JAMES FRANCO: Wow,
so good to be here. [CHEERING] I grew up in Palo Alto
long before Google existed. And then at Palo Alto
High, I was in class. I was the same year as Lisa
Brennan-Jobs, Steve Jobs's daughter. And we were on the newspaper
together, "The Campanile." And my teacher,
Esther Wojcicki-- we called her Woj-- then became the
mother-in-law of Sergey Brin. So, like, my teacher is like
the mother-in-law of all of you, or the ex-mother-in-law. But I hear from "The
New York Times" article that they're all good, that
they go to the Met Ball together still and all that. KEVIN VLK: Well, welcome,
James Franco, to Google. [CHEERING] I'm Kevin Vlk with
Talks at Google, and we'll get right into it. So thanks for being here. So your new film,
"The Disaster Artist," which is based on Tommy
Wiseau's weird film, "The Room." JAMES FRANCO: Yes. KEVIN VLK: It's
the making of it. JAMES FRANCO: That's an
understatement, yeah. KEVIN VLK: Yes. "The Room" is a cultural,
just classic cult hit. It's really weird. When did you first
see "The Room"? JAMES FRANCO: I was
really late to "The Room." It's been out for 14
and a half years now. The story is he made it. It came out in 2003. He intended it to
be this great drama. He wrote on the poster,
Tennessee Williams level drama, which kind of shows
what he was aiming for. It costs $6 million
of his own money. Where he got it
is a big mystery. And it's so weird. Oh, Lorena, do
you have my phone? Lorena and I were jogging,
just when we arrived here. We didn't go-- we
just, like, went in one direction, just aimless,
sort of started at the Ritz and jogged all the way
down to Beech Street. And Tommy would always say,
well, I made my $6 million from selling Levi's jeans. And he actually got into
the Screen Actors Guild by financing his own commercial
for his denim jeans outlet called Street Fashions. And I know it because
we recreated it in "The Disaster Artist,"
but we ended up not using it. But you can find it online. Just Google it. He is wearing, like,
a Renaissance hat. And he's quoting Hamlet. He's like, to be or not to be. That is the question. Come to Street Fashions
and get Levi's jeans. 555 Beech Street. And Lorena and I jogged. We just went in a straight line. All of a sudden, I
look up, and there's this-- this is just
like three hours ago. I look up, and there's this
poster of him in "The Room." I'm like, oh, look. What a great sign. And then I realized,
oh, my gosh. It was like 555 Beech Street. But we couldn't find the thing. All we could find is this
poster and this big Levi's jeans thing. Anyway, so-- sorry. You asked me a whole
other question. KEVIN VLK: No, no, no. That's more interesting. Especially [INAUDIBLE]. JAMES FRANCO: You're gonna
find out I just ramble. It cost $6 million. It made $1,800
dollars its first run. People from the premiere
on were laughing at it. And unlike other directors
that have these movies that have become cult hits
because they're so bad or because people like to
laugh at them, like "Troll 2," Tommy had the wherewithal to
kind of capitalize on that and rewrite history. So where he was completely
oblivious to how he was coming off
to other people, as soon as people started
laughing at the movie, he just became a maestro. As much as he lacked
self-awareness before, he then was like a Kardashian
with the way he could capitalize
on publicity. And he put it in one
theater in LA, the Sunset 5. And it played at midnights. And it just sort of caught
on with USC film students, and then built from there. He paid-- another bit of
Tommy insanity is he paid for, or maybe genius-- he paid for this
billboard on Highland. It was his face, and it
was that same image, like, with the lazy eyelid. And it said "The Room." And then there was
a phone number. And kept it up for five years. That's hundreds of thousands
of dollars right there. And I must have driven
past that hundreds of times and just thought, it's a
cult. I ran into a friend the other day. He's like, oh, yeah. That thing. I thought it was a wanted
poster or something. So that's all I knew of "The
Room" for years and years. And then four
years ago, the book came out that was written
by one of the other actors, Greg Sestero, who my
brother plays in the movie, and this really great
journalist Tom Bissell. And I was just blown away. I love Hollywood stories,
and this was unlike any other just because it was so
bizzaro on the surface. But at the same time,
it was the story of anyone with a dream,
