VIDEO: James Franco Delivers Tragicomic Portrayal of Tommy Wiseau in New ‘Disaster Artist’ Trailer
Latest look also features Seth Rogen, Dave Franco, Melanie Griffith, and Bob Odenkirk
November 2, 2017
James Franco delivers hilarity and heartbreak in equal measure in the latest trailer for “The Disaster Artist,” an upcoming biopic in which he portrays the oft-ridiculed director Tommy Wiseau.
This new trailer (above) begins in an acting studio with Franco’s Tommy bravely volunteering to bare his soul in front of the class and its instructor (Melanie Griffith). The Hollywood hopeful is both fearless and persistent, but as he’ll soon learn several roadblocks keep him from becoming a star, including an enigmatic and inescapable accent setting fire to his auditions.
“You have a malevolent presence. You are a perfect villain. I can see you as Dracula, [as] Frankenstein,” Bob Odenkirk’s character tells him at one point in the trailer (above).
But Tommy isn’t having it. “I’m not Frankenstein,” he pleads. “I’m hero.”
So, Wiseau sets off to write, star in, produce, and direct his own movie—which, with the help of script supervisor Sandy Schklair (Seth Rogen) and actor-line producer Greg Sestero (Dave Franco), eventually becomes “The Room.”
When Rogen visited the Stern Show in June, he told Howard all about Franco’s method acting-inspired approach to “The Disaster Artist.” “Franco directed … the whole movie in character, as Tommy Wiseau, wearing prosthetic makeup,” he said, adding that Franco even spoke with Wiseau’s Eastern European accent after cameras stopped rolling.
“The first two days of filming, I could not even talk to him,” Seth continued. “Every time he’d talk to me, I would like, break into hysterics.” Listen (below).
In addition to other co-stars like Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, and Alison Brie, “The Disaster Artist” contains a slew of celebrity cameos, including Adam Scott, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, “Star Wars: Episode IX” director J.J. Abrams, Stern Show favorite Bryan Cranston, and even Wiseau himself.
“The Disaster Artist,” adapted from Sestero’s book “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made,” hits theaters December 1. Check out official trailer #2 (above).
