A week ahead of the wide release of The Disaster Artist, James Franco stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live where he was joined by none other than the elusive Tommy Wiseau himself. For his part, Wiseau seems to be loving the attention Franco’s film is bringing him, as it’s typically pretty unusual to have the subject of a film so closely attached to it. After bringing him out, Kimmel asked Wiseau, “You are, what, 36, 37 years old?” to which The Room star and creator responded, “Whatever it is!” Close enough, then!
Wiseau also reiterated the semi bombshell admission from his New York Times interview that he is in fact originally from Europe — although he still won’t say where — as well as the fact that he spent some time living in New Orleans, which is responsible for what he calls his “Cajun” accent. So while there were no huge revelations to be gleaned from his appearance, it was mostly just adorable to watch Franco and Wiseau act like an old married couple together.
When Wiseau told Kimmel that he thought the film captured his essence “99.9 percent,” Franco countered, “Alright now we have a little bit of an argument about — so he’s told me that before, I didn’t know what he was gonna think of it the first time he saw it, because he thought Greg’s book [about the making of The Room] is only 40 percent true.” “That’s correct,” admitted Wiseau.
“So we based it on that book and I thought he would maybe not like it,” Franco continued. “And he said, [doing the voice] ‘No I approve, I approve 99.9 percent.’ And I said, ‘Well Tommy, what’s the point one percent?’ Now, he said — he said! — ‘James, I think you should look at lighting, in beginning of film.’ Like you think he’s gonna say, no that didn’t happen or whatever, he’s like, ‘No, look at lighting, in beginning of film, I think a little off.'” Apparently, Wiseau had been wearing his trademark sunglasses while watching the screening.
Prior to bringing out Wiseau, Franco also spoke with Kimmel a little bit about the backstory of his film, for anyone not familiar with the bizarre premise. The fact that Franco is clearly so enamored with Wiseau is likely a big part of the reason The Disaster Artist is already generating the buzz it is.
