#it’s so uniquely Tommy Wiseau no one else could have made it

[ink-the-artist]

Dude some of those popular so-bad-its-good movies are unironically outsider art and I don’t think they get enough appreciation for that

[evco-productions]

Does “So Bad It’s Good” REALLY Exist? (Repost from Quora)

I like a lot of different movies for a lot of different reasons. But I’ve never once watched a movie and said to myself, “That was freaking awful! I wanna watch it again!”

For years, I’ve been fascinated with the cult followings of movies like The Room and Troll 2, but I wouldn’t say I’ve been fascinated with them in a good way. More in a “what the hell are these people thinking?” way.

Let’s start with Troll 2. This is not a movie I’ve seen, but I’ve seen its legacy through the lens of the 2009 documentary Best Worst Movie.

This documentary depicts a small but very enthusiastic fanbase behind an objectively terrible movie (if there ever was one, this is it). In several scenes of this documentary, we see a group of Troll 2 fans gather to watch and celebrate the movie. While a documentary could feasibly be edited to give its audience false ideas, what I saw in these scenes was a fanbase that seemed to have no idea they liked a bad movie. They talked as if they truly, sincerely believed the movie was a masterpiece and its leading man a god.

However, I’m not convinced that anyone is quite that stupid. The fans’ unbridled enthusiasm was a little too over the top to be believable, and the documentary left me thinking that these people are so desperate to feel their place in the world is unique that they are willing to spend their lives heaping praise onto an artistic travesty just so they can say, “I’m not like other guys/girls. I like Troll 2.”

In contrast to this impression, the people who enjoy Tommy Wiseau’s The Room seem to fully understand and acknowledge that it’s a piece of literal garbage (as in: every existing copy of this movie belongs in a dumpster). But they still adore it, or at least behave as though they do, to the point that someone thought it would be a worthwhile endeavor to create a movie about the making of The Room, starring A-list actors, no less! Like Best Worst Movie, I felt The Disaster Artist toed the line between telling a strange story and celebrating a miserable failure.

Can a movie actually be “so bad it’s good”? How can such a thing exist?

It’s not that I don’t want art to be subjective, but if the collective We cannot agree on a few basic rules of filmmaking, the whole industry had might as well crumble. There must be a general understanding of what’s good and bad within the process of creating a movie or else nothing will make any sense. You can’t add two and two and get any number you want. If you think otherwise, then you’re an agent of chaos, a dog chasing cars.

I’ve never wanted to believe a movie can be so bad it’s good. I think it’s a terrible thing that there is some poor indie filmmaker out there in the world, making good movies with the budget he or she has and getting no recognition, while Tommy Wiseau is a small but notable part of contemporary pop culture. He does not deserve that position, even ironically, because his movie was not made with any sense of irony. The Room is no Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! or The VelociPastor. It wasn’t made to be bad on purpose. Wiseau truly believed he was making a work of genius, and for that, he should be ashamed.

This is the same reason I don’t find anything funny about The Room, and to a lesser extent, Troll 2. The fact that these movies are accidentally cringeworthy isn’t funny to me, it’s just sad. They were made by people who love movies—or at least like movies enough to try their hand in making one—and those people turned out to have no talent. It’s not funny to laugh at them for that, it’s just meanspirited. And it’s not funny to cement The Room into pop culture when some other, better movie that actually deserves a spot in our collective memory remains undiscovered.

But unlike the “rule about rules” which states that We must agree on some objective standard of quality when it comes to movies, there is no rule like that for humor. There’s pretty much no way to determine that one thing is objectively funny where something else isn’t, and that’s why I have to relent in spite of myself.

Who am I to say someone can’t find The Room funny? If you call The Room “so bad it’s good,” and by that mean “so bad it’s funny,” I cannot argue. That makes sense for you. The only way I could argue would be if you thought it was somehow actually good, which case you’d just be plain wrong. So wrong, in fact, that I wouldn’t even feel the need to support my claim that you’re wrong with examples of the poor filmmaking techniques on display in Wiseau’s little gem.

