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FILM 1735: THE DISASTER ARTIST

TRIVIA: Greg Sestero stated that when he was writing the book, Tommy Wiseau said that only two actors could play him in the adaptation: James Franco or Johnny Depp. Wiseau, who claims to have once lived in New Orleans, was a fan of Franco's performance in the film Sonny (2002).

James Franco spoke like Tommy Wiseau throughout each day's filming, and even directed using Wiseau's distinctive voice and syntax, though Jason Mantzoukas said that Franco did not direct in character and only spoke like Wiseau. Seth Rogen admitted he had a hard time being directed by Franco while being interviewed on The Howard Stern Show. Rogen said during the first two days, he had a hard time containing his laughter as Franco was speaking as Tommy Wiseau with his notable European accent. Franco told Rogen he would get used to it, which he eventually did.

To promote the film the distributor rented the same billboard on Highland Avenue in Los Angeles that Tommy Wiseau rented for five years to promote The Room (2003), mimicking the layout of the original billboard and including a phone number to RSVP to screenings.

In almost every interview for The Disaster Artist, James Franco mentions that Tommy Wiseau approves of "99.9%" of the film. His only objections were the lighting of the first scene, which Franco believes was because Tommy was wearing sunglasses when watching the scene, and also for the poor way James threw the football.

Besides an interview for Esquire and a video for Funnyordie.com, brothers James and Dave Franco have never worked together or appeared on-screen together until this film. Dave Franco almost appeared as himself with his brother in This Is the End, but he was later excluded because his charcter would have had to die and it was considered too sad for the already dark comedy. James was also considered for a role in 21 Jump Street (2012) respectively starring his brother Dave.

All three stars of podcast 'How Did This Get Made?' (Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas) appear in the film. In a Variety article, it was revealed that the podcast episode featuring The Room which Greg Sestero appeared on, was a contributing factor not only in the source book being completed but also served as an inspiration for the screenwriters.