the story of, I'm sure, the Sergey story. I mean, the passion behind it. I'm sure they were, at one
point, people were like, what? Google? Why is that thing? You know what I mean? And here he was, like
anyone with a dream. And he made it-- albeit, very
ironically, but it still had sort of the underpinnings
of a kind of Hollywood success story. KEVIN VLK: Yeah. And it was interesting
watching the movie, and then coming out of
it and thinking about. It's like he came
into it thinking, this is going to be the
best movie ever made. But it was the worst movie,
which made it the best movie. And then you're
making a movie that's a phenomenal film about
a terrible film that's a really good film. Like, it's very confusing how
it kind of a all comes together. It kind of blows your mind. JAMES FRANCO: Seth would
say, yeah, very James Franco. KEVIN VLK: I think that
what makes it great. JAMES FRANCO: And I'm the only
one that came to "The Room" through the book. That's also very James Franco. But yes, it was bizarre. We were talking about
it over the past month. We couldn't come up with
another example of a movie where the director
of the movie was acting in it playing a director
who's acting in his own movie, and then sort of
stayed in character while he was directing. KEVIN VLK: That was
my next question. So you did stay in character
while you were directing. JAMES FRANCO: Yes, but
there's this great documentary out now on Netflix
called "Jim and Andy." And it's Jim Carrey when he
was playing Andy Kaufman. And it's an interview
from recently with Jim. But it's also footage
from 20 years ago when he was doing the movie. And he goes so far into Andy
Kaufman and his alter ego, Tony Clifton, that Jim disappears. And Milos Forman, one of
the greatest directors ever, who did "Cuckoo's
Nest" and "Amadeus," is, like, cowed by this Tony
Clifton character who's, like, really gruff, kind of
lounge singer type. And it's like you
can't talk to Jim. Like, you see people
like, hey, Jim. That was great today. And he's like, no, no, no. I'm Andy. I'm Andy. Mean And going so far that, like,
an ambulance was called and-- just, like, it's
all this stuff going on behind the scenes
that doesn't even make it into "Man on the Moon." It's as if he was doing all this
stuff for this documentary 20 years later. Like, I didn't do that. KEVIN VLK: You didn't do that. JAMES FRANCO: You
know what I mean? I didn't-- KEVIN VLK: You were in
character [INAUDIBLE].. JAMES FRANCO: I
directed as James. Is was just filtered
through the funny voice and all the prosthetics. But Tommy's
direction was absurd. Like, we read it-- Greg would tell us when
he was auditioning people, he'd be like, OK. Your sister lesbian,
and she just died. Go. Yay or no or-- that's literally what he said. So I wasn't doing that. You know what I mean? I didn't go that far. It was just sort of the voice. KEVIN VLK: I got you. So can you describe your
first meeting with Tommy? Because I'm sure
that had to be-- JAMES FRANCO: I tried
to give good directions. KEVIN VLK: No, but your
first meeting with Tommy. What was that like? When did you first meet him? So you saw the book, right? You read the book. You were interestd
in "The Room." So then you-- at what
stage did you meet Tommy? JAMES FRANCO: Tommy. Here's the deal-- I've played
I think about eight or nine characters that are
based on real people. They all have their
own requirements. I played James Dean, who
was one of Tommy's heroes. I played Aaron Ralston
in "127 Hours," who got trapped by the
rock and cut his arm off. And those have
different requirements. James Dean, because
he was an actor, people can go to see
his movies and see what he looked like
and moved, how he moved and how he sounded. The same with Tommy, right? But with Aaron Ralston,
that's not the case. Yeah, you can go
online and look him up. But the priority with that
character, with Aaron Ralston, was capturing an
authentic experience to take the audience on a ride
of really going through that. With James Dean and Tommy,
half of the preparation is getting down all the
physical behavior and all that, and then trying to sort of dig
up what's going on underneath. Now, Tommy's a particular
kind of mystery where he holds onto this facade. It's a very
thinly-veiled facade, where (ACCENT) you
sound like this, and he say he from New Orleans. And like, nobody believes him. Last night, I was on "Jimmy
Kimmel" with Tommy, which was-- the universe should have just