While I’ve messed around with a camera and made a handful of knowingly bad skits myself, I’ve never had the aspirations to get serious and try to make a real, unironic movie. If one day I did, and that movie were to join the ranks of The Room and Troll 2 as “so bad it’s good,” would I accept the label and pretend I never wrote this entry? Almost certainly, but I think there would always be a small part of me that would nag at the larger me forever, acting as a constant reminder that I was not a successful artist with a loving fanbase, but a failed artist with a foolish fanbase.

Let’s just hope that day never comes. Knock on wood.

[agentnico]

The Disaster Artist (2017) Review

Oh hi, Tumblr!

Plot: When Greg Sestero, an aspiring film actor, meets the weird and mysterious Tommy Wiseau in an acting class, they form a unique friendship and travel to Hollywood to make their dreams come true.

So there is this film that exists which goes by the name ‘The Room’. No, I’m not talking about ‘Room’, the Oscar nominated Brie Larson starring movie, but the 2003 movie that was written, produced and directed by this vampire-like guy named Tommy Wiseau. Oh, and yes, he also stars in that movie! To summarise that film in a nutshell, its known as one of the worst movies ever made, however its not like any other bad movie. With a bad movie, you watch it, have a terrible time and then never watch or think about it ever again. With ‘The Room’, it’s a special kind of deal. Its bad, don’t get me wrong, there are so many wrong things about it, yet I have rewatched that movie so many times, and had a great time doing so every single time. It’s just strangely entertaining. ‘The Room’ is the definition of a movie that is so bad that it is actually good. Hilarious dialogue, so many weird directorial choices, endless pictures of spoons (for some reason!), characters so bad that they become so memorable and some of the most quotable lines in cinema history. “You are tearing me apart, Lisa!” So if you haven’t seen ‘The Room’, watch it. Get some friends together and watch it, and you’ll have one hell of a night! Also watch it for the sake of ‘The Disaster Artist’, as even though ‘The Disaster Artist’ stands well on its own, watching it is a lot more enjoyable if you have experienced ‘The Room’ beforehand, trust me on that one. Anyways, let’s actually talk about ‘The Disaster Artist’, or else I’m going to end up going on an endless tangent of discussion about ‘The Room’!

So ‘The Disaster Artist’ is a behind-the-scenes look on the making of ‘The Room’, more specifically about these two friends, Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero, who move to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams of becoming actors, and when after a lot of effort fortune doesn’t go their way, they decide to make their own little movie, ‘The Room’, however the results of that film were nothing that they could have possibly imagined. And being that ‘The Disaster Artist’ is brought to us from the likes of James Franco and Seth Rogen, who are known for making stoner comedies, it was obvious that this film was going to be a comedy at least partially, and boy is it funny! This film is easily one of my favourite comedies this year alongside ‘The Death of Stalin’, as the laughs are endless, and it is was really rare for their to be a joke pop up that wasn’t in some way entertaining. The way ‘The Disaster Artist’ infused comedy was through the was Tommy Wiseau acts around others, how he is different from everyone else, however at the same time the film celebrates the individuality and uniqueness of every person, including Wiseau, and how that in the end can work for their benefit. And also the film has a lot of fun re-imagining the iconic scenes from ‘The Room’ with all these new actors, which again is a cause for much laughter. However even though I really appreciated the comedic moments, it was the deeper emotional moments that I connected with more. This film is mainly about two things: friendship and fighting for your dreams. The friendship between Wiseau and Sestero is very interesting to unravel, whilst the whole idea of achieving and not giving up on your dreams is a lesson that anyone can learn, as if you never give up, you will get somewhere, maybe not the way you wanted it to, but like with Wiseau, Sestero and ‘The Room’, in an unexpected way that still works out very well. And when the film focuses on these moments, this is where it truly shines, and that is why I also have a slight complaint, as I feel like the film should have delved a bit more deeper into the emotional side of things. The emotion is there, but I feel like there definitely was space for more. That is one of my two slight issues with this film, however I’d like to emphasise that both this and the point I will discuss later didn’t detract much from my enjoyment of this film. I still very much loved it, but I also felt like I’d very much need to address these minor issues.

