The short answer as to why Tommy Wiseau owed nearly $700,000 to a documentary on The Room is that he decided to be petty in an attempt to create a favorable documentary that would not only put him in a good light but possibly elevate his career in a way that he desired. In other words, Wiseau hasn’t changed in the least bit since he wants all the glory in the world for being one of the worst actors in the history of cinema. The documentary, Room Full of Spoons, was set to reveal Wiseau’s real age, nationality, and possibly more,m which obviously means that the director/actor/pain in the you know what wouldn’t have been a mystery any longer and would have revealed him for the world to see. From a more cynical standpoint it would appear that Wiseau didn’t want that mystique to fade away, which is kind of odd since people had kind of stopped caring at this point. But given that his disasterpiece, The Room, somehow became a cult classic, it does sound as though he was trying to cash in on whatever he could when the documentary was being made. According to Robert Balkovich of Looper, Wiseau started out only charging the maker of the documentary around $500 to use The Room for the documentary, but kept pushing the price up and making demands of the creative process as he went along. In other words he was being Wiseau, the kind of guy we’ve come to expect him to be as he has a definite issue with needing to be in control. This time however he pushed a little too hard in the wrong direction and ended up having to pay for lost revenue and, just because the judge was apparently peeved that he even brought the matter to court, another $140,000 for the inconvenience. That’s a pretty stiff fee for upsetting a judge you might think, but when thinking how annoying Wiseau can truly be, without even knowing the guy, it might be that more people side with the judge than the director.
Bashing The Room is just too easy at this point and it’s punching down in a way that is kind of pointless since it’s been done and over with for a while. But the fact that Wiseau is still in the news is an unfortunate win for him since much like Joe Exotic it does appear that one of his biggest goals is to have his name on the lips of many people that find him even a bit humorous for whatever reason. Aja Romano of Vox has more to say on this topic. He might not be the kind of guy that you’d think twice about since he’s a horrible actor and an even worse director, or maybe it’s the other way around, but for one reason or another people have been talking about him throughout recent years as though there’s some unknown attraction to the guy that can’t be helped. For some folks that might actually be the case since whatever reason there was to make The Room a cult classic it had to be one born of delirium or a serious need to champion horrible movies, since the picture was something that a beginning acting troupe might have been embarrassed by upon seeing the finished product. One has to wonder just how Wiseau convinced them all to go along with the movie, though really the idea of being on camera is, for some people, all the promise they need to try and fulfill their dream. It’s a hope that those who starred in The Room went on to find better representation or were at least convinced that this wasn’t a good idea in hindsight. The documentary still hasn’t been released, but with the attention that Wiseau is getting again it might not be long until it finds someone that’s willing to put it on air and possibly make Wiseau a big deal again, though not as he might enjoy.
One thing that I’ve never been able to understand about Wiseau is why anyone would look at what he does and see anything worthwhile in it. Dan Stubbs of NME has more to add to this subject. This is coming from a point of view that’s fairly open as there are plenty of horrible movies out there that have at least a few redeeming qualities that could keep them from being worthy of the dumpster. The Room however, and Wiseau, are an abject lesson in how a truly horrible movie can be made by a truly confusing human being and somehow manage to get the attention they crave without having earned it. It’s almost frustrating enough to actually want to see Room Full of Spoons now since it might hopefully paint a picture of Wiseau that is far more accurate than his grandstanding could possibly show. Who knows, maybe Wiseau would even watch it and give his honest opinion, if anyone was willing to listen.
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