Don’t come to The Disaster Artist looking for answers. James Franco’s film about the making of The Room probably won’t resolve your biggest questions about Tommy Wiseau, the writer/director/producer/star of that infamously bad 2003 movie.
Wiseau, a vampirish-looking man with long, jet-black hair and a thick accent of indeterminate Eastern European origin, was able to sink millions into making The Room, a vanity project that cribbed liberally from Tennessee Williams and Rebel Without a Cause. The amateurish, over-the-top melodrama has since become a cult favorite, with midnight screenings packing in dedicated hordes of giggling fans. As to where Wiseau’s money came from—and where Wiseau himself came from—Franco’s movie keeps mum.
That’s part of the fun.