The cast assembled for this film is literally superb. Both James Franco and Dave Franco fit perfectly into the roles of Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero, and since these two actors are brothers in real life, their on-screen friendship felt even more real. Also, Franco nails the Wiseau accent, whilst at the same time adding his own little spin on it. All the people playing the cast members of ‘The Room’ are some of the best casting of the year. Ari Graynor was very accurate as ‘Lisa’, Jacki Weaver as ‘Claudette’ was very funny, constantly asking if the infamous “I have breast cancer!” line will have any follow up later in the story, Josh Hutcherson is hysterical as the creepy ‘Denny’, and Zac Efron is unrecognisable as the drug dealer ‘Chris-R’. Then the behind-the-scenes of ‘The Room’ crew all did great, however special mentions to Seth Rogen and Paul Scheer as the script supervisor and director of photography, both of which have a superbly done confrontational scene with Franco’s Wiseau. And Jason Mantzoukas has a great little cameo in the film too. Now we come to my second negative for the film, with Alison Brie as the weak-link of the cast, well more her character rather than her, since Brie does good with what she is given, however her character felt very lackluster and wasn’t given much to do, whilst I think with her being Sestero’s girlfriend, there was room (get it?) for more confrontation with Wiseau, since the movie hints at this, but never goes all the way, which I think was a missed opportunity.

As a whole, ‘The Disaster Artist’ is a very well done film, with some surprisingly great cinematography work (probably the biggest surprise of the whole film for me), a great script from screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber that adapted Sestero’s book, solid comedy with lots of one-liners (though none as memorable as those from ‘The Room’ itself!), and the emotional parts are done well, though as I said earlier, there was room for more.

Overall score: 8/10

TOP MOVIE QUOTE: “Oh hi, Mark...Oh hi, Mark...Oh hi, Mark......Oh hi, Greg!”

[tortuga-aak]

Dave Franco explains why he's done worrying about being in the shadow of his brother James

Samantha Lee Business Insider, AP

"The Disaster Artist" was the first time Dave Franco and his brother James had a substantial amount of screen time together in a movie.

Franco shared how "in character" as Tommy Wiseau his brother was while directing the movie.

He also revealed how losing 20 pounds to play a role in his upcoming Netflix movie, "6 Balloons," led to some physical and emotional problems.

For most of his career Dave Franco has carefully navigated a path that stayed out of the very large wake left by his brother James. The younger Franco slowly found his niche through building credits doing zany comedies like “21 Jump Street” and “Neighbors.” But when his brother came to him about the two making a movie together about the cult classic “The Room,” it was an offer too good to pass up.

“The Disaster Artist” (opening in limited release on Friday and wider the following week) is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the 2003 low budget movie, “The Room,” which is regarded as one of the worst movies ever made. James directs and also stars as Tommy Wiseau, the bizarre writer-director of “The Room,” while Dave plays Tommy’s best friend and fellow aspiring actor, Greg Sestero, who follows Wiseau on the journey to make “The Room.” Though hilarious at times, the movie’s backbone is the bond the two friends have and it's all pulled off perfectly by the brothers’ performances.

Dave sat down with Business Insider to talk about making this unique buddy comedy with his brother. He also clarified how far James took being "in character" as Wiseau while directing “The Disaster Artist,” and explained what drove him to lose 20 pounds for an upcoming Netflix movie.

Jason Guerrasio: What was it about "The Disaster Artist" that not only made you want to work with your brother but also start a production company with him, Ramona Films?

Dave Franco: When I first started acting I did make a conscious choice to distance myself from him work-wise just because I wanted to paint my own path, not be referred to as James Franco's little brother for the rest of my life. But after a while it just got to the point where I was like "he's my brother and I love him and I respect him," and with “The Disaster Artist” the dynamic between these characters just felt right. I understood these guys. I'm an actor, I understand the struggle of an actor starting out. And I can relate to the idea of how important it is to have an ally and someone who believes in you and encourages you.

