Lily Tung was in London. She met some guy. He told her she had to see The Room. It was, he explained, the worst movie of all time.

“I’m like, ‘No, come on,’ and I listed all these other bad movies,” said Tung, 23. “He’s like, ‘No, no, it’s worse.’ He’s like, ‘All those movies, I bet, were in focus. This isn’t even all in focus.’ I’m still like, ‘Really?’ So I went and watched some clips online. When I saw the first couple, I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s just a bad movie.’ But then I kept watching more clips, and it got worse and worse and worse, and I was like, ‘Oh my God. This has been missing from my life.’ ”

That is how it goes with The Room: receipt of impassioned recommendation, skepticism, visit to YouTube, confused laughter, dozens of additional visits to YouTube, increasingly hysterical laughter, intense devotion. Then, almost always, comes the you-must-see-this-now friend-harassing evangelism that has turned it into a cult hit in, among other places, New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

At the 400-seat Royal Cinema, where The Room debuted in July 2009 and plays again Friday night, it has sold out about half its monthly 11:30 p.m. screenings. Fanatics sometimes arrive an hour early to secure tickets.

“I tell as many people as possible,” said Philip Rice, 22, who attended the July screening, his fifth, dressed in a tuxedo in honour of the scene in which characters wear wedding attire to toss a football around while standing a metre away from each other. “I don’t know — 30, 40?”

The Room missionaries typically tell prospective converts that it must be seen to be believed. This is true. Even a recent 5,000-word essay on the film in Harper’s magazine, which called it “the movie that an alien who has never seen a movie might make after having had movies thoroughly explained to him,” does not quite do it justice.

It is, after all, a supposed romantic drama in which a prominent character announces she is dying of breast cancer and then nobody ever mentions that again; in which there are three sex scenes set to R&B slow jams in the first half-hour; and in which a climactic fight involves the heartbroken main character angrily calling his girl-stealing former best friend a chicken and then saying, while making chicken gestures, “Cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep.”

That clucking character, moreover, is played by writer/director/producer/star Tommy Wiseau, a stringy-haired would-be auteur of indeterminate Eastern European origin and questionable soundness of mind who finished the film with his fifth production crew because the first four quit.

Wiseau, who expresses sincere disappointment that the Oscars did not honour The Room, says he provided 80 per cent of the $6 million budget. He will not say how he came by $4.8 million.

“There’s lots of bad films out there,” said Royal Cinema program director Stacey Donen. “But this one, with the combination of the music, the acting, the writing, and then Tommy as a persona — it’s just unimaginable that something could be like this.”

Some of the fun at the Royal comes from the audience participation that has prompted loose comparisons between The Room and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Repeat attendees like Rice shout criticisms at the characters and at Wiseau the director (“Tommy, focus!”), repeatedly throw plastic spoons in the air for a reason not worth explaining, and stand for a mock ovation after a particularly nonsensical 15-second exchange involving Wiseau’s character and a flower shop employee.

Depending on the regulars’ level of boisterousness, which appears to vary with the regulars’ level of pre-screening alcohol consumption, the crowd sometimes drowns out much of the dialogue.

“Even if it’s not your kind of film, just the experience of being there with the audience — there’s nothing like it,” said Donen. “It’s one thing to sing along to something, or memorize the lines, but to continually shout at the screen?”

Brendon Smy, 18, left the July screening, his first, smiling.

“That was the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my life,” Smy said. “I loved it.”

---

The auteur

The Star interviews Tommy Wiseau

Below is a condensed transcript of a telephone interview the Star conducted with The Room writer/director/producer/star Tommy Wiseau in July:

How do you react when people say the movie is funny but only because it’s bad? Do you care?

To upset me would take decades. That’s number one. Number two, again, I’m pro-freedom. As long as it’s a sincere way. By the way, slang for “good” in America is “bad.” That’s one thing that people don’t realize. Bad equal good, actually. But if they’re saying that and they still want to see The Room? I want you to enjoy it, that’s what entertainment is, for God’s sake. If you’re laughing at me, you know what, I’m laughing too. Believe it or not. My job as a director is to provoke people in a positive way.

