-But this thing.
-Yeah. -"The Disaster Artist."
This is -- It's fantastic. Well done, by the way.
-Thank you. Thank you. -And it's based on this movie
"The Room." You guys ever see that movie? [ Cheers and applause ]
Good. Now -- -Best worst movie ever made.
Yeah. -It's the best worst movie
I've ever seen. -Yeah. "Citizen Kane."
-It's famously -- -"Citizen Kane" of bad movies.
-[ Laughing ] Of bad movies. -Well, see,
'cause it's a particular thing. That's like a particular thing,
where, you know, there's a lot of bad movies
that you just don't watch. Like, "The Room"
is very watchable. Like, its badness is so bad,
you just want to keep watching. [ Laughter ]
-It's unbelievable. -Yeah.
-It's like watching a... -But I think
it's more than that. -...two-hour train wreck. It's like, "Ohh!"
-It is, but, like, with heart. -Yeah, there's something -- -Like, you know what I mean?
Like... -I love that the guy cast
himself. Is it Tommy Wiseau?
-Yeah. -He -- He --
-Who I play in my movie. -Who you play.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. -And you play him --
dude, you do his voice. You sound -- You do him
perfectly, by the way. -[ As Tommy Wiseau ]
Yeah, yeah. I like that idea. -But I love that he cast himself
in his own movie. [ Light laughter ]
-He cast himself. He -- [ Laughter ] -He -- He -- He --
-Dude, he's unbelievable. -He tried to play James Dean.
He quoted James Dean -- "You're tearing apart, Lisa!"
you know? Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-It's unbelievable. -[ Normal voice ]
Like, he's trying so hard. -Throwing the football.
-Oh, yeah. "Throw a football. You know, a great
American game, you know?" -Ohh!
-Because he's all-American guy. -He's all-American --
oh, dude, it's unbelievable. I remember seeing that 'cause
somebody told me -- they said,
"Dude, you got to see that." I think they were having, like,
screenings, I think, in L.A. Like, it was --
It's a kind of cult... -Yeah.
-...cult following. -It started in L.A. It's been going
for 14 1/2 years now, so, like, that's a thing. Like, look, I loved --
-Did you see the movie? -I loved "The Revenant," right? "The Revenant"
is an amazing movie. -Yeah.
-But I'm not -- It's not -- People don't go and watch it for 14 years.
-Over and over again. -Like, you know what I mean?
-Yeah. They don't watch it over
and over again, going, "Ohh!" -Like, there's something
about this bad movie that you just want
to keep watching. -But you --
you read a book about it first? -The book came out
four years ago, and it was written by
the other actor, Greg Sestero, who my brother plays
in the movie, and then this great journalist
Tom Bissell, and it was -- it was incredible. Like, if --
if the book didn't exist, I'd be like,
"Okay, it's a crazy movie." -Wasn't it?
-Like, yeah. What -- -Yeah.
-The most we can do is a spoof. -Yeah.
-But the book had so much heart, and in -- and, in fact,
I, like, related to them. Like, you --
I mean, what's your story? Like, you know,
you wanted to be funny, and you, like, did -- what?
-Yeah, I really did. [ Laughter ] I won a competition.
I won "America's Got Talent." -Like, when you went to,
like, "SNL"... -And that's how I...
-...and you had to do the -- -Yeah, yeah.
Everyone's got a story. -Like, you struggled.
-Yeah, a dream. -I'm sure there were years
before that -- right? -- where you were,
like, struggling. -Yeah, we're all dreamers, yeah.
-Yeah, exactly. And that's what this story is --
they're -- they're dreamers. And -- And -- -How did he raise
all that money, though? Wasn't it -- Didn't he spend
like $6 million -- -We don't want to go there.
I don't know. -Oh, right.
[ Laughter ] Really,
there's a lot of mysteries? Did you get to meet the guy? -There's three myster--
There's three mysteries. The two --
The two that are easy -- they're, like,
such thin facades. [ As Tommy Wiseau ]
He sounds like this. You -- You know, you guess,
probably, like, Eastern Europe, but he said
he's from New Orleans. [ Normal voice ] So, like,
you kind of just go with it. You're like, "Okay."
-"You're joking." -Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. Ragin' Cajun. [ Audience cheers ]
-He's from -- He's from New Orleans?
-No, that's what he says! -But where's he from?
Is he from Sweden or something? -Like, Eastern Europe.