In terms of the production company, my brother and I are very drawn toward projects that do feel slightly outside the box. And at the same time are accessible enough that they could draw a slightly wider audience.

Warner Bros

Guerrasio: Starting the production company, did the idea come during production?

Franco: It was during post production when he started to invite me to the edit room. I quickly realized we share a brain and we had this shorthand where we get each other. We really modeled the production around what Seth Rogen has been doing forever. What Judd Apatow does. They create these very collaborative environments where everyone has a say and no one is more powerful that anyone else and the best idea always wins. 

Guerrasio: Did you guys go as far as Seth and Judd go in videotaping the audience's reaction at early screenings to see if a joke didn't land right or something could be tweaked in the edit?

Franco: I don't think they videotaped. And the reason for that is that works best for a full-on comedy. This is very funny at points but in regards to tone it's most similar to something like "Boogie Nights." A bunch of crazy characters in strange circumstances but everyone is playing it as straight as possible and the humor comes from that. During our test screenings we were most concerned if the friendship between Tommy and Greg was playing. That's the core of our story. Because without the friendship it had the potential of just being an extended "SNL" skit. 

Guerrasio: Were you into "The Room" before all of this?

Franco: My brother and I were both pretty late to the game. He actually read Greg Sestero’s book before he even saw "The Room," and he's probably the only person on the planet who did it in that order. But then he reached out to me and said, "If you haven't seen 'The Room' watch it immediately, I think we need to make a movie about it." So at the time I was working in Boston so I watched "The Room" in a hotel room by myself, which is not the right way to watch that movie for the first time. There's so much coming at you need to turn to someone and say, "What the f--- is going on?" So I finished that viewing and just feeling very unsettled, to be honest. But soon after I went to one of the midnight screenings where the audience is throwing stuff at the screen, reciting every line. And I then immediately understood why "The Room" is such a cult movie. Since then I've seen the movie roughly 25 times, which is more than any movie I've seen in existence. [Laughs.]

TPW Films

Guerrasio: I talked to your wife, Alison Brie, for "The Little Hours," and she said you also did the book on tape of Greg's book.

Franco: Yeah. And I would recommend the book on tape for this because it's Greg reading it and he has a great Tommy impersonation. I sat down with Greg a handful of times before we started filming and through production, and one of the things I asked him was during production of "The Room" if he ever thought it had a chance of being a good movie. And he claims that he did not but I don't fully believe him just because as a young actor all you care about is getting on a set. When you're on set you almost have to have this blind optimism and believe that whatever you're working on could be great. Even from the outside everyone can see it's objectively bad. I've been in those scenarios. I've been on set and everything is going smoothly to the point where people were talking about the movie being nominated for awards and I bought into the hype. Then the movie came out and not only was a it not good but it was a full-on piece of sh--. It was probably the worst thing I’ve ever done. It just makes you think about the fact you do anything creative you have to give all of yourself over to the process. There are going to be moments when you question whether or not what you're doing is brilliant or if it's a total disaster.

Guerrasio: Now I'm trying to think back on the movies you've done to figure out which one you think is the worst thing you've ever done.

Franco: [Laughs.]

Guerrasio: Anyway, how did you and James work on the characters? Did you want to rehearse with him before shooting?

Franco: We didn't really rehearse too much beforehand just because his style of filmmaking, like Seth's style, is very loose and improvisational. Yes, we had an incredible script to work off of but we always kept it loose. 

A24

Guerrasio: So going into shooting he gave you no head's up that he would be being in character as Tommy behind the camera as director?

Franco: I don't think he knew. I think he just fell into it and it was just easier to stay in character instead of bouncing back and forth between Tommy and James.

Guerrasio: On the first day was he just James on set?

