Actor Greg Sestero, most famous for his role as Mark in the cult film “The Room,” came to the FilmBar movie theater on Friday night for a multimedia event that included a documentary on the making of the film and a reading from Sestero’s book “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made.”
“The Room” is a 2003 drama film that has since become notorious for its laughable dialogue and strange, often-unexplained plot. Entertainment Weekly called it the “’Citizen Kane’ of bad movies.”
Sestero, however, had no idea of the fame the movie would achieve when he appeared in it.
“I honestly didn’t even think anyone would see it,” Sestero said. “No distribution, no known actors, further many in their first roles, and you just think it has no shot.”
He had worked on “The Room” while working as a young actor in the California area, during which he appeared in supporting roles in commercials, the Robin Williams film “Patch Adams” and the soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”
“I just figured it was one job to the next, and then you get that role that suits you, and that can you really shine in to continue your career,” Sestero said. “That’s kind of what that work really was.”
He appeared in “The Room” after befriending Tommy Wiseau, who would go on to direct, produce, write and star in the film.
“‘The Room’ I didn’t even really consider a movie, because it’s kind of like doing a student film for your friend,” Sestero said. “You figure they want you to be in it, and you do it. You don’t really want to, but you just kind of do it, thinking nobody will see it, and that’s randomly a movie that everybody sees. So really, it never works out the way you expected.”
Sestero’s book “The Disaster Artist,” co-written with journalist Tom Bissell, is largely about Sestero’s experience shooting “The Room,” as well as his strange friendship with Wiseau.
Sestero said he believes that it could be a book that could appeal to both fans of “The Room” and those interested in an artistic career.
“Now with an audience that is kind of bewildered by this movie, loves this movie, I thought this story would appeal to them,” Sestero said. “And I felt like anybody who ever thought about pursuing art, an artistic career, I thought it’d be something you can follow and maybe get a better perspective on it.”
This was not Sestero’s first time in Phoenix. He visited the city in 2010 for a screening of “The Room.”
“I had done a tour of Phoenix with the movie when I first started working on the book back in 2010,” Sestero said. “I thought it’d be a great opportunity to come back to Phoenix now that the book’s out and be able to connect with fans and share the story behind the making of the movie.”
Attendees at Friday’s event were unabashed in their love of the film. Many seemed to enjoy “The Room” because of its enjoyable lack of quality and the sincerity in its making.
“’The Room’ is an experience all to its own,” audience member John Buckley said. “You can see the intention of it, and it’s kind of sad and kind of awesome at the same time.”
“It’s a train wreck. It’s that kind of freak-show quality, you know, two bits a gander to see the freaks,” Mark Boyd said. “I think he really was trying to make a great movie, and it just turned out so bad.”
As Sestero predicted, the fans attending also largely enjoyed “The Disaster Artist.” Many held their copies to get them signed.
“I liked the kind of behind-the-scenes of how the movie got made,” Shelly Grant said. “When I saw the movie I always wondered like, ‘How did this even get made?’ And to kind of get that back story was really interesting.”
“It provoked a lot of emotion from me,” Danitza LaMadrid added. “I laughed, I cried, just a really well-written book.”
“The Room” certainly seems like something both audiences and its co-star Sestero will never forget about.
“I basically went through this insane experience making this movie, trying to become an actor and kind of everything went the opposite way I planned,” Sestero said. “And you’re 12 years later, this movie that I thought no one would ever see is now playing to sold-out crowds around the world.”
Contact the reporter at djmarino@asu.edu