exploded right there, the fact that he was on there. But he strangely,
for the first time, maybe, in his entire
life, admitted-- and he just tried to slip it. My brain was exploding. Jimmy was like, where
are you from, Tommy? And he was like, (ACCENT)
well, I came from Europe, and then I go to New Orleans. And I was like, wait, what? You're admitting it? And KEVIN VLK: And you'd never
heard that before that. JAMES FRANCO: Oh, he
never would say that! No. He had written reviews. Not only did he say
when the movie came out, Tennessee Williams level drama. He wrote these
fake reviews from, like, 90210 Beverly Hills
film review or whatever, like, (ACCENT) Tommy was
all the raging Cajun. Delivers a powerful
thriller or something. And so no, he had never said
anything like that before. Anyway, I had to kind of get
underneath and figure out some of what-- maybe I could understand,
OK, he's from Eastern Europe. And I could get
some of that stuff. I didn't need that from Tommy. But I couldn't go to
Tommy now and ask him, what was motivating you when
you were making "The Room"? Because he is the master
rewriter of history. And now he claims that
he intended "The Room" to be a comedy. And in fact, he was incredibly
sincere when he made it, right? So he says about "The
Room" now, (ACCENT) the room is safe place. You can laugh. You can cry. Do whatever you like. Just don't hurt yourself. You know? So in that way, he
can still take credit for it being a comedy,
but also that (ACCENT) he's the greatest
director around. So I couldn't go
to him as a source. But what I had was he would
drive around in his car. And I know he was in his car
because I have the recordings. And I can hear him doing the
turn signal and everything. And he would talk to himself. This is the '90s, so it was
like a mini tape recorder. He would just talk to himself
about all of his feelings, about acting classes
and being mistreated by an acting teacher. And it was amazing. It was like the guy's
journal, audio book version. You know what I mean? And I could see how he would
pump himself up for "The Room." There was one nugget
in particular-- like, he'd be like, (ACCENT) oh,
this acting teacher, he don't-- oh, he treat me, like, different
than all the other students. And whatever, he want me to do-- he told me to do
scene in French. Why he say that? And then one time,
he says on there-- and Tommy knows
I have the tapes. He calls 'em (ACCENT)
the secret tapes, James. I know you have secret tapes. And he's like, (ACCENT) yeah,
and I say to myself, Pierre. And he called himself Pierre. And then on the tape,
as if somebody else was gonna listen
to him someday-- this is like 20
years ago, five years before he made "The Room." (ACCENT) So I say
to myself, Pierre. And then he goes,
(ACCENT) yeah, whatever. Sometimes I call myself Pierre. And then he goes, (ACCENT)
teacher treat me different. But you know what? I think he just sense my
power, and he intimidated. And so he do that. Whatever. I show him. Maybe I do my own movie,
or maybe I start rock band and I make rock
album or something. KEVIN VLK: One or
the other, yeah. JAMES FRANCO: Yeah, exactly. And you can tell from the way
he dresses, like pirate vampire, like Alice Cooper
roadie or something. But there, right
there, it was like that is the story of The
Room" in a nutshell, where it was like people telling
him he's not gonna make it. People telling him he's no good. And then turning around,
pumping himself up, and saying, I will show them. And he sort of did. KEVIN VLK: Well, he
capitalized on it. It could have gone on of
two directions, right? JAMES FRANCO: But
what's so bizarre is-- I mean, I shouldn't talk
about him because he's-- there are a lot of weird people
that came out of "The Room." But other people have come-- like, when "The Room" became
a cult hit for being so bad, other people came
out of the woodwork and tried to take
credit for it and like, no, I'm the director
of "The Room." No, I'm the director! And it's like, this
isn't "The Godfather." You know what I mean? KEVIN VLK: Only this
could come from Tommy. JAMES FRANCO: Yeah, exactly. KEVIN VLK: So you
have these tapes. You have the book. You have access to,
obviously, him and Greg. When you're talking
to them and you're starting to develop
the film, and you're starting to write it and
produce it and come up with a-- how much of it
is, like, embellishment? How much of it was-- like, when you're trying
