https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ4KzClb1C4
I've heard a lot of the smartest answers be something along the lines of "Czech+French", meaning that Wiseau spent his childhood between France and Czechoslovakia, or another West Slavic or South Slavic country. It isn't recognizably Hungarian according to most sources.
Ideas?
I assumed it was native San Franciscan.
I assumed it was just being pretentious.
Franco-American rich kid?
Sounds normal to me.
I think he's Israeli.
Alsatian French, raised by a German-accented grandparent.
Quote from: Grinning_Colossus on December 18, 2013, 11:36:58 AM
Alsatian French, raised by a German-accented grandparent.
:hmm:
Seems plausible.
I thought he just has a speech impediment of some sort.
FYI in case anyone hasn't heard of that movie before, it's hilariously bad. Lots of other clips of it worth watching on YT.
My favorite review of the movie has to be the one by the Nostalgia Critic:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/25743-the-room
I was able to watch maybe 45 seconds of that review, tops, before that guy annoyed me so much I had to close the window. :yuk:
Quote from: Caliga on December 19, 2013, 06:02:25 AM
I was able to watch maybe 45 seconds of that review, tops, before that guy annoyed me so much I had to close the window. :yuk:
Yeah but as a HR guy human emotions make you annoyed.
Quote from: Caliga on December 19, 2013, 06:02:25 AM
I was able to watch maybe 45 seconds of that review, tops, before that guy annoyed me so much I had to close the window. :yuk:
I like him a lot (well, not his new, "let's do unfunny comedy skits" reviews), mostly because he is very much a coked up caricature of a good friend of mine. But I agree that he's no Brad Jones (aka the Cinema Snob).
That acting was appalling.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on December 19, 2013, 10:25:09 AM
That acting was appalling.
It looked like something me and my friends might do with a hand-held camera
"I DIDN'T HIT HER, I DIDN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......... Oh hi, Mark!" :)
Quote from: Valmy on December 19, 2013, 10:45:34 AM
It looked like something me and my friends might do with a hand-held camera
I thought the production values were actually quite good.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 19, 2013, 10:57:43 AM
Quote from: Valmy on December 19, 2013, 10:45:34 AM
It looked like something me and my friends might do with a hand-held camera
I thought the production values were actually quite good.
The movie actually costed 6 million dollars to shot. Even if the guy behind it was an amateur he had plenty of money (of unknown origins) to back it up. It's not that the movie is bad, the whole story behind it and Wiseau is downright bizarre.
QuoteThe Room originated as a play, completed by Tommy Wiseau in 2001. Wiseau then adapted the play into a 500-page book, which he was unable to get published. Frustrated, Wiseau decided to adapt the work into a film, which he would then produce himself in order to maintain total control over the project. Wiseau has been secretive about exactly how he obtained the funding for the project, but he did tell Entertainment Weekly that he made some of the money by importing leather jackets from Korea. He eventually amassed $6 million, all of which was spent on production and marketing. Wiseau has claimed that the reason the film was relatively expensive was because many members of the cast and crew had to be replaced, and each of the cast members had several understudies.
According to Greg Ellery, Wiseau came to the Birns and Sawyer film lot, rented a studio, and bought a "complete Beginning Director package," which included the purchase of a brand new film camera." Wiseau, confused about the differences between 35 mm film and high-definition video, decided to shoot the entire film in both formats with two cameras.
Yeah, I just don't get that. He managed I make 6 million dollars then blew it on a overpriced crappy movie?
It's like he's an idiot savant.... Except he made a romance movie and not a crappy unworkable sci fi
Tommy himself said he spent some years in Strasbourg. Looks like that accent might be Slovak/Polish+Alsatian, hence the confusion.
I say Slovak or Polish because he seems quite sincerely Catholic, and I don't think he's a Croat or Slovene (he makes a lot of references to invading Soviet troops, the Bosnian who did the soundtrack would recognize it) or a Hungarian (that would have been recognized by a Hungarian on set).
