taste and the visual arts:

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

A trailer made by Colonel Crazy himself for a sitcom with no discernible sit or com.  Although it'd be bound to succeed as it uses a guitar riff a bit like the one they used in Friends, and that's always on E4.  Anyway, it was never made, and the planet earth shed a silent tear.

Nice to see the early choice for 'Mark' getting a role in the Neighbors pilot.

Here he is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiEY9o6qp9M&list=FLSIOOx2AR_J-ILEPOj0MsgA&index=83

[Custard]

The man is amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrFBnWa8t8o&feature=relmfu

[Custard]

Oh my, this made me laugh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6RtfG7D5dY

I love the interviewers and Greg trying to keep a straight face, and mostly failing

[chand]

Further proof that this guy isn't making some kind of meta comment on taste and the visual arts:

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

That's so...I don't even know. It's almost Daniel Songer levels of WTF-ness.

[QDRPHNC]

As The Pigman on Tim & Eric...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZK9n7nQPF0

[non capisco]

The man is amazing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrFBnWa8t8o&feature=relmfu

That reminded me of a higher budget version of this clip someone once posted in the YouTubes thread which I still find inexplicably funny, some guy from the Midlands 'reviewing' Streets Of Rage on the Master System and endlessly repeating his golden catchphrase "Ave summa that!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3-M1otQCY

I don't believe for a second Wiseau was being in any way arch or meta when he made 'The Room'. The appeal of the film lies in the sheer goggle-eyed astonishment it provokes in the viewer that such an inexplicable thing exists, an appeal which would evaporate the second you suspected you were having a joke played on you. I also love how committed his (admittedly uniformly fucking terrible) cast of players appear to be to this total dog's breakfast. The only actor who you suspect might be winking to camera in an ''I know, right? Terrible!" way is the guy who plays (I think, only watched it the once) Mark and that ridiculous series of facial contortions he pulls when he's receiving a blowjob. That is the only moment in 'The Room' where I felt anyone involved might not be taking it entirely seriously. Even in those bewildering 'chiiiiiiip-chip-chip-chip-chip-chip!' bits everyone looks 100% committed.

It's also really fun to overrreact to your mates not being able to come out for a drink by stomping around and shouting "Everybody betray me! I'm sick of dis worl!"

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

The actor who plays Mark recently turned up as a guest on the bad-movie podcast How Did This Get Made?, where you can hear more about his thoughts on the film (he did indeed seem to suspect it was terrible, unless he's just trying to cover himself now).

[Obel]

Not to be pedantic or anything but that was mentioned in the opening line of the opening post of this thread!

[NoSleep]

Perhaps Kishi is trying, in a roundabout way, to tell us that Tommy Wiseau is champion of lesbians; possibly defending them against the verbal attacks of Richard Littlejohn.

[WesterlyWinds]

Oh my, this made me laugh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6RtfG7D5dY

I love the interviewers and Greg trying to keep a straight face, and mostly failing

This is brilliant, and I'm only 5 minutes in... Greg Sestero talking about how the film has 'so many layers' after Tommy has spouted some nonsense about the film being inspired by life and then almost immediately smirking afterwards is hilarious.

[Default to the negative]

I finally made it through The Room (with the help of Rifftrax). There were a few moments that made me wonder if it might be a send-up (and I'm thinking of the rooftop scenes here) but most of the film's content suggests that it's genuine.

I think the best thing about the Room and the reason why I think it wasn't intentionally bad is how there's an undertone of it being Wiseau's biography. I think it's literally him lashing out at a girl who wronged him, hence why every character including those related to Lisa still seem to adore Johnny and turn against Lisa. Also there's the bit where he mentions how he met Lisa and he talks about coming over to SF and struggling to get by, I think that bit is literally how Wiseau came over to the states.

That was the impression I got too. Something you kind of touched on is the strong current of adolescent narcissism running through the film, a quality which would take a better writer than Wiseau to invent for a laugh. That stuff clearly came from the heart. Like when the lady at the flower shop calls out: "You're my favourite customer!" as Tommy leaves with his roses, the implication being that he's such a kind and considerate man that he's down there buying people flowers all the time, and probably buys way more than anyone else. Or when Lisa finally pushes him over the edge and he shoots himself. Take that, world! I showed you, didn't I? All the people who wronged him gather around his dead body and cry their eyes out, realising the error of their ways, but it's too late now. Isn't this what sulky goth teens fantasise about?

There's also the fact that none of the other characters really make sense, they're only there to cause problems for Tommy/Johnny. Lisa lies and cheats, that's all she does and there's nothing more to it than that. No clues are given as to what her motivations might be, or why she's unhappy in the relationship, and that's probably because Wiseau didn't understand these things about the real-world Lisa.

There are two ways a film like The Room can get made, one is through wry wit and the other is through total stupidity. When I look at Wiseau, I see a wonky eye and jowls which may be the results of reconstructive surgery, but I don't see a lot of wit, or any wit at all, so in my opinion the film is authentic.