to craft the story, you obviously have to make
it into a two-hour film. JAMES FRANCO: Yeah. We always knew from
the beginning-- I didn't tell you
I'm meeting Tommy. But I can tell you
that story in a second. But basically, I didn't
go to him until later. I'll get to your question. But he did have a
scene in the film. And if you wait till the end
of the credits, it's in there. That was in his contract. That was like the big thing. KEVIN VLK: Your Marvel
post-credit [INAUDIBLE] JAMES FRANCO: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. But the book had
this amazing tone where what could have
been a series of just anecdotes about how ridiculous
the making of that movie was, turned out to be a very
moving story about dreamers, as I was saying. And so that was
always our approach. And so we didn't
hire comedy writers. We hired Scott Neustadter
and Mike Weber, who had done "500
Days of Summer" "The Fault in Our Stars"
and just basically were so good at capturing
relationships and also adapting books. They were really good at that. And we were lucky to get them. "Fault of Our Stars" had just
beat the Tom Cruise movie at the box office that weekend. And they were,
like, hot as hell. But they really liked the story. So that's sort of
where it started. And that was always
our approach. And we always, from all the
script readings and rewrites and everything, we
always hammered home, we need to create
sympathetic characters. This needs to be about
the relationship. This needs to be
a universal story, even though Tommy is unlike
any other human that's ever existed. KEVIN VLK: Well, you
guys balanced it so well. People who saw the
film, you'll see-- and I think Mel Brooks
had said something when he was making
"Young Frankenstein." JAMES FRANCO: I just watched
that on the plane here. KEVIN VLK: It's so
phenomenal, isn't it? JAMES FRANCO: Yeah. KEVIN VLK: I love-- it's one of my favorite films. And I love Mel Brooks. And one of the things
he said, he goes, if you're going to
parody something, are you going to make something
kind of behind the scenes, you really have to-- and
this isn't a direct quote, but this is kind of the
essence of what he was saying, was you really have to be
passionate about the subject. And you have to be-- you don't want to
make fun of it. You just want to
really find the story. And because he didn't make fun
of of the Frankenstein story. He was parodying it, but he
really, really cared about it. Right? And he was able to make and
find the heart there and stuff. And that's kind of what you did. JAMES FRANCO: In a way. I mean, yeah. I mean, we can talk about
"Young Frankenstein." Gene Wilder is so amazing. I think also, Gene is
a huge part of that because he's got this
weird uncanniness about him where you just want to
laugh, but he's also taking it so seriously. And he's a little scary,
too, and that kind of thing. And yeah, with Tommy,
we didn't embellish. We even considered putting
footage of the real Tommy at the beginning of the
film because anybody that hadn't seen "The Room"
might see me come on screen and be like, yeah, Franco. Wow, big swing there, bro. A little over the top. KEVIN VLK: But tell 'em
how you opened the film. Because how you opened the
film, I though, was really, really smart for people who
have not seen "The Room." JAMES FRANCO: With the
talking heads, yeah. Right. KEVIN VLK: It was like JJ
Abrams and a whole bunch of-- JAMES FRANCO: Yeah,
Keegan-Michael Key and Danny McBride and a lot of real actors
talking about their experience of watching "The Room." And that was a way to sort
of say, hey, this is real. Real people like this. And yeah, it's funny. Having JJ Abrams in
there was like the-- because it was a lot of
comedians that actually are huge fans of "The Room." But then having JJ
Abrams in there-- we always know when
it gets to that moment if the audience is with us
because they're like, oh, my god. JJ Abrams is talking
about this thing. And it's amazing, the
people that love-- like Lin-Manuel Miranda started
emailing me, like, oh, bro. I can't wait for your movie. I love "The Room." We were gonna have
him at the beginning. But he was shooting
"Mary Poppins" or something in London. So we didn't. KEVIN VLK: As a
director, what did you learn from previous directing
experiences and from this that you learned, that
you took to this film, that you learned on
this film that you'll take to your next film? JAMES FRANCO: Right. Good. KEVIN VLK: Sorry. JAMES FRANCO: Got it. I got it. KEVIN VLK: What have you
