Article content continued

And while Wiseau’s original intent for The Room — a film he self-financed — was to make a stirring drama touching on marital infidelity, audiences howled at its cheesy dialogue — “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!” — and terrible acting. It was revered by late-night crowds for its stilted acting, bad dialogue, and awkward sex scenes.

But The Disaster Artist — written by Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter — isn’t a movie that’s trying to make fun of Wiseau and Sestero. It’s a film that pays tribute to cinematic dreamers. Aside from financing the entire project out of his own pocket, Wiseau footed the bill for all the advertising and booked a theatre so The Room could qualify for the 2003 Academy Awards.

As The Disaster Artist heads into awards season floating on a wave of Oscar buzz, Dave was in good spirits as he talked about why, out of all the bad movies out there, fans are drawn to The Room, working with his brother for the first time and what the real-life Tommy Wiseau thought of the finished product.

What did you think when you heard your brother James wanted to make a movie about the worst movie ever made?

I was intrigued by the prospect of it and then I read Greg’s book about the making of The Room and I was sold. … I hope when people walk away from our movie they’re talking about how unexpectedly emotionally moving it was.

How did you react when you first saw The Room?

The first time I saw The Room I was by myself in a hotel in Boston, and that is not the way to see that movie for the first time. You really have to see it with a group because you need to be able to turn to someone and ask, ‘What the f— is going on right now?’ But I didn’t have that, so I watched it by myself and I was left feeling a little unsettled. But soon after I saw it at one of the midnight screenings in L.A. and I immediately understood why it is the cult movie that it has become. Since then I’ve seen it probably 20 times. I’ve seen it more than any other movie ever. … It’s absolutely a movie for dreamers.