History Film / TheDisasterArtist

* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: When Tommy meets Greg's mom, she asks him how old he is. When he says he's Greg's age (nineteen), she sarcastically responds, "Yeah, I just turned fourteen." Tommy responds, [[SarcasmBlind "Wow, happy birthday."]]

* AdaptationNameChange: Safowa Bright, the costume designer, is named Safoya in the film.

The film chronicles the OddFriendship between Sestero (Creator/DaveFranco) and his eccentric, enigmatic acting classmate Creator/TommyWiseau (James Franco) as the two pursue careers in Hollywood, eventually coming together for the [[TroubledProduction frighteningly difficult production]] of Wiseau's dream project, an independent film titled ''Film/TheRoom''.

* MakingTheMasterpiece: Technically an [[InvertedTrope inversion]], since it dramatizes the production of [[Film/TheRoom a movie]] widely recognized as SoBadItsGood.[[invoked]]

* RealFootageRecreation: The film recreates several shots from ''Film/TheRoom'' from a behind-the-camera perspective.

* RealPersonEpilogue: The film ends with [[https://youtu.be/QZpCAzCXo3k?t=110 clips]] of Wiseau after ''Film/TheRoom'' became famous, as well as a side-by-side comparison of famous ''The Room'' scenes and their reenactments in this film.

* TroubledProduction[[invoked]]: A film production of an infamous one, ''The Room'' itself. Ironically, the production of ''this'' film went smoothly.

Other cast members include Creator/JoshHutcherson as Philip Haldiman (Denny), Ari Graynor as Juliette Danielle (Lisa), Jacki Weaver as Carolyn Minnott (Claudette), Creator/ZacEfron as Dan Janjigian (Chris-R), and Creator/SethRogen as script supervisor Sandy Schklair, with cameos including Creator/SharonStone and Creator/BryanCranston.

Compare ''Film/EdWood'', another biopic about a [[Creator/EdWood another legendarily bad director.]]

** This fictionalized Tommy Wiseau is exaggerated from the one Sestero describes in the book; his English is even more [[YouNoTakeCandle broken]] and his lack of common sense goes a bit further, such as having Johnny do the "hump the dress" bit ''after'' shooting himself. It should be noted that this is an exaggeration of the real Wiseau's behavior, but not by much; if they're taking him UpToEleven, the genuine article was already a ten. The film also shows that it is exaggerating nothing about ''The Room'' itself: there's a lengthy montage at the end comparing ''The Disaster Artist''[='=]s near-perfect portrayal of the scenes as they exist in ''The Room''.

Other cast members include Creator/JoshHutcherson as Philip Haldiman (Denny), Ari Graynor as Juliette Danielle (Lisa), Jacki Weaver as Carolyn Minnott (Claudette), Creator/ZacEfron as Dan Janjigian (Chris-R), Creator/SethRogen as script supervisor Sandy Schklair with cameos by Creator/SharonStone and Creator/BryanCranston.

The film chronicles the OddFriendship between Sestero (Creator/DaveFranco) and his eccentric, enigmatic acting classmate Creator/TommyWiseau (James Franco) as the two pursue careers in Hollywood, eventually coming together for the [[TroubledProduction frighteningly difficult production]] of Wiseau's dream project, an independent film titled ''Film/TheRoom''. Other cast members include Creator/JoshHutcherson as Philip Haldiman (Denny), Ari Graynor as Juliette Danielle (Lisa), Jacki Weaver as Carolyn Minnott (Claudette), Creator/ZacEfron as Dan Janjigian (Chris-R), Creator/SethRogen as script supervisor Sandy Schklair with cameos by Creator/SharonStone and Creator/BryanCranston.

* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: As in RealLife, Wiseau's movie feels very MarySue-ish[[invoked]]; the actors even openly speculate that all the characters are based on his own real-life relationships. Robyn, Michelle's actress, speculates Lisa is a personification of [[ButtMonkey how the world has treated Tommy.]]

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Deconstructed. Greg is charmed by Tommy's devil-may-care attitude and resourcefulness, but once Tommy convinces Greg to come with him to Hollywood, RealityEnsues as Tommy is revealed to be lacking the skills and knowledge to get any further. His flamboyance and assertiveness are shown to impress nobody in an industry where a professional attitude means everything.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Greg's girlfriend Amber's main function is to provide a source of conflict between him and Tommy.

