The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made

by Greg Sestero, Tom Bissell

Overview

From the actor who somehow lived through it all, a “sharply detailed…funny book about a cinematic comedy of errors” (The New York Times): the making of the cult film phenomenon The Room.

In 2003, an independent film called The Room—starring and written, produced, and directed by a mysteriously wealthy social misfit named Tommy Wiseau—made its disastrous debut in Los Angeles. Described by one reviewer as “like getting stabbed in the head,” the $6 million film earned a grand total of $1,800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. Ten years later, it’s an international cult phenomenon, whose legions of fans attend screenings featuring costumes, audience rituals, merchandising, and thousands of plastic spoons.

Hailed by The Huffington Post as “possibly the most important piece of literature ever printed,” The Disaster Artist is the hilarious, behind-the-scenes story of a deliciously awful cinematic phenomenon as well as the story of an odd and inspiring Hollywood friendship. Greg Sestero, Tommy’s costar, recounts the film’s bizarre journey to infamy, explaining how the movie’s many nonsensical scenes and bits of dialogue came to be and unraveling the mystery of Tommy Wiseau himself. But more than just a riotously funny story about cinematic hubris, “The Disaster Artist is one of the most honest books about friendship I’ve read in years” (Los Angeles Times).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476730400
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	73,359
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Greg Sestero is a French-American actor, producer, and writer. He costarred in the cult phenomenon The Room.

Tom Bissell is the author of several books and a winner of the Rome Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He writes frequently for Harper’s and The New Yorker.

Editorial Reviews

The Disaster Artist doesn’t just answer the question: How do awful cult movies get made? It also reminds us how confusing, hilarious, and wonderful it is to be in your 20s, and why you’re glad you don’t have to do it twice. It’s like a wonderfully weird mash-up of a contemporary Candide and Sunset Boulevard.

Joel Stein

"A surprising, hilarious and compelling account of the making of the modern Plan 9 from Outer Space."

Patton Oswalt

"One of the worst movies of all time has spawned one of the most entertaining books I've read in years. It's a happy ending worthy of Hollywood."

A. J. Jacobs

"Finally, a hilarious, delusional, and weirdly inspirational explanation for the most deliciously awful movie ever made."

Rob Lowe

"The Disaster Artist has to be one of the funniest, most deliciously twisted tales I have ever read. This extraordinary book is many things: a guide on how to succeed, sort of, in Hollywood; a life lesson in the virtues of deaf, dumb, and blind persistence; a very surreal variation on the archetypal American story of the immigrant dream. But at its heart lies the story of a deep and abiding friendship that survives against all odds, and the insanely bizarre film that stands as proof."

Ben Fountain

"Downright thrilling . . . a making-of book like no other."

starred review Booklist

"The Disaster Artist is not only the terrifically engaging tale of a bad Hollywood movie, it's one of the most honest books about friendship I've read in years."

Los Angeles Times

"Even if you haven’t seen Tommy Wiseau’s cult film phenomenon, The Room, it would be a mistake to not pick up The Disaster Artist. "

The New York Observer

"Hilarious . . . the stories behind the making of The Room are even more bizarre than one might expect; truly, like the film itself, they must be seen to be believed.

The Paris Review

"Very funny."

The AV Club

Possibly the most important piece of literature ever printed.

The Huffington Post

"I laughed so hard reading The Disaster Artist that I cried."

RollingStone.com

"In The Disaster Artist, we learn some fascinating tidbits . . . [Sestero] is an engaging storyteller who takes us from football games in Golden Gate Park to ludicrous parking lot film shoots, peppering the journey with whip-smart insights and laugh-out-loud jokes."

Los Angeles Magazine

"The book's behind-the-scenes tales are so outsized that they are due to become part of movie-making lore."

The Brooklyn Rail

"Make no mistake about it: The Disaster Artist is terrific. Every page is a treasure that reveals more background information for one of cinema's famous train wrecks."

Man Cave Daily

"Hysterical . . . a terrific sense of humor is the book's greatest asset."