learned as a director? JAMES FRANCO: I did
learn a lot on this film. These past two years, working
on this and on the HBO show, "The Deuce," have
been incredible learning experiences for me. And I'll say it's a very simple
thing and can be applied to, I think, any profession,
and especially creative professions. But I basically had producers
on both of those films that were better than I was
or smarter than I was or more experienced in a certain kind
of filmmaking or television producing than I was. And in David Simon, I had-- I guess you could say
a certifiable genius. He's a MacArthur Award winner. And having his writing,
but also guidance and his team and
everybody on that just made me incredibly responsible. I've directed a lot, in a lot
of indie little weird things, and some more
successful than others. But I think that was my,
in a way, apprenticeship. I don't think I would have
been able to direct for HBO if I didn't kind of
put that grind in. But then melding that experience
with a very smart and talented producer on both
films really helped. And that was basically
the big lesson for me-- work with people
that are better than I am. And I'll continue to do that. And I try to do that kind of
pay-it-forward thing, too. I mean, it was one of
the reasons I taught, was to sort of give
opportunities back that I had been given to people. KEVIN VLK: Yeah. Great. AUDIENCE: I wonder
whether art is defined by the artist or the audience? And I'd love to know your
thoughts as an artist if, for example, your movie
or anything you created would be interpreted
differently by the audience? JAMES FRANCO: Yeah. If something I-- right-- was interpreted differently
than I intended? Yeah, exactly. I mean, there were
two main aspects of this bizarre story
or history of "The Room" that really interested us-- A, what I talked
about, where it was a strangely inspirational
story of dreamers following their dream. But the second half is sort
of what you're talking about, where "The Room" is not good
by any conventional standards. The acting's not good. The writing's not good. It's as if a alien
from another planet came down and tried
to depict human life. It's there, but everything's
always just off. And on the other
hand, it's still playing 14 and a
half years later to sold-out audiences in
almost every major city. I mean, I was just in London. People love it in London. It plays in Paris and Tokyo. So there's undeniably
something that people are getting from this movie. They keep coming back to it. And it's not just-- I believe that it's not just
the bizarre creative decisions at every turn, that there's
something underneath it. And I think it's
partly Tommy's passion. I think the magic
sauce is that Tommy put his heart and soul into it. Now, whether it's that it makes
us feel a little superior, that somebody tried
so hard and fell on his face, and sort of
that concept of comedy, of why do we laugh at somebody
that slips on the banana peel? Well, because it's not us. On the other hand, when I
go to "The Room" screenings, and especially
when Tommy's there, it's not a cruel atmosphere. It's a communal atmosphere. And Tommy is sort
of a part of that. He's the weird
magician that kind of gives permission
for the laughter by putting on this
very affable arrogance so that we can kind of laugh. I don't know whether he's aware
of what he's doing or not. But I think that's
one of the keys to it. And anyway, I think
"The Room" does sort of challenge conventional
criteria of success and artistic success,
and that in a way, Tommy is an outsider
artist, I guess. And I've watched "The
Room" as much or more than any other movie in my life. And so there's value there. There's something there. And if art is a way to
reflect on ourselves and show us ourselves and
all that, I think "The Room" really does do that, albeit in
an upside-down cracked mirror that's like a funhouse mirror. But it still does that. Yeah. AUDIENCE: Thank you. KEVIN VLK: And we
can only do two more. Sorry, guys. AUDIENCE: So what
was it like acting in a movie with your brother? And you have any favorite
moments from this movie? with him? JAMES FRANCO: My brother
is the best, Dave Franco. He's seven years
younger than I am. We grew up in Palo
Alto together. I went out to Hollywood
to be an actor first, and then he came out. And when he got there, we
lived together for a while. He went to USC, and then
