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First and foremost, sorry for the essay-esque length of this post - I take Adderall, and one of its side effects is me writing a lot about something when said something could be written about using only ten words. But oh well - I always liked offering my personal insight on certain things anyways, and I think I've written up a very enjoyable read for all of you members and lurkers to indulge yourself with.
But in order for you to fully appreciate the purpose of this thread, you have to have seen or at least be pretty familiar with Tommy Wiseau. For those of you who are un-cultured and have never heard of both Wiseau and his claim-to-fame film The Room, it's time to bust out Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Wiseau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room_(film)
After reading that, here's some select clips from the film, the first being its trailer:
&feature=related
&feature=related
Pretty much, after watching those clips, it shouldn't be hard to wrap your mind around the fact that this film is one of the worst films ever made (at least it's earned the "so-bad-it's-good" label), and that Tommy Wiseau is anything but a legit dramatic actor/talented director/gifted screenwriter. Only one other film that's come out in recent years tops The Room as being the worst ever made (there goes poor Ed Wood's notoriety...), but I'll get to that in the end.
I love The Room and was instantly and totally taken in by its cult appeal when I first saw it confusingly on TV on April 1st, 2009 as part of [adult swim]'s annual April Fool's broadcast. I quickly bought the DVD and exposed all of my friends to the world according to Wiseau - we still quote him and the film constantly.
Not even two years after first seeing it, I already have two autographed items from Wiseau in my personal collection - the first being my DVD cover which I personally mailed out to him, where he autographed it for free and mailed it back with the words "To: Seth Love: Tommy W. 04/22/2010", all written in his handwriting. But the second item is much more impressive, as it's a full sized movie poster for The Room which I bought directly from Wiseau's studio out in California, where he again autographed it. But instead of signing it to anyone, I specified that he just sign his name on it, to increase its inevitable value. And he did... it's just signed as "Love: Tommy W. 08-01-2010". His signature is written where his chin is located on the poster, which my friend remarked looks like "pubic hair" from a certain distance (and really, it does). So hanging up in my room, in a nice frame, I get to wake up each morning and look into these lustful eyes:
I actually get to wake up to two pairs of eyes looking at me... Wiseau on the left side of my room, and Batman from The Dark Knight on the right side, located next to my bed. Though I always feel that when I look into Batman's eyes, he's just constantly judging me for something I did, and that if I'm pretending to make a baby with a lady in my bed, it's always a little awkward when we both look up and realize that Batman's watching us in anger with someone's blood on his lips.
But that's besides the point.
Having been able to talk to some celebrities before, I decided my next goal would be to contact and have a "fake" phone interview with Tommy Wiseau. I would pose as a college student who is writing a school newspaper article about him and his movie. But I only had The Room's website to go to in order to try and contact him. And, it worked: my reasons why I wanted to interview the man were believed, and a date was arranged for the interview. I've uploaded it to YouTube, where it's in three parts. Try and read each description for the videos too - they offer further insight that I'm not going to cover in this thread. Here's the video to the first interview, where it ends with you being able to click and further listen on to the other two segments:
A year later, I decided to conduct a second phone interview, which again, worked. This time around, I have fun with Wiseau on a more personal level it seems, as at one point during the interview, he personally confirms that he and I are "friends" - a bragging right I'm not ashamed to declare to the world. This interview is also, as of this writing, the longest phone interview, as well as longest interview in general, that Wiseau has ever given to anybody - another bragging right I'm proud of. Just like with the first interview, please read the descriptions for each new segment - each one offers again new insight that I've chosen not to mention here. Also, just like my first one, you're given the same option to click and listen onward to the rest of the interview:
Now you obviously don't have to listen to both interviews all the way through - that's your call. I just figured my old online film stomping ground would get a kick with what I've been up to lately (that sentence only applies to those who actually remember me). I plan on doing a third interview in April 2011, keeping up with my efforts of trying to make an annual event out of it for as long as possible. One idea I have for it is to ask Tommy to not let me interview him the entire time, but rather, midway through, change things up a bit and let me interview Johnny, the character he played in The Room, complete with a separate list of questions specifically written for his character. I figure this would be both funny and offer further insight into the character, his past, etc. I would also like to ask him what his take is on Birdemic, the film I mentioned above earlier that's actually worse, in my opinion, than The Room. This film is starting to become a modern midnight movie sensation too, with critics and audiences constantly comparing it to Tommy's film, debating which one is worse for whatever reasons and which one deserves the title of "Worst Movie Ever Made". I wouldn't be surprised if a small rivalry between fans of both films starts to come to light out of these debates, if one has't already. Here's a link to Birdemic's Wikipedia entry, to its trailer and to a montage of scenes from it. You be the judge on which one's worse.
Lastly (!), attached are two .pdf files: the first one is the fake college newspaper article I had to force myself to write because when I did the second interview, Tommy remembered we had talked before and that I had said I had wrote an article about him, and he wanted to read it. Not wanting to blow my cover, I had no choice but to actually write the thing, and make it as believable as possible. It worked, much to my surprise.
The second file is an actual college research paper I wrote for my one film class, "The History of the Moving Image". It's about the cinematic influence that Orson Welles has on Tommy Wiseau. When I proposed to write it, my film professor gave me a cautious look, saying that it would be "a stretch", considering Wiseau had only directed one film, The Room, and that there isn't a whole lot of information available about him to cite for such a research paper (despite her knowing I've personally interviewed him twice). Yet, on the day when she handed back our graded papers, I was pleased to see that not only did I receive an A+, but that my paper was also one of the highest graded papers in the class. I'm currently trying to get it published in a film journal.
If you've read everything I wrote, much thanks. I really do love writing about film, especially when it's a well-known film that I can actually relate to on some personal level.