You win the prize for the most esoteric obsession ever Squeelus.
It's a weird fucking accent.
Yeah, but he's a nobody.
Not really. He's (inexplicably) a multimillionaire of bizarre origin and seemingly abnormal intellect who made the great cult movie of the 2000s. He's fascinating.
He's completely, totally bizarre. In person he looks like he's made of putty. During the Q&A period before a midnight viewing of the film I went to, I asked him "Mr. Wiseau, you're clearly a man of the world, and we know you speak French, but what other languages can you speak?" I tried to trick him in to revealing his origin, but he just said "English, French and...some other language." It was kind of annoying.
Did you ask the Ambassador at dinner?
:lol: "Mr. Wiseau, can I be your stalker?"
I find him fascinating. If I could I'd be his therapist. I really wish there was some way to know how he got his money.
Squeelus, do you remember what I told you way back when you asked about people that had attended the University of Chicago?
Quote from: Queequeg on December 24, 2013, 04:50:15 PM
Not really. He's (inexplicably) a multimillionaire of bizarre origin and seemingly abnormal intellect who made the great cult movie of the 2000s. He's fascinating.
I've met lots of people with abnormal intellect and they aren't interesting. His one film is "cult", but only because it's awful.
Yeah, but it's uniquely, totally awful, to the extent that it's far more interesting than the vast majority of good and more than a few great movies.
Quote from: Razgovory on December 24, 2013, 06:57:03 PM
Quote from: Queequeg on December 24, 2013, 04:50:15 PM
Not really. He's (inexplicably) a multimillionaire of bizarre origin and seemingly abnormal intellect who made the great cult movie of the 2000s. He's fascinating.
I've met lots of people with abnormal intellect and they aren't interesting. His one film is "cult", but only because it's awful.
I've seen many (many, many) awful films that aren't interesting, while "The Room" is engrossing. What is it that separates Tommy Wiseau from, say Jean Rollins or Uwe Boll?
The walls of an asylum?
Sorry Spellus, I'm with you on many of your flights of fancy, but I reserve my stalking for either Melody or Yi.
Quote from: Queequeg on December 24, 2013, 03:33:47 PM
I say Slovak or Polish because he seems quite sincerely Catholic, and I don't think he's a Croat or Slovene (he makes a lot of references to invading Soviet troops, the Bosnian who did the soundtrack would recognize it) or a Hungarian (that would have been recognized by a Hungarian on set).
I've dealt with quite a few Poles and Slovaks in my time, and they didn't have an accent like Wiseau. Maybe semi-French/Polish, but it'd be a stretch.
I think the idea is that it's somehow weirdly Alsatian. What would your guess be, Syt?
Maybe he just talks that way for attention.
Quote from: Razgovory on December 25, 2013, 04:47:59 PM
Maybe he just talks that way for attention.
He certainly has caught Spellus's.
Quote from: Queequeg on December 25, 2013, 12:16:34 PM
I think the idea is that it's somehow weirdly Alsatian. What would your guess be, Syt?
No idea, nor do I care much, truth be told.
Man, the guy's just fucking bizarre, and I find it weird that no one has cracked this stuff. Greg Sostero saw a driver's licence of him with the birth date as sometime in 1969, but there's a photo of him as a young adult in a clearly late 70s suit, and elements of his childhood story seem to indicate that he remembered the 60s pretty well. It seems likely that he either had a fake driver's licence (if so, wtf why?) or somehow his birthday recorded in official American government records is completely wrong. I've also been looking at some Linguistics boards to try and figure it out-no response. I'm seriously considering emailing a few Linguistics professors.
Since Garbo is sunning himself in Palm Springs... :mellow:
Quote from: katmai on December 26, 2013, 03:40:52 AM
Since Garbo is sunning himself in Palm Springs... :mellow:
Truf!
