-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."