he's, like, three credits short of graduating. And he lived with me, and
then seduced my two cats and stole them away. Anyway, that's
not your question. He for a while, for
about seven years, wanted to get out
from my shadow. And I guess a lot
of people asked him, what's it like being
James Franco's brother? And that's what he'd
constantly hear. And so he wouldn't
act with me a lot. We did some Funny or
Die videos, in fact, in that apartment that
we lived in together, where I played a
ridiculous acting coach, and he played my student. And when I read
the book, that was kind of the seed for the
relationship in "The Disaster Artist." And I knew just from
making those videos that we had the right
dynamic, in addition to having our brotherly
connection that would be right for Greg and Tommy. We also had done those
videos, And I thought, yeah, that's basically Tommy
and Greg, in a way. Anyway, I've asked him
to do other movies, and he said no, sometimes
because he, again, didn't want to be considered
James Franco's little brother, but other times, I
guess, because my movies were too bizarre. And so finally, I read
that book, and I was like, this is the one. He cannot say no to this one. And he was smart
enough to say yes. And it was great. I mean, it was incredible. On the other hand,
he and I have not had a fight in
probably 20 years. So we get along really well. And he's younger than I
am, but he's pretty wise. And I defer to him a lot. So it works out. AUDIENCE: Thank you. KEVIN VLK: We should
say-- a quick follow-up to that-- you recreated,
like, 26 minutes, right? Of "The Room"? JAMES FRANCO: Yes. We recreated scenes
in our movie. And that kind of will
connect to the Tommy scene because we have a premiere
scene in our film. And we needed footage
to go up on the screen while our characters
are watching. And so we always knew
we had to recreate some scenes from "The Room." We threw ourselves into that. That was one of the
most fun parts of it. And everybody, all
the department heads, threw themselves into it. The cinematographer,
Brandon Trost, spent more time recreating
the bad lighting than he did doing his good lighting. And the costume designer,
Brenda Abbandandolo, found all the perfect
materials for the costumes. And Chris Spellman,
production designer, studied "The Room" and the
behind-the-scenes of "The Room" and got those sets
exactly and all that. And then the actors would
watch it, like, shot by shot and mimic every movement. And Seth Rogen and I actually
had practiced unintentionally. We had done a recreation of
Kanye West's "Bound 2" video years before. And we realized on that, oh. We just thought, oh, we'll
just do, like, a minute of it. And then we're like, oh, wait. We can do this whole thing. It's just a motorcycle
and a green screen. We can do this whole
thing, and then started really getting into it. So we kind of had practice. And so it was sort
of our dessert. We would shoot
our regular scenes in the main part of the day. And then if we
got done early, it was like, oh, we could do more
of "The Room" recreations. Like, oh, which ones
do we want to do now? "Oh, you're tearing me
apart, Lisa," or whatever. And so we did a ton of them. And then we were so proud of
how close we got it, we're like, oh, we should do a
side-by-side in the credits. KEVIN VLK: That's phenomenal. JAMES FRANCO: That wasn't
in the original plan. And so we hadn't negotiated
for Tommy's "Room" footage, the actual "Room" footage. And so we had shot
this scene with Tommy because it was in his contract. He kept insisting that
it be opposite me. And I tried to explain, Tommy,
it's not gonna make sense. I'm playing you. What I couldn't say to
him was, like, Tommy, I know you can't play
anything other than yourself. He'd drawn on-- he
sent me this photograph three days before he shot. And it was like glasses. He was in LensCrafters. I saw the glasses behind. He's like, (ACCENT) what you
think of glasses for character? I'm like, they're great, man. Nobody will know it's you. And then he had drawn on a
mustache in Bic pen and said, (ACCENT) if you like
mustache, I draw it on better when we shoot. I'm like, dude, I'll
give you a fake mustache. So he showed up. We did that scene. And then we're like, all right. Let's get that out of there. But then when we
were negotiating for "The Room" footage,
he's like, (ACCENT) well, how my scene? And somebody told him
it's not in there. And he's like, (ACCENT)
well, you want footage, then you have to put