Bookgasm

"Hilarious, and often poignant . . . If you're a fan of The Room, or if you're just looking for a memoir unlike any you've ever read, don't hesitate to pick up this book."

ChicksDigBooks.com

"A human drama that's compulsively readable, a tale of men whose bond allows them both to stumble their way into cinema history."

CriticSpeak.com

A book about a cinematic comedy of errors . . . sharply detailed . . . funny.

The New York Times

A story of obsession and friendship that only Hollywood can birth . . . Readers aren't propelled through this book simply wondering what will happen, they're more concerned with how in the world it all happened—whether they've never heard of The Room or they've watched it dozens of times.

The Oregonian

The Disaster Artist delivers an evenhanded portrayal of Wiseau and elucidates more than Room superfans had ever dreamt of learning about their craggy, pale-faced idol.

Esquire.com

Sestero recounts this surreal filmmaking experience 10 years later with grace, intelligence and thoughtfulness. He and Bissell deftly put together an eloquent, wry, absolutely hilarious story. Wiseau’s blunders and Sestero’s dry observations make for laugh-out-loud experiences every chapter.

Roanoke Times

"How bad is [The Room]? You should watch it and find out for yourself. Then you should read actor Greg Sestero's tell-all memoir, The Disaster Artist, to find out how and way everything about the movie went so wrong. . . . Hilarious and surprisingly touching."

The Daily Oklahoman

"A revelatory and moving look at both the man and the movie that have proved so fascinating for so many . . . filled with juicy, jaw dropping stories that are too good to spoil here. . . .You don't need to have seen The Room to love The Disaster Artist."

Asbury Park Press

"Hilarious and unexpectedly moving."

Los Angeles Review of Books

A great portrayal of hopefuls coming to Los Angeles to pursue their ambitions, and an even greater examination of what it means to be a creative person with a dream and trying to make it come true….In so many ways. Tommy c’est moi.

VICE.com James Franco

"Hysterical, rollickingly entertaining."

San Jose Mercury News

"Like disaster porn...memorable for being actually inspiring, to my surprise."

TheWire.com

"One of the worst movies of all time has spawned one of the most entertaining books I've read in years. It's a happy ending worthy of Hollywood."

author of Drop Dead Healthy - A.J. Jacobs

2013-08-15
Funny, engaging first-person account of the making of The Room (2003), "the Citizen Kane of bad movies." French-American actor Sestero collaborates with acclaimed author Bissell (Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creation, 2012, etc.), producing a deft, energetic narrative as concerned with the romantic American obsession with celebrity as with his trying involvement with The Room and its notorious producer/director/writer/star, Tommy Wiseau. Wiseau dominates his bewildering, unintentionally hilarious film, so Sestero's focus on trying to understand his friend's baffling background and motivations gives the story of their relationship surprising depth, even though Wiseau comes off as creepy, self-centered and socially inept (though often bighearted and generous toward the youthful Sestero, possibly his only friend). The narrative follows two strands, one beginning with their 1998 meeting in an acting class where Wiseau presented "beautifully, chaotically wrong performances," and the other covering The Room's production, for which Sestero served as both line producer and (at the last minute) as a replacement actor in a key role. Fans of the film will be pleased to learn that making it was an equally punishing and surreal experience, as the manipulative, confusing Wiseau's relations with the cast were "disastrously intemperate." Yet, Wiseau spent so much of his own money that a major Hollywood equipment supplier felt compelled to aid him through the production, even as crew members routinely quit in dismay. Sestero now seems mystified by his willingness to spend time on "Tommy's Planet," having wrongly assumed that Wiseau's vanity project would never reach completion. However, he argues that for all Wiseau's flaws, their friendship provided his abashed younger self with needed inspiration: "He was simply magically uninhibited." Sestero critiques the movie as Tommy's "dream life in line with what he thought an American would want." This may explain why his objectively terrible film nonetheless struck a chord, although the narrative does not explore its cult afterlife, ending abruptly at the film's premiere. An improbably resonant tale of warped creativity and friendship.

Kirkus Reviews