James Franco has offered up our first look at both him and brother Dave Franco in upcoming making-of drama, The Disaster Artist.
Shedding light on the creation of much-maligned cult drama The Room, James Franco is starring and directing the feature film as Tommy Wiseau, while Dave plays carefree jock, Mark. With production now set to get underway, The Hollywood Reporter confirms that a slew of talent has been added for the non-fiction drama, including model and actress Kate Upton, Ari Graynor, Jacki Weaver, Hannibal Buress and Andrew Santino. They’ll star opposite The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson, who was recruited for the picture only yesterday as Philip Haldiman.
Lifted from Greg Sestero’s first-hand experience with The Room and what it was like to work with the eccentric Wiseau, Franco’s directorial effort will be underpinned by Sestero’s non-fiction novel The Disaster Artist, which he penned alongside Tom Bissell in 2013.
Documenting the behind-the-scenes story of the infamous cinematic dud – considered by many to be the worst film of all time – Franco and Co. will hope to shed light on Wiseau’s atypical creative process, who came to The Room with zero filmmaking experience back in 2003, and yet opted to write, produce and direct the low-key drama regardless.
Now, more than a decade after it become something of a cult classic for all the wrong reasons,Wiseau’s story is headed to the big screen. No word yet on a release date for The Disaster Artist, but Seth Rogen and James Franco are producing alongside Evan Goldberg through their Point Grey Productions.