Franco: No, from day one he was Tommy. There was definitely an adjustment period. He can articulate this better than me, but I do think a huge reason why he did this was because he didn't want to lose the Tommy voice. Yes, he stayed in character while he directed but that didn't mean he adopted Tommy's personality. He was still James but he was doing the Tommy voice. He wasn't a dictator on set. 

Guerrasio: Have you ever gotten into a role in your career where you're so into it it takes a while to snap out of it? 

Franco: I’ve never been the type of actor who comes home at the end of the day and goes, "I can't get rid of my part." But, I have a movie coming out early next year for Netflix called "6 Balloons" where I played a heroin addict and so I lost 20 pounds. 

Guerrasio: For you, that's kind of scary.

Franco: Yeah, I'm not a big guy. So when you lose that much weight it depresses you and I was full-on depressed. I remember at one point my wife saying, "You're not yourself, you're not fun to be around." And I was like, "I'm f---ing starving! What do you want from me?" But on set I also wasn't fun to be around. I wasn't really interacting with anyone. I was in the corner by myself, miserable. That was the most I ever got deep into a character. I'm glad I did it. It was the hardest role I've ever done and it scared the hell out of me but I think that's a good thing as an actor. To go into something that makes you uncomfortable.

Rich Fury/Getty

Guerrasio: Do you feel you could ever do that again?

Franco: Not for a long time. I almost really f---ed up my health. Not to get too dark, I was running all day every day to lose weight and I ended up messing up my knee to the point that when we finished production I had to go to physical therapy for a couple of months.

Guerrasio: I mean, we've heard the stories from Robert De Niro to Christian Bale, of the losing and gaining of weight for roles. I would think for every actor there’s a wonder if you can take it to that limit. 

Franco: I know. And it was very rewarding but I don't need to transform my body like that for a long time. While I was in it I do remember looking at a lot of pictures of Christian Bale throughout his career, he's losing weight or gaining weight, so that was inspiring. [Laughs.] "If he can do this 15 times I can do it once."

Guerrasio: So, back to "The Disaster Artist," what was Tommy and Greg's reaction to the movie when they first saw it?

Franco: They saw an early screening, even before the South by Southwest work-in-progress. We were more nervous about Tommy's reaction than Greg's. They both loved it but after Greg saw it he was so taken by it that he went off and for the next four days wrote an entire script for him and Tommy to star in. So since then they've filmed this new project, called "Best F(r)iends," and little did we know that "The Disaster Artist" is part two of "The Room" trilogy. [Laughs.] 

Guerrasio: Wow. So what's going forward for the production company? Are you going to produce? Direct?

Franco: I can't get into many details but all the projects are all over the place in genre and size of budget. But the unifying aspect of all of them is they do feel unique. I'm having so much fun. As much as I love acting and I hope to be doing it for a long time, it almost feels more natural for me to be a producer. I came into all of this because I'm a fan of movies and I wanted to find any way I could to be a part of it all. I happened to take the acting route but it could have been a million different ways in. Now that I'm producing it's just really fun for me to work with people that I really admire and put people together who I think will work well together. Just having a little more control.

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[tortuga-aak]

Dave Franco explains why he's done worrying about being in the shadow of his brother James

Samantha Lee Business Insider, AP

"The Disaster Artist" was the first time Dave Franco and his brother James had a substantial amount of screen time together in a movie.

Franco shared how "in character" as Tommy Wiseau his brother was while directing the movie.

He also revealed how losing 20 pounds to play a role in his upcoming Netflix movie, "6 Balloons," led to some physical and emotional problems.

For most of his career Dave Franco has carefully navigated a path that stayed out of the very large wake left by his brother James. The younger Franco slowly found his niche through building credits doing zany comedies like “21 Jump Street” and “Neighbors.” But when his brother came to him about the two making a movie together about the cult classic “The Room,” it was an offer too good to pass up.