my scene in the movie. And we're like, no. And then we were
like, oh, it'll be perfect at the
end of the credits because it won't be
part of the main thing. It'll be this weird
David Lynch play thing. And he still says to me-- he saw it for the
first time at South by Southwest, and then Toronto. And every time, he'd
be like, (ACCENT) yeah, I think my scene should
be a little earlier. I'm like, it's good. It's good, Tommy. KEVIN VLK: It's good Leave it. Perfect. Real quick. I'm sorry. That was a horrible tangent. AUDIENCE: Hey, James. So in 2013, you wrote this
really great book review of "The Disaster Artist." JAMES FRANCO: Yes, yes. AUDIENCE: And in it,
you describe Tommy as being sort of part
dreamer, part Ed Wood, and part ageless vampire. But you also talked
about how you resonated with his story of struggling
to have this creative vision and make it come
through to fruition. Could you talk a little bit more
about similarities between you and Tommy's journey? JAMES FRANCO: Totally. And at the end of the article,
I said, Tommy Wiseau c'est moi. And in the article, I said-- and I wrote it before I even
had the rights to the book. I just loved the book so much. And I said, I totally respect
Tommy because how many thousands or millions of people
have come to Hollywood to make it, and they don't? It's a really hard business. And Tommy got his movie
made against all the odds. And I respect him
so much for that. On the other hand,
he went to work in what I consider a
collaborative medium, and he did not know
how to collaborate. Now, look, I totally
understand it. That guy was told
no his whole life. I mean, probably even
before the movie business. I'm sure that he just was
just rejected his whole life, I mean, especially if he
looks like a pirate mixed with a vampire, and he
says, (ACCENT) well, I'm the next James Dean. Most people are going to
be like, uh, no, you ain't. And so he just learned through
the experience of rejection that the only person
he could ever depend on was himself and maybe
his friend Greg. And so when he got
on set, he didn't know how to shut that
off, that self-will. And so he did make a
disaster of a movie, or he didn't make the
movie that he intended. On the other hand, as we know,
then the whole second chapter of his saga is that it
became this ironic success. And so in fact, he could never-- he never hit a wall. He's just in some weird
trajectory into Tommy-- he talks about Tommy's planet. He is on Tommy's planet
because he never hit a wall. You know, a normal artist
would make something. And if he made all
the wrong decisions, it wouldn't be what he intended. And then he'd be like, oh, man. I didn't make what I wanted. I guess I should do it
differently next time. Tommy never got that because
it became this weird success. Anyway, when I
wrote the review, I thought, OK, I can
relate to Tommy's drive and wanting to get
something done. But I like to consider myself
a collaborative person. And I was, even up till
these past couple of years, to a certain extent. But in other ways, I too was
very self-willed and blind to how I was proceeding. And it's funny, I can Google
my name, if I wanted to. I had to stop googling
my name years ago, about five years ago. That's a thing, by the way. Don't google-- you're
addicted to googling yourself. I've been off it
about five years now. But I could go do it and
get a lot of headlines like what's James
Franco doing now? Oh, what's he doing now? And I should have heard some
sort of message a while ago. I did hear it finally. And it was like,
all right, dude. Just slow down. Listen to the people
around you that are smart and know how to do this
thing in a different way. And so I guess what
I learned later, when I said Tommy
Wiseau c'est moi, he was c'est moi
in a lot more ways than I had liked to
look at or admit. KEVIN VLK: Great. Thank you. So we need to wrap. But in 10 seconds, how
would Tommy explain Google? JAMES FRANCO: Google. You know what he'd
say in the movie? He's say-- in "The Room,
he's like, (ACCENT) you know, the computer business, it's very
competitive if you didn't know. Or something like that, yeah. If you didn't know. He would break in by
(ACCENT) computer business very competitive. Lisa might say it. But anyway, he wrote it. KEVIN VLK: Got you. OK, so "Disaster Artist"
is out December 1 limitedly and December 8 widely. So thank you so
much for being here. JAMES FRANCO: All right. Thank you. [APPLAUSE]
