James Franco Reveals Tommy Wiseau Originally Wanted Johnny Depp to Play Him In "The Disaster Artist"

Transcript

00:00

I was late to the game on The Room,

00:02

it's been around for 14 years,

00:04

there was a billboard that Tommy paid for himself,

00:08

to have up on high land for five years

00:11

and it was like him with a lazy eyelid

00:14

sort of glaring down at you and it said The Room

00:16

and then there was a phone number and it was like, what?

00:20

What movie has a phone number on it?

00:22

I just always thought it was this weird cult,

00:25

just some odd LA thing, call the number

00:27

and this crazy, weird vampire

00:29

can be in your movie or something.

00:32

The book came out four years ago

00:34

and I'm like the only guy

00:36

that came to The Room through a book,

00:39

it was such an incredible, bizarre story,

00:43

unlike any other Hollywood story,

00:46

but underneath, it was so universal and moving,

00:50

because it's a story of outsider artist

00:53

trying to achieve their dreams.

00:55

I went to a midnight screening in Vancouver

00:57

and it was incredible, it was like an event,

01:01

spoons and footballs and tuxedos

01:04

and everyone yelling at the screen and lots of weed

01:08

and it was just incredible.

01:10

The first time I ever talked to Tommy

01:12

was on the phone to get his Life rights,

01:14

I didn't wanna suggest that I play him,

01:16

in case he didn't like that idea,

01:18

I had no idea what he was gonna think about that,

01:21

so I was very sheepish, he goes, "So who'll play me?"

01:25

I was like, well, I don't know, Tommy, I don't know,

01:29

"Well, how about Johnny Depp?"

01:32

[laughs] and I laughed, he's like, "Why?"

01:35

and he was immediately like, "Why are you laughing?"

01:37

and I'm like, well, Johnny Depp's

01:39

like the biggest movie star in the world,

01:42

I don't know, and I was like trying to change the subject,

01:45

"We go back to before, I said Johnny Depp and you laugh,

01:48

"why are you laughing?"

01:49

I'm like, [laughs]

01:50

I'm like, alright, Tommy, I'll ask Johnny Depp,

01:53

we'll see if he'll do it,

01:55

"You don't go down that road,

01:56

"you don't know at end of alley, you know,"

01:59

and I'm like, very wise Tommy, yeah, very wise,

02:03

Tommy had watched my TV movie of James Dean

02:07

many times, but I didn't know that and Tommy goes,

02:12

"Yeah, James, I've seen your stuff, you know,

02:15

"you did some good things, you did some bad things,"

02:18

I'm like, okay, thanks, yeah,

02:20

coming from you, Tommy, thanks man,

02:22

"Yeah, maybe I'll direct you in a movie someday,"

02:25

and I'm, yeah, okay, okay, maybe,

02:28

but then later I learned that the two people,

02:31

that he wanted were Johnny Depp and me.

02:35

When I first read the book,

02:36

that idea that Tommy is unlike any other person,

02:40

this story is unlike any other story,

02:41

but underneath, I could completely relate

02:45

and I realized that this

02:47

is an incredibly personal story for me.

02:49

We premiered it at the Chinese Theater,

02:52

when Tommy premiered The Room, he premiered it

02:55

at this theater on Beverly called the Laemmle Fairfax,

02:59

but he drove in his stretch white limo,

03:03

he had made all these Tshirts for The Room

03:05

and he drove to the Chinese Theater,

03:07

popped out of the sunroof

03:08

and threw his Room shirts at everybody

03:11

outside the Chinese Theater and that night said,

03:14

"Hi, don't go see that movie, come see my movie,"

03:18

and then there we were 14 years later

03:21

at the Chinese Theater premiering a movie about his life,

03:24

it was kind of incredible.

03:26

When Tommy introduced his movie 14 years ago,

03:29

he said, "This my movie,

03:32

"this my life, be cool,"

03:34

and I'll say the same thing,

03:36

this my movie, this my life, be cool.

03:38

I famously stayed in character both in front of the camera

03:42

and behind the camera, when I was directing.

03:44

I learned later my brother and Seth would warn people,

03:47

they'd be like, "Alright, before you go on set,

03:50

"just realize it's a little weird,

03:51

"James is you know, directing as Tommy,"

03:54

they would show up and just be like,

03:57

"What the F, like this is insane,"

03:59

but I think it also just helped the vibe

04:03

and like to be Tommy, I think just created an atmosphere.

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