“The Disaster Artist” (opening in limited release on Friday and wider the following week) is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the 2003 low budget movie, “The Room,” which is regarded as one of the worst movie ever made. James directs and also stars as Tommy Wiseau, the bizarre writer-director of “The Room,” while Dave plays Tommy’s best friend and fellow aspiring actor, Greg Sestero, who follows Wiseau on the journey to make “The Room.” Though hilarious at times, the movie’s backbone is the bond the two friends have and it's all pulled off perfectly by the brothers’ performances.

Dave sat down with Business Insider to talk about making this unique buddy comedy with his brother. He also clarified how far James took being "in character" as Wiseau while directing “The Disaster Artist,” and explained what drove him to lose 20 pounds for an upcoming Netflix movie.

Jason Guerrasio: What was it about "The Disaster Artist" that not only made you want to work with your brother but also start a production company with him, Ramona Films?

Dave Franco: When I first started acting I did make a conscious choice to distance myself from him work-wise just because I wanted to paint my own path, not be referred to as James Franco's little brother for the rest of my life. But after a while it just got to the point where I was like "he's my brother and I love him and I respect him," and with “The Disaster Artist” the dynamic between these characters just felt right. I understood these guys. I'm an actor, I understand the struggle of an actor starting out. And I can relate to the idea of how important it is to have an ally and someone who believes in you and encourages you.

In terms of the production company, my brother and I are very drawn toward projects that do feel slightly outside the box. And at the same time are accessible enough that they could draw a slightly wider audience.

Warner Bros

Guerrasio: Starting the production company, did the idea come during production?

Franco: It was during post production when he started to invite me to the edit room. I quickly realized we share a brain and we had this shorthand where we get each other. We really modeled the production around what Seth Rogen has been doing forever. What Judd Apatow does. They create these very collaborative environments where everyone has a say and no one is more powerful that anyone else and the best idea always wins. 

Guerrasio: Did you guys go as far as Seth and Judd go in videotaping the audience's reaction at early screenings to see if a joke didn't land right or something could be tweaked in the edit?

Franco: I don't think they videotaped. And the reason for that is that works best for a full-on comedy. This is very funny at points but in regards to tone it's most similar to something like "Boogie Nights." A bunch of crazy characters in strange circumstances but everyone is playing it as straight as possible and the humor comes from that. During our test screenings we were most concerned if the friendship between Tommy and Greg was playing. That's the core of our story. Because without the friendship it had the potential of just being an extended "SNL" skit. 

Guerrasio: Were you into "The Room" before all of this?

Franco: My brother and I were both pretty late to the game. He actually read Greg Sestero’s book before he even saw "The Room," and he's probably the only person on the planet who did it in that order. But then he reached out to me and said, "If you haven't seen 'The Room' watch it immediately, I think we need to make a movie about it." So at the time I was working in Boston so I watched "The Room" in a hotel room by myself, which is not the right way to watch that movie for the first time. There's so much coming at you need to turn to someone and say, "What the f--- is going on?" So I finished that viewing and just feeling very unsettled, to be honest. But soon after I went to one of the midnight screenings where the audience is throwing stuff at the screen, reciting every line. And I then immediately understood why "The Room" is such a cult movie. Since then I've seen the movie roughly 25 times, which is more than any movie I've seen in existence. [Laughs.]

TPW Films

Guerrasio: I talked to your wife, Alison Brie, for "The Little Hours," and she said you also did the book on tape of Greg's book.

Franco: Yeah. And I would recommend the book on tape for this because it's Greg reading it and he has a great Tommy impersonation. I sat down with Greg a handful of times before we started filming and through production, and one of the things I asked him was during production of "The Room" if he ever thought it had a chance of being a good movie. And he claims that he did not but I don't fully believe him just because as a young actor all you care about is getting on a set. When you're on set you almost have to have this blind optimism and believe that whatever you're working on could be great. Even from the outside everyone can see it's objectively bad. I've been in those scenarios. I've been on set and everything is going smoothly to the point where people were talking about the movie being nominated for awards and I bought into the hype. Then the movie came out and not only was a it not good but it was a full-on piece of sh--. It was probably the worst thing I’ve ever done. It just makes you think about the fact you do anything creative you have to give all of yourself over to the process. There are going to be moments when you question whether or not what you're doing is brilliant or if it's a total disaster.