Did The Room really cost $6 million?

Well, we used the two formats, HD and 35mm. And let me say it this way. If you have a captain, in this case me, and my ship, the ship is a stage, and you have sailors, your assistants, and they quit four times, what do you do? You try to replace them. Do you know what the cost is to replace people? And keep in mind that happened four times, the entire crew.

Are you at all surprised at how successful The Room has been in so many different cities, in Canada and elsewhere?

Well, we like Canadians, for your information. We love you people. I’m not surprised because The Room was designed by Americans, you know, because of a certain symbolism within The Room, but right now I will say openly that The Room actually connects a lot of the world right now. I will say very openly: you can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourself, but please don’t hurt each other.

Could you talk about what you mean by the symbolism you mention?

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

For example, the Golden Gate Bridge, you know, survive, or, we have technology a long time ago, and people relate to it, you know, like earthquake, for example, you know. And they say, “Wait a minute, this is Golden Gate Bridge, you know, what is behind all this technology?”

The Room, as you probably noticed is different cookie-cutter from Hollywood. Otherwise we’ll be not talking about The Room. People try to compare, to this, to that, etc., I will try not to drop the name, but you know what? You cannot compare oranges to lemon. I rest my case, you can quote me on that.

There’s so much football-playing in the movie. Was that symbolism?

Absolutely. America, I don’t know if you observed just recently, the Cup, the soccer, uh, the soccer competition, World, uh, long story short, again I’m trying to summary this, in America people try to play soccer, we do, as you notice, but for some reason it doesn’t work so well. Because the football, American football, is American football. The same, basketball, et cetera et cetera. So it’s this huge culture. We grow up, you know. I love it, America, even though I do play soccer, if you ask me. There’s nothing wrong with that. Any sport, be honest with you. But seems to me because of The Room, a lot of people will know about, what is the football? (Laughs) I don’t know, I’m just laughing because a lot of people ask me similar question. But yes, absolutely, it’s a huge part of a culture in America and it doesn’t matter who you are, you will learn that this is huge American culture about the football, from the beginning, if you ask me, century right now, that’s for sure. Let’s move on, next question.

It struck me as unusual that there are three long love scenes near the beginning of the movie. Why, as a director, did you decide to structure the film that way?

I said to myself, should Johnny (Wiseau’s character) be naked or not? See, if I would put only short scene, kissing, it doesn’t work for me, to be honest with you. And it does not work for me, and you may say, “Well the love scene is a little dragging, in a sense,” and I did this on purpose. I said, “I’m not taking this down. That’s the way I want it.” Go to the bathroom if you want. The Los Angeles people say, “Well, this is the time to stretch.”

How do you react to people who call you a genius?

It’s complimentary. I like when people actually enjoy themselves. I don’t know how’s it in Canada, I never been there, but in America sometimes, when I grew up, I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana as well as Bay Area, you can scream, you can do whatever — today’s society it’s like, well, you can, but actually, you cannot. It’s just a grey area.

I will say to you, as well as I say to others, that indirectly The Room eliminate crime. Because I encourage theatre people to screen at midnight, and keep in mind that midnight is usually the time for vampire gangsters, you know, to do wrong. So instead of doing wrong, spend a few dollars on The Room and enjoy yourself.

Other reporters have said you don’t like to say where you’re from. Is that true? Where are you from?

No, you can ask, we have no restrictions. I’m an American. Yes, my little childhood was in Europe, but we leave it that way. Maybe someday people discover something. You never know. (Laughs)

How do you feel when you attend screenings and people are clapping and singing and shouting at the screen?

I love it. I always say you don’t have to throw a spoon or play football, but it’s great.

I read somewhere that you made your money importing leather jackets from Korea. Is that true?

For your information, since you opened this little window here, I will say that we’ll design clothes starting next year.

You submitted the film for an Oscar. Do you think it should’ve been nominated for something?

I’ll be honest with you, I was very disappointed. But it is what it is. Maybe someday, somebody recognize something. I’m not here for recognition. I have fans, and I’m happy with that.