-I don't know -- Eastern Europe. -Yeah. Yeah.
-Okay. But he says he's from
New Orleans. Okay, great.
-And then, how old he is. Yeah. He says he's like -- He said he was 20 when he made
"The Room." He --
-Come on. -You know, I think
he was in his late 40s. -In his 40s.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now he's, like, older, yeah.
[ Laughter ] -Now, is he happy,
or is he bummed out? -Super happy.
-Super happy, right? 'Cause --
-Well, his movie -- his movie is, like, a success. Like, that's the -- that's
one of the fascinating things about this whole story is,
you know, I've seen that movie more than any other movie
that I've ever watched -- you know what I mean?
-[ Laughs ] -And after a while,
you have to say, like, "There's something there
that's working." -Yeah.
-It's like kind of a success. -Yeah. -And he has audiences
all over the world. Like, he's huge in London.
-Is that right? -I just -- I just took my movie
to London. They played
at the Prince Charles there, and it's just like rabid fans. And he'll go --
And, like, everywhere, I run into people that are like,
"Yeah, 'The Room.' I used to watch it in Chicago.
Tommy would be there." Austin -- "Yep. Tommy used to
show up when I was in college." And so, like,
he just goes around -- -Touring.
-And he -- And people love him. -Yeah.
-They -- -And did he know that
you were playing him? -I had to get his life rights. Okay, so here's --
here's that thing. Like, we were sort of meant
for each other. -Okay.
-'Cause I read the book. [ Light laughter ] And I approached him and Greg,
and I was like, you know, "Can I get your life rights?
I want to do this story." -Yeah. -I got him on the phone. There wasn't a lot
to talk about. After, like, I said, like,
"Look, I'm gonna do you right. I'm gonna --
I'm gonna tell this story well. I'm gonna -- you know,
I'll make you sympathetic" -- all that stuff. He didn't -- He didn't know
I wanted to play him. He only knew
I wanted to direct it. -Okay. -'Cause I didn't know
what he was gonna think, and I didn't have the contract. And so, he goes,
"So, who's playing me?" And I was like,
"I don't know, Tommy. Who do -- Who do you want?" He was like,
"Well...how about Johnny Depp?" [ Laughter ]
And I'm like -- I'm like -- -What?
-And I laughed. -What?!
-And he goes -- I laughed, and, look,
I'm trying to win him over. -Yeah.
-I laughed, so he's like -- he goes,
"Why are you laughing?" I'm like, "Uh."
-Uh. -He's a big -- you know, he's the biggest movie star
in the world. And he's like -- and I tried
to change the subject. -Yeah.
-And he was like, "No, go back to before.
I say Johnny Depp. You laughing."
I'm like, "Dude." -Really?
-I'm like, "All right, dude." -Did you ever offer it
to Johnny Depp? -[ Laughs ] No. No. I -- Well, no.
[ Laughter ] -You didn't even --
he never got the phone call. -Well, no, I told him --
I told him I would, but then, Greg jumped in, 'cause Greg knew that
I was his second choice. -Oh.
-I didn't know that. -Oh.
-And Greg's like, "How about --
How about you, James?" And -- And he goes --
Tommy goes, "Yeah, James,
I've seen your stuff. You do some good things --
you do some bad things." And I'm like -- I'm like --
[ Laughter ] -What is --
This guy is unbelievable! I want to meet him. He's unbelievable.
-I know. He's crazy. -Well,
he's got to be proud, man, 'cause you really did him
a solid. You're fantastic in this movie.
I want to show a clip. Here's James Franco
in "The Disaster Artist." Take a look. -Action! ♪♪ -What is line? -"I did not hit her.
It's not true. It's [bleep]
I did not hit her. I did not. Oh, hi, Mark." ♪♪ [ Light laughter ] Scene 112, Take 13. Mark it. Action! -I did not hit her. I -- [ Sighs ] Okay, okay. Line. -"I did not hit her.
It's not true. It's bull [bleep]
I did not hit her. I did not. Oh, hi, Mark." -Take 17. Action! -I hit her.
-No! Do you want to change the line?
[ Laughter ] -Script is script.
Script stays same. -You're doing great, man.
We'll get there. -Action. Action! Action! Action! -You have to say it loud. I can't hear in here.
[ Laughter ] Say "action" so I can hear.
-Okay. [ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ] -It's great.
"The Disaster Artist."
