James Franco’s had to fend off concerns that his desire to tell the story of the making of the best-worst movie, The Room, was just a lark since the project’s inception. But he’s been very hands-on with The Disaster Artist, which is based on the book about Tommy Wiseau’s notorious film. Franco stars in and directs the film, which also features his family and usual compatriots—Dave Franco, Alison Brie (who, in addition to knocking our socks off in GLOW, recently married Dave), Seth Rogen, and Charlene Yi. Franco also claimed that preparing to play Wiseau was very similar to his process for playing James Dean.
Keep all of that in mind as you watch the first teaser for The Disaster Artist, which sees Franco (as Wiseau) botch his lines repeatedly, but like a total pro. Indeed, he nails the flatness of Wiseau’s halfhearted refutations that he did not–he did not—hit her [Lisa, even though she was tearing him apart]. But the real litmus test is the “Hi, Mark“ line, which yes, manages to come across as a greeting. The crew, including Rogen as Room script supervisor Sandy Schklair, is suitably impressed by Wiseau/Franco’s ability to pull it together in the end, which is presumably what A24 is also hoping for as one of The Disaster Artist’s backers.
The Disaster Artist will try to hit its mark on December 1.