Quote from: Savonarola on December 24, 2013, 09:48:21 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on December 24, 2013, 06:57:03 PM
Quote from: Queequeg on December 24, 2013, 04:50:15 PM
Not really. He's (inexplicably) a multimillionaire of bizarre origin and seemingly abnormal intellect who made the great cult movie of the 2000s. He's fascinating.
I've met lots of people with abnormal intellect and they aren't interesting. His one film is "cult", but only because it's awful.
I've seen many (many, many) awful films that aren't interesting, while "The Room" is engrossing. What is it that separates Tommy Wiseau from, say Jean Rollins or Uwe Boll?
What's so special about it?
I guess it's the whole idea behind it. Produced, directed and starring some random talentless guy... With a decent budget.
Uwe bolls films meanwhile at least have the ingredients of real movies you might expect to be decent, albeit with boll being tax scams instead
No-name producers is the rule, not the exception. Anyone can throw some money at Hollywood and get a producer credit.
Are vanity projects really that much of a rarity in the movie industry?
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 26, 2013, 05:01:55 AM
Are vanity projects really that much of a rarity in the movie industry?
No, they most certainly are not a rarity.
The special thing about the Room is the total lack of a coherent script, or any kind of hint of talent in the actors. It is so insanely and honestly bad that it manages to create memorable quotes and scenes through that.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 26, 2013, 03:56:02 AM
Quote from: Savonarola on December 24, 2013, 09:48:21 PM
I've seen many (many, many) awful films that aren't interesting, while "The Room" is engrossing. What is it that separates Tommy Wiseau from, say Jean Rollins or Uwe Boll?
What's so special about it?
That's what I'm asking. Why is "The Room" so fascinating and "Rape of the Vampire" so forgettable?
I'm guessing that, in part, Tommy Wisseau has an enthusiasm for film that Jean Rollins lacked. Many of Jean-Luc Godard's films are awful; but fascinating; I think, in part, due to his passion about movies.
I propose that the reason for the fascination is the ease with which a viewer can analyze the movie's flaws. It's an exercise in self-validation for those with a passing interest in film-making.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 26, 2013, 10:17:43 AM
I propose that the reason for the fascination is the ease with which a viewer can analyze the movie's flaws. It's an exercise in self-validation for those with a passing interest in film-making.
Totally wrong.
:lol:
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 26, 2013, 10:17:43 AM
I propose that the reason for the fascination is the ease with which a viewer can analyze the movie's flaws. It's an exercise in self-validation for those with a passing interest in film-making.
My counter proposal is that it's because QQ has met the dude in person.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on December 26, 2013, 10:40:53 AM
My counter proposal is that it's because QQ has met the dude in person.
But it's far more than just Squeelus.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on December 26, 2013, 10:40:53 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 26, 2013, 10:17:43 AM
I propose that the reason for the fascination is the ease with which a viewer can analyze the movie's flaws. It's an exercise in self-validation for those with a passing interest in film-making.
My counter proposal is that it's because QQ has met the dude in person.
I was violently I'll due to misguided energy drink consumption at the time, and was unable to watch the movie for a year. Doubtful.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 26, 2013, 10:17:43 AM
I propose that the reason for the fascination is the ease with which a viewer can analyze the movie's flaws. It's an exercise in self-validation for those with a passing interest in film-making.
You may have a point here. I think that the idea of liking something bad for the irony factor, something popular with hipsters, comes in to play here as well.
I had never heard of this guy until this thread.
After a quick google...isn't the simplest explanation for this guy's background that he had loaded parents, and a trust fund or some similar means financed the movie? That would also explain why he wants to keep the mystery about his past.
Well we can thank our lucky stars that he isn't a steppe nomad, otherwise Spellus would try to marry him or something.
Quote from: Razgovory on December 26, 2013, 04:40:05 PM
Well we can thank our lucky stars that he isn't a steppe nomad, otherwise Spellus would try to marry him or something.
:XD:
Quote from: alfred russel on December 26, 2013, 02:22:14 PM
I had never heard of this guy until this thread.