But in order for you to fully appreciate the purpose of this thread, you have to have seen or at least be pretty familiar with Tommy Wiseau. For those of you who are un-cultured and have never heard of both Wiseau and his claim-to-fame film The Room, it's time to bust out Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Wiseau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room_(film)
After reading that, here's some select clips from the film, the first being its trailer:
&feature=related
&feature=related
Pretty much, after watching those clips, it shouldn't be hard to wrap your mind around the fact that this film is one of the worst films ever made (at least it's earned the "so-bad-it's-good" label), and that Tommy Wiseau is anything but a legit dramatic actor/talented director/gifted screenwriter. Only one other film that's come out in recent years tops The Room as being the worst ever made (there goes poor Ed Wood's notoriety...), but I'll get to that in the end.
I love The Room and was instantly and totally taken in by its cult appeal when I first saw it confusingly on TV on April 1st, 2009 as part of [adult swim]'s annual April Fool's broadcast. I quickly bought the DVD and exposed all of my friends to the world according to Wiseau - we still quote him and the film constantly.
Not even two years after first seeing it, I already have two autographed items from Wiseau in my personal collection - the first being my DVD cover which I personally mailed out to him, where he autographed it for free and mailed it back with the words "To: Seth Love: Tommy W. 04/22/2010", all written in his handwriting. But the second item is much more impressive, as it's a full sized movie poster for The Room which I bought directly from Wiseau's studio out in California, where he again autographed it. But instead of signing it to anyone, I specified that he just sign his name on it, to increase its inevitable value. And he did... it's just signed as "Love: Tommy W. 08-01-2010". His signature is written where his chin is located on the poster, which my friend remarked looks like "pubic hair" from a certain distance (and really, it does). So hanging up in my room, in a nice frame, I get to wake up each morning and look into these lustful eyes:
I actually get to wake up to two pairs of eyes looking at me... Wiseau on the left side of my room, and Batman from The Dark Knight on the right side, located next to my bed. Though I always feel that when I look into Batman's eyes, he's just constantly judging me for something I did, and that if I'm pretending to make a baby with a lady in my bed, it's always a little awkward when we both look up and realize that Batman's watching us in anger with someone's blood on his lips.
But that's besides the point.
Having been able to talk to some celebrities before, I decided my next goal would be to contact and have a "fake" phone interview with Tommy Wiseau. I would pose as a college student who is writing a school newspaper article about him and his movie. But I only had The Room's website to go to in order to try and contact him. And, it worked: my reasons why I wanted to interview the man were believed, and a date was arranged for the interview. I've uploaded it to YouTube, where it's in three parts. Try and read each description for the videos too - they offer further insight that I'm not going to cover in this thread. Here's the video to the first interview, where it ends with you being able to click and further listen on to the other two segments:
A year later, I decided to conduct a second phone interview, which again, worked. This time around, I have fun with Wiseau on a more personal level it seems, as at one point during the interview, he personally confirms that he and I are "friends" - a bragging right I'm not ashamed to declare to the world. This interview is also, as of this writing, the longest phone interview, as well as longest interview in general, that Wiseau has ever given to anybody - another bragging right I'm proud of. Just like with the first interview, please read the descriptions for each new segment - each one offers again new insight that I've chosen not to mention here. Also, just like my first one, you're given the same option to click and listen onward to the rest of the interview:
Now you obviously don't have to listen to both interviews all the way through - that's your call. I just figured my old online film stomping ground would get a kick with what I've been up to lately (that sentence only applies to those who actually remember me). I plan on doing a third interview in April 2011, keeping up with my efforts of trying to make an annual event out of it for as long as possible. One idea I have for it is to ask Tommy to not let me interview him the entire time, but rather, midway through, change things up a bit and let me interview Johnny, the character he played in The Room, complete with a separate list of questions specifically written for his character. I figure this would be both funny and offer further insight into the character, his past, etc. I would also like to ask him what his take is on Birdemic, the film I mentioned above earlier that's actually worse, in my opinion, than The Room. This film is starting to become a modern midnight movie sensation too, with critics and audiences constantly comparing it to Tommy's film, debating which one is worse for whatever reasons and which one deserves the title of "Worst Movie Ever Made". I wouldn't be surprised if a small rivalry between fans of both films starts to come to light out of these debates, if one has't already. Here's a link to Birdemic's Wikipedia entry, to its trailer and to a montage of scenes from it. You be the judge on which one's worse.
Lastly (!), attached are two .pdf files: the first one is the fake college newspaper article I had to force myself to write because when I did the second interview, Tommy remembered we had talked before and that I had said I had wrote an article about him, and he wanted to read it. Not wanting to blow my cover, I had no choice but to actually write the thing, and make it as believable as possible. It worked, much to my surprise.
The second file is an actual college research paper I wrote for my one film class, "The History of the Moving Image". It's about the cinematic influence that Orson Welles has on Tommy Wiseau. When I proposed to write it, my film professor gave me a cautious look, saying that it would be "a stretch", considering Wiseau had only directed one film, The Room, and that there isn't a whole lot of information available about him to cite for such a research paper (despite her knowing I've personally interviewed him twice). Yet, on the day when she handed back our graded papers, I was pleased to see that not only did I receive an A+, but that my paper was also one of the highest graded papers in the class. I'm currently trying to get it published in a film journal.
If you've read everything I wrote, much thanks. I really do love writing about film, especially when it's a well-known film that I can actually relate to on some personal level.
__________________
Everything I do, I do to make my second stepdad proud.
Everything I do, I do to make my second stepdad proud.
Last edited by MovieMaker5087; 10-24-18 at 07:11 PM.
