Universiti Malaya – Wales

Apply Now!Connect With Us

By Hafiz Hassan

The Disaster Artist is a 2013 non-fiction book that revolves around the Behind-The-Scenes of the Internet’s beloved “Worst Movie of All Time”, The Room and the person responsible for it, Tommy Wiseau. It was told by Wiseau’s longtime collaborator and a co-star of the movie, Greg Sestero.

 

Tommy wrote a 500-page script for a play that evolved into a movie script named “The Room”. His pitch was rejected by many production houses due to its nonsensical writing. Undeterred, Tommy announced to Greg that he would make the movie on his own and assembled an actual film crew with actors and an actual green screen setup funded by a mysterious source of money. The problem is, he had zero knowledge of filmmaking. Film crews and fellow actors on set were insulted by Tommy’s lack of professionalism and many quit in the middle of production.

The $6 million-dollar film earned only $1,800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. Over a decade later, The Room is an international cult phenomenon, whose legions of fans attend screenings featuring costumes, audience rituals, merchandising and thousands of plastic spoons. Thus, The Room gained its cult status for being a movie that was so bad it became funny instead.

What I learned from this book is that success can come to anyone despite being born and raised in unfavourable conditions, if they believe in themselves and never let go of their hopes. Tommy Wiseau knew nothing about filmmaking and could make a movie that became famous and celebrated worldwide.

Source / Reference

Sestero, G. & Bissell, T. (2013). The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made. United Kingdom: Little, Brown Book Group.

Share