FILM · 2017 · USA
The Disaster Artist
29 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (29)
- #001
Greg Sestero said that while writing the book, Tommy Wiseau told him only two actors could play him in an adaptation: James Franco or Johnny Depp. Wiseau, who once claimed to have lived in New Orleans, was a fan of Franco's performance in Sonny (2002).
- #002
In real life, Greg and Tommy did not move to Los Angeles at the same time. Tommy offered Greg his Los Angeles apartment for a few months at a nominal rent (though Greg noted that none of the rent checks he sent Tommy were ever deposited), while Tommy came and went at random from San Francisco. After Greg lined up a few small gigs, Tommy suddenly moved into the Los Angeles apartment full-time, cashed all of Greg's checks at once and overdrew his account, and built the partition in the living room as seen in the film.
- #003
More than 20 minutes of The Room (2003) was painstakingly recreated for this film, including near-full-body movements and lines delivered at almost the same time as in the original; The Disaster Artist ends with side-by-side comparisons of these scenes. However, the way some lines were badly dubbed in the original was not recreated.
- #004
In reality, Greg Sestero had nothing to do with acting in The Room (2003) and initially only intended to produce the film, and Tommy Wiseau had cast a different actor to play Mark. The night before shooting began, Wiseau spontaneously decided he wanted Sestero to play the role. Sestero reluctantly agreed after Wiseau offered him a significant pay raise and a new car. Rather than telling the original actor he had been replaced, Wiseau had him come in for weeks to prepare and perform his scenes, but instructed the camera crew not to film anything.
- #005
Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill were the film's first fans. At one point Hill spotted Tommy Wiseau in a Los Angeles grocery store and was so startled that he secretly took a photo of Wiseau shopping and immediately sent it to Rogen.
- #006
In nearly every interview for The Disaster Artist, James Franco mentions that Tommy Wiseau approved "99.9%" of the film; his only objection concerned the lighting of the first scene, which Franco believes was because Tommy wore sunglasses while watching the scene and because James threw the ball badly.
- #007
Tommy Wiseau himself appears in the post-credits scene as an invented character named Henry. The scene was written and shot as one of the conditions for selling his life rights to the film.
- #008
James Franco recalled driving around Los Angeles after 2003 and seeing the giant billboard for the film that Wiseau had rented for five years. Franco said that because of the phone number on the billboard, he initially thought it might be for a cult. The phone number went to Wiseau's apartment, where there was a recording promoting the film, or sometimes Wiseau himself would answer and tell the caller where and when it was playing.
- #009
Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero approved the casting of Dave Franco as Greg Sestero.
- #010
James Franco spoke like Tommy Wiseau every day throughout the shoot and even directed using Wiseau's distinctive voice and syntax. Jason Mantzoukas said Franco was not doing character direction; he was simply talking like Wiseau. Seth Rogen admitted on The Howard Stern Show that he struggled being directed by Franco; he said that for the first two days he had trouble hiding his laughter because Franco spoke like Tommy Wiseau in a striking European accent. Franco told Rogen he would get used to it, and eventually he did.
- #011
When Tommy gets out of the limousine at the premiere, you can see that Marcus, whom Tommy hired to document The Room, is still following him and filming Tommy in the background.
- #012
Amber, Greg's girlfriend in the film, is played by actress Alison Brie, Dave Franco's real-life wife.
- #013
The notorious Chris-R scene is presented as taking place in an alley, while in the final film it takes place on a rooftop. Tommy Wiseau reshot it because he thought the rooftop would be "more dramatic" than the original alley location. The reshoot cost $80,000 and took two weeks to shoot.
- #014
When James Franco won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role as Tommy Wiseau, he called his brother Dave Franco and the real Tommy Wiseau up on stage. Franco had to stop Wiseau from taking the microphone, and Wiseau told a story about how he had once been stuck in the traffic jam caused by the Golden Globes ceremony and, frustrated at not being invited to the event, came up with the idea of making his own film, which became The Room (2003).
- #015
Before production on this film began, at a Q&A screening of The Room (2003), Greg Sestero expressed a wish to portray the actor who originally took on the role of Mark and whom Wiseau fired and replaced with Sestero himself. However, this element of the real story was left out of the final film.
- #016
The "robot crab" in Tommy's car is a Transformers toy called Nautilator. Like Tommy, it is a character notorious for extreme ineptitude and constant failure, yet one that often stumbles into success by accident even though it completely fails at its intended task.
- #017
The original studio space where most of The Room's interior scenes were shot no longer exists. The filmmakers eventually found a soundstage just one block from the original location, where the sets were recreated.
- #018
Michael Rousselet, listed in the credits as The Room's cult phenomenon "Patient Zero," sneaked onto the set for the final scene and was one of the first audience members to high-five James Franco as Tommy Wiseau while running down the hallway.
- #019
The film received a standing ovation following its premiere at the SXSW film festival in March 2017.
- #020
Alongside James Franco and Dave Franco in the lead roles, their other brother Tom Franco also takes a brief role in the film as Karl.
- #021
In the film, Greg Sestero is surprised that Sandy Schklair (Seth Rogen) does not accompany them during the final days of shooting in San Francisco. In reality, Schklair had left the production long before to work on a project with Janusz Kaminski. Tommy Wiseau, also cut from the film, fired original cinematographer Raphael Smadja (Paul Scheer) after numerous disagreements, and similarly Todd Barron hired and then quickly fired Graham Futerfas before completing the film.
- #022
Before shooting the sex scene, Tommy mentions that Alfred Hitchcock harassed his actors on the set of The Birds (1963). Melanie Griffith, who appears in this film, is the daughter of Tippi Hedren, the actress who appeared on Hitchcock's behalf in "The Birds" and Marnie (1964) and who said the director's behavior toward her was very possessive and abusive.
- #023
Jim Parsons, Kate Upton, Eliza Coupe and Zach Braff shot camera roles for The Disaster Artist (2017) that had to be cut due to time, as seen on The IMDb Show (2017).
- #024
All three stars of the podcast 'How Did This Get Made?' (Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas) appear in the film. A Variety article revealed that the podcast episode on The Room (2003), which also featured Greg Sestero, was not only a factor contributing to the completion of the source book but also an inspiration for the screenwriters.
- #025
The sign on top of Tommy's Los Angeles apartment building reads OJAI. "Oh hi…" is a famous line repeated in The Room (2003).
- #026
The Disaster Artist (2017) is the first A24 film shown on IMAX screens; it played in 100 locations over its opening weekend.
- #027
Greg Sestero and James Franco both auditioned for the same role in Retro Puppet Master (1999). Sestero got the part.
- #028
The talking-head interview segments at the start of the film were inspired by Warren Beatty's Reds (1981), though James Franco later discovered that Tommy Wiseau had conducted similar interviews with audiences after watching his film.
- #029
James Franco brought Tommy Wiseau, the writer/director/actor of The Room (2003), on stage with him to accept the Golden Globe award for his performance in the film.
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