Dave Franco sees merits of ‘ The Room’
Dave Franco knows that there are bad movies, and then there’s “The Room.” Franco’s Oscar- nominated brother James directed “The Disaster Artist” ( now in theaters) and co- stars as Tommy Wiseau, the enigmatic director and star of “The Room;” Dave Franco plays “The Room” co- star and Wiseau confidant Greg Sestero, who wrote the hit 2013 memoir “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside ‘ The Room.’”
“The Room” still regularly draws crowds to midnight screenings, and it has earned a place in so- bad- it’s- good movie history over nearly 15 years.
“There’s obviously been a lot of very bad movies made over the years, but none of [ the rest of ] them continue to play in theaters 15 years after the fact,” Franco said. “And I look at movies like ‘ Sharknado’ ( 2013) and ‘ Birdemic’ ( 2010), and those movies know they are B- movies. They know they’re silly and over the top.
“And on the contrary, ‘ The Room,’ with Tommy Wiseau at the center of it, he intended to make a very serious drama that would contend for awards, and so he put all of himself into this movie and so much passion, and it’s really a personal story for him. And I think whether or not audiences realize it or not, when you’re watching ‘ The Room’ you feel that passion, and there’s just something brilliant about that.”
Franco has made a name for himself thanks to work in the “Now You See Me” and “Neigh- bors” franchises, but “The Disaster Artist” marks his first feature film collaboration with his brother. “When I was first starting acting, I did make a conscious choice to distance myself from him in the work arena, just because I wanted to pave my own path and I wanted to stand on my own two feet,” Dave Franco said. “And I’m glad I did, just because I don’t want to be referred to as James Franco’s little brother for the rest of my life.
“After a while, it just got to a point where I was like, ‘ This is my brother, and I love him and I respect him.’ And we do have very similar sensibilities, and it just felt like the right time and the right dynamic between these characters. And ultimately it ended up being honestly one of the most enjoyable times I’ve had on set, and since then we are now developing a handful of projects together.”
But there was one wrinkle while making “The Disaster Artist”: James’ transformative performance as Wiseau didn’t stop when the cameras weren’t rolling.
“He was 100 percent in character the entire time,” Dave Franco said. “I mean, when he was directing us he didn’t adopt Tommy’s personality — he was still James while he was directing us — but he was talking in the Tommy voice 100 percent of the time.
“So that was an adjustment. There was an adjustment period for everyone. For me, I probably got used to it quicker than most people just because there’s not much he can do at this point that surprises me.”