After a quick google...isn't the simplest explanation for this guy's background that he had loaded parents, and a trust fund or some similar means financed the movie? That would also explain why he wants to keep the mystery about his past.
Not if he was from Eastern Europe (his friend seems to think he was); there weren't a lot of trust funds behind the Iron Curtain.
I'm guessing he made his money running drugs.
There's no way the man described in this book is capable of running and hiding a large scale criminal enterprise.
Quote from: Queequeg on December 26, 2013, 07:08:01 PM
There's no way the man described in this book is capable of running and hiding a large scale criminal enterprise.
You'd be surprised how stupid people can be while running large scale criminal enterprises.
It's impossible. He would have had to have gained enough money to own prime real estate in San Francisco in the 1990s, pay 6 million for a movie in 2002-03 and half-maintain his own eccentric film studio until now, all without either being out competed and murdered or found out by the government. It's literally impossible for the man described to have been able to effectively hide and prosper at this, beyond the obvious fact that the rumors of drug-money and mob money money laundering that have circled The Room since its release mean that it would have been under scrutiny.
I think it's possible that some uncle or relative made a great deal of money in the privatizations after the collapse of the Berlin wall, but Tommy appears to have been doing pretty well financially in the 80s, which really complicates the picture. There's no story that really works. The Disaster Artist is partially about just how implausible every detail about the man is.
Bugsy Siegel never got through grade school and was mentally unstable and still rose high in the mob. That sort of thing is not atypical in criminal circles.
Tommy's not a psychopath. He's completely desperate for attention and human connection. That doesn't bode well for success inside a criminal conspiracy.
Also, American criminals that succeed in immigrant or minority communities tend to use the strength of these social connections as the backbone of their criminal enterprise. Tommy is a wild ass of a man, with his hand raised against everyone. He refuses to acknowledge that he speaks anything other than (poor) English and (worse) French, and once starts a fight against Greg when he suggested as such. I don't know many people who would do well in the Mafia or vor v zakone while hating everything to do with his culture.
Quote from: Queequeg on December 26, 2013, 08:44:29 PM
Tommy's not a psychopath. He's completely desperate for attention and human connection. That doesn't bode well for success inside a criminal conspiracy.
If he's so mysterious, how do you know he's not a psychopath? Besides the factors you mention are hardly deal breakers.
Quote from: Queequeg on December 26, 2013, 08:44:29 PM
He's completely desperate for attention and human connection.
You're certainly giving it to him.
I'm find him extremely interesting, although obviously my defense of why I find him interesting is making me look more obsessed than I really am. He's from "my" area of the world, so I'm frustrated that no one I know has any idea where he's from. But I don't know if I have "affection" for him in the way I do for some other artists. David Lynch may not be an extremely nice man but I love him, while Bryan Fuller of Hannibal and Pushing Daisies is both extremely talented and by all accounts funny, personable and loyal. Tommy has real emotional and possibly neurological problems, and is frequently a rude, hostile ass.
Quote from: Razgovory on December 26, 2013, 08:51:36 PM
Quote from: Queequeg on December 26, 2013, 08:44:29 PM
Tommy's not a psychopath. He's completely desperate for attention and human connection. That doesn't bode well for success inside a criminal conspiracy.
If he's so mysterious, how do you know he's not a psychopath? Besides the factors you mention are hardly deal breakers.
:lol:
Okay. I want you to imagine trying to explain to a Russian mobster why American Hollywood culture is a thousand % better than anything Russia will ever do, and actively refusing to speak the mother language. It seems extremely unlikely to me.
On a vaguely related note, the long-lost star of Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, Eric Freeman, surfaced last week at a screening of the movie in LA.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fa%2Faf%2FFreeman12212013.jpg&hash=b5a60f677aa610485fed42f931a7bb068c920060)
This thread makes me sad.
