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?"
01:50
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.