The Most Popular Unpopular Film in the World

Tommy Wiseau is a mysterious character. He claims to have grown up in Louisiana, and lived in France, but his accent isn’t like either. No record of his name is found on any tracked records, so nobody knows how old he is. He claims to be about 48, others claim he is older. Nobody knew anything about this secretive, long-haired man – at least not until 2003, when the bizarre, almost surrealist movie ‘The Room’ came out. He was the writer, director, producer, lead actor, and financier – with money he claimed came from selling irregular jeans and real estate (there is also no evidence of this). One of the supporting actors claimed that Wiseau had an epiphany from a near-death experience, which led to him following his dream of becoming an actor – a dream which still seems farfetched to this day.

The Room had a budget of $6 million, financed by Wiseau’s unknown wealth. How much did the film gross? $1,800. The equivalent of about 180 tickets, or a large screen at a multiplex. Most of Wiseau’s budget was spent in ludicrous ways – he hired 3 understudies to each role, and recorded in both 30mm and in HD video – in part so he could say he was ‘the first director to shoot simultaneously in multiple formats’. Actors left early, were fired for egregious reasons, and made to do random tasks unexpectedly – all at Wiseau’s seemingly uncontrollable will.

The movie itself is one of a kind. Using stock footage of San Francisco liberally to fill time, and with acting about as emotional as a plank of wood – The Room quickly picked up a following as a ‘So Bad It’s Good’ film.  Characters are seemingly written to be creeps – Denny (a homeless kid Wiseau’s character pays for the tuition and apartment of) is constantly walking into Johnny and Lisa’s house, interrupting personal moments and saying ‘I just like to watch you two’. Lisa’s mother randomly brings up a breast cancer diagnosis which is never mentioned again, and appears every 20 minutes, despite the fact Lisa seems to be unhappy to see her each time. Another couple randomly appears without introduction and start making out on Johnny and Lisa’s couch, only to be walked in on by Lisa’s mother, who seems okay with it. The entire movie seems to be the fever dream of an alien, who only half understands how human civilisation. Random characters are introduced without names or personalities to hold together key plot points. Every character is written to make Wiseau’s Johnny looks good, and abused by his fiancé, as if Wiseau mostly wrote the script as a massive ego project

However, by far the best parts come just in Wiseau’s speech and mannerisms – an iconic scene lasts about 20 seconds, and consists only of Wiseau walking into a flower shop, saying hi to a dog, picking up flowers, getting complimented by the owner, and leaving again. Wiseau’s scriptwriting is surreal in a way you’d expect from surreal satire, not a serious attempt at romantic drama – which is what all accounts make this out to be. When it comes down to it, The Room is an accidental masterpiece too beautiful to cover in so few words – but it will live forever as a cult classic.