By Oshun Jean
I have never seen Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room.” Now, don’t look away just yet; usually, when I say that to any of my cinephile friends, they gasp in horror. People cannot understand why I have avoided this beautiful experience. This year, IPH has multiple Special Event Screenings of “The Room” and Tommy Wiseau’s more recent project, “Big Shark,” and while I unfortunately cannot attend these events, I was graced with the opportunity to interview Greg Sestero, one of the stars of the film. I was looking for an answer to the question: “Why should someone go see this film in the cinema?” Tommy Wiseau started making “The Room” for an approximate budget of 6 million dollars. Wiseau had the intention of going for gold; he wanted “The Room” to strike audiences and critics. Greg met Tommy in an acting class; they connected, and he agreed to do this crazy project with him as his very first on-set experience. Greg thinks of his time on set
fondly and notes how everyone there had a clear vision and passion — that being to make the film as good and actually funny as it can be.
“The Room” was released in June 2003, and in the early 2000s, independent film demand was low. Major studios dropped memorable blockbusters almost twice a year. “The Room” was competing for awards and box office numbers with titles like “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Matrix,” and “Lord of the Rings.” The film ended up not being loved by critics, but there was an unexpected cult following brewing in its future. As stated by Greg, “Real Geeks took it on.” The billboard in Hollywood promoting the film’s release in 2003 would end up staying there for approximately five years — a testament to the film’s fandom even in the early years.
In 2008, “The Room” was featured in the Range Life Tour, where its cult following started to gain a lot of traction. Audiences began incorporating a sort of theatrical element to the film, akin to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” featuring callouts, handheld props, and lots of “first-timers.” These theatrical elements transformed the experience of watching “The Room” into one where the viewer never came out the same no matter how many times they indulged in a rewatch. “The Room” crossed borders and seas with its popularity. One of Greg’s most unexpectedly energetic shows was all the way in Hong Kong! Audiences often come equipped with catering- sized boxes of plastic spoons, a couple of footballs, and a memorized list of callout cues.
I asked Greg, “Why IPH? What makes IPH the perfect theatre for this event?” He began to recall that when showings get too large, he feels poorly for audience members who maybe don’t catch every line due to rowdiness or end up having a blocked view of the screen. At IPH, the size of the showing allows for everyone to have the most fun at the cost of no one else’s night. The intimacy of the screening further enhances that “inside joke” feel of the film’s humor. Greg describes this humor like “as if an alien came down and studied soap operas for a week and made a movie about human interaction.” At IPH, the intimacy of the space also allows Greg to do things like live commentary and stories from the making of the film before, after, and even during the showing. Q&As are far more manageable and interactive when in a smaller cinema. At the end of my interview, I was let in on some fun surprises that they have in store for the Special Event Screenings of “The Room” and “Big Shark” that you’ll just have to be there to experience!
There are still few tickets left for tonight’s double feature of The Room / Big Shark