* AdaptationTitleChange: Subverted. The film's title was originally changed to ''The Masterpiece'' before retaining it's original title.

** When Greg's mother questions Tommy, she [[ArmorPiercingQuestion pointedly asks why an older man would want to befriend and move in with her teenage son]], clearly suspecting that Tommy is trying to take advantage of Greg; Tommy seems to realise this and finds it funny.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The movie primarily focuses on Tommy and Greg's relationship and either truncates, excludes or invents certain details to translate better to the screen. Rather than getting a decent start and then fizzling out, Greg is just as starved for work as Tommy. He stays on the movie purely to support his friend rather than because he could really use the money, allowing him to have a SecondActBreakup with Tommy which by all accounts never happened (although a lot of repressed anger apparently came out Mark and Johnny's scuffle in ''Film/TheRoom''), as well as the fact that he was credited as line producer despite never holding that position. The in-universe film ending also implies that ''The Room''[='=]s SoBadItsGood[[invoked]] reputation and both Greg and Tommy fully embracing it began at its premiere, whereas the book simply ends with a ForegoneConclusion as the lights go down just as the movie is starting.

* AsHimself: Creator/BryanCranston makes an appearance, offering Greg a minor role on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''. The film also opens with [[invoked]][[BigNameFan celebrity]] ''[[BigNameFan The Room]]'' [[BigNameFan fans]] Creator/JJAbrams, Ike Barinholtz, Creator/KristenBell, Creator/LizzyCaplan, Creator/KeeganMichaelKey, Creator/DannyMcBride, Creator/AdamScott, and Creator/KevinSmith talking about the legacy of the film.

** When Greg's mother questions Tommy, she pointedly asks why an older man would want to befriend and move in with her teenage son, clearly suspecting that Tommy is trying to take advantage of Greg; Tommy seems to realise this and finds it funny.

* AnalogyBackfire[=/=]DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Tommy defends the abuse he gives his actors by comparing it favorably to Creator/AlfredHitchcock throwing live birds at Creator/TippiHedren when making ''Film/TheBirds''. He fails to realize, however, that (A) Hitchcock did this for exactly ''one'' scene to [[EnforcedMethodActing get a specific reaction]], not for the entire movie; (B) just being an [[PrimaDonnaDirector asshole and screaming at everyone]] isn't the same as EnforcedMethodActing; and (C) as Greg points out, people talk about what Hitchcock did because it was cruel, ''not'' because it was admirable.[[invoked]]

** This fictionalized Tommy Wiseau is exaggerated from the one Sestero describes in the book; his English is even more [[YouNoTakeCandle broken]] and his lack of common sense goes a bit further, such as having Johnny do the "hump the dress" bit ''after'' shooting himself. It should be pointed out that while this is an exaggeration of the real Wiseau's behavior, it's not by much; if they're taking him UpToEleven, the genuine article was already a ten. The film also shows that it is exaggerating nothing about ''The Room'' itself: there's a lengthy montage at the end comparing ''The Disaster Artist''[='=]s near-perfect portrayal of the scenes as they actually exist in ''The Room''.

*** Greg's French background and Tommy's coinciding hatred of all things French is adapted out, with his real-life French mother an American in the film (she's played by Creator/MeganMullally, an American-born woman of Irish, Scandinavian and English descent). Additionally, Greg did land a few roles and small parts (his most prominent one helped by his skills with French), but the film omits his other projects, brushing off his modelling work with one line and his lead role in ''Retro Puppet Master'', in order to streamline his decision to joining Tommy's production.

** AbortedArc: The revelation that Lisa's mother has breast cancer goes nowhere. The actress herself asks if comes back up and Tommy insists it's a PlotTwist somehow.

* FanService: Invoked. Tommy claims that if he shows his ass, it'll help to sell the movie. It got the exact opposite effect.

* GiftedlyBad: Tommy in a nutshell -- he insists that he could be a great actor if just given a chance, but nobody wants to hire him because he can't act to save his life, refuses to acknowledge the existence of his thick accent, and is frequently inappropriate even when he tries (for instance, reciting [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] badly, and loudly, in a high-end restaurant to a short-fused producer in the middle of having his dinner). Confounding things further is that he seems to have never heard of stars like Creator/JamesDean before Greg mentions him, and behind his back some of the crew wonder if he has ever even ''seen'' a movie before in his life (he has, of course, and he saw at least one with Greg in the film, but his film literacy is rather eclectic). He also refuses to play to his strengths