Guerrasio: Now I'm trying to think back on the movies you've done to figure out which one you think is the worst thing you've ever done.

Franco: [Laughs.]

Guerrasio: Anyway, how did you and James work on the characters? Did you want to rehearse with him before shooting?

Franco: We didn't really rehearse too much beforehand just because his style of filmmaking, like Seth's style, is very loose and improvisational. Yes, we had an incredible script to work off of but we always kept it loose. 

A24

Guerrasio: So going into shooting he gave you no head's up that he would be being in character as Tommy behind the camera as director?

Franco: I don't think he knew. I think he just fell into it and it was just easier to stay in character instead of bouncing back and forth between Tommy and James.

Guerrasio: On the first day was he just James on set?

Franco: No, from day one he was Tommy. There was definitely an adjustment period. He can articulate this better than me, but I do think a huge reason why he did this was because he didn't want to lose the Tommy voice. Yes, he stayed in character while he directed but that didn't mean he adopted Tommy's personality. He was still James but he was doing the Tommy voice. He wasn't a dictator on set. 

Guerrasio: Have you ever gotten into a role in your career where you're so into it it takes a while to snap out of it? 

Franco: I’ve never been the type of actor who comes home at the end of the day and goes, "I can't get rid of my part." But, I have a movie coming out early next year for Netflix called "6 Balloons" where I played a heroin addict and so I lost 20 pounds. 

Guerrasio: For you, that's kind of scary.

Franco: Yeah, I'm not a big guy. So when you lose that much weight it depresses you and I was full-on depressed. I remember at one point my wife saying, "You're not yourself, you're not fun to be around." And I was like, "I'm f---ing starving! What do you want from me?" But on set I also wasn't fun to be around. I wasn't really interacting with anyone. I was in the corner by myself, miserable. That was the most I ever got deep into a character. I'm glad I did it. It was the hardest role I've ever done and it scared the hell out of me but I think that's a good thing as an actor. To go into something that makes you uncomfortable.

Rich Fury/Getty

Guerrasio: Do you feel you could ever do that again?

Franco: Not for a long time. I almost really f---ed up my health. Not to get too dark, I was running all day every day to lose weight and I ended up messing up my knee to the point that when we finished production I had to go to physical therapy for a couple of months.

Guerrasio: I mean, we've heard the stories from Robert De Niro to Christian Bale, of the losing and gaining of weight for roles. I would think for every actor there’s a wonder if you can take it to that limit. 

Franco: I know. And it was very rewarding but I don't need to transform my body like that for a long time. While I was in it I do remember looking at a lot of pictures of Christian Bale throughout his career, he's losing weight or gaining weight, so that was inspiring. [Laughs.] "If he can do this 15 times I can do it once."

Guerrasio: So, back to "The Disaster Artist," what was Tommy and Greg's reaction to the movie when they first saw it?

Franco: They saw an early screening, even before the South by Southwest work-in-progress. We were more nervous about Tommy's reaction than Greg's. They both loved it but after Greg saw it he was so taken by it that he went off and for the next four days wrote an entire script for him and Tommy to star in. So since then they've filmed this new project, called "Best F(r)iends," and little did we know that "The Disaster Artist" is part two of "The Room" trilogy. [Laughs.] 

Guerrasio: Wow. So what's going forward for the production company? Are you going to produce? Direct?

Franco: I can't get into many details but all the projects are all over the place in genre and size of budget. But the unifying aspect of all of them is they do feel unique. I'm having so much fun. As much as I love acting and I hope to be doing it for a long time, it almost feels more natural for me to be a producer. I came into all of this because I'm a fan of movies and I wanted to find any way I could to be a part of it all. I happened to take the acting route but it could have been a million different ways in. Now that I'm producing it's just really fun for me to work with people that I really admire and put people together who I think will work well together. Just having a little more control.

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