Quote from: Queequeg on December 26, 2013, 08:56:40 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on December 26, 2013, 08:51:36 PM
Quote from: Queequeg on December 26, 2013, 08:44:29 PM
Tommy's not a psychopath. He's completely desperate for attention and human connection. That doesn't bode well for success inside a criminal conspiracy.
If he's so mysterious, how do you know he's not a psychopath? Besides the factors you mention are hardly deal breakers.
:lol:
Okay. I want you to imagine trying to explain to a Russian mobster why American Hollywood culture is a thousand % better than anything Russia will ever do, and actively refusing to speak the mother language. It seems extremely unlikely to me.
Like I said, they don't need to be very bright. Being a middle-man for running drugs can be quite profitable, and takes no special intelligence. It's not like he would be the first French speaker to help with moving drugs into the states. I'm not saying he does run drugs, I don't know and I don't really care, but it's hardly "impossible".
You laugh because it hurts.
Quote from: Caliga on December 26, 2013, 08:59:51 PM
On a vaguely related note, the long-lost star of Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, Eric Freeman, surfaced last week at a screening of the movie in LA.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fa%2Faf%2FFreeman12212013.jpg&hash=b5a60f677aa610485fed42f931a7bb068c920060)
:w00t:
The movie was a total crapfest (and about half of it was re-used footage from the original movie), but his over the top acting was hilarious.
"Garbage Day!" *bang*
"I'm beginning to like this picture!"
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdirtyhorror.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F12%2FSNDN2_5.jpg&hash=daca4b34fe2917cb409f30006582738047d11eb1)
Isn't he Czech? Several things point to it.
Oh hi wylonhrts!
:hmm:
wylonhrts has been allowed to stay but bimber14 was banned.
Quote from: wylonhrts on January 06, 2014, 11:17:13 AM
Isn't he Czech? Several things point to it.
That seems to be the most educated conclusion. He's not Hungarian, cause there was a Hungarian on-set who was clueless where he was from. He's not Russian or eastern Ukrainian because he's Catholic. He talks about invading Soviet troops, and he's not old enough to remember 45. He seems like a Czech or Slovak who left in the early 70s for Strasbourg when he was still quite young, and his accent was influenced by it.
Quote from: garbon on January 06, 2014, 11:47:02 AM
:hmm:
wylonhrts has been allowed to stay but bimber14 was banned.
Was bimber14 your friend?
What happened to Natalie?
http://www.avclub.com/article/a-redditor-sleuth-has-unraveled-the-mystery-of-tom-107084
James Franco has optioned a book about the film's production with a view on directing an adaptation:
http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/james-franco-disaster-artist-movie-the-room/
http://www.freep.com/story/life/advice/2015/07/04/amy-dickinson-toxic-relationship/29637387/
QuoteDear Amy: I have a serious problem with my future wife. She has not been faithful to me.
I recently overheard her talking to her friend about how she was unfaithful to me. When I confronted her, all that she said was that she couldn't talk right now. I feel like I have to record everything in my own house just to learn the truth.
To make things even more stressful is the fact that she recently told a couple of people that I hit her, but it's not true. I did not hit her. I'm not sure why she has been acting like this lately. She did just find out that her mother has breast cancer, and that might be playing a role in her behavior.
We still always find time to make love, so I don't know why she would go out seeking it from someone else. I just can't believe she would do this to me. I love her so much, she is my everything, and I don't know that I could go on without her. She is tearing me apart.
What should I do? — Devastated
Dear Devastated: The first thing you should do is to NOT get married. Your fiancée's behavior and your response are the very essence of dysfunction. If you are correct and she is stepping out on you, this is a huge problem. Your declaration that you feel like you "have to record everything ... just to learn the truth" is chilling. Her counter-accusation that you hit her is potentially very dangerous for you.
Because of an escalation in behavior I sense in both of you — and the seemingly toxic connection between you two — it would be wisest for you to separate. Seek the support of close friends, family, and a professional counselor to help you deal with this loss and change.
:lol:
:lol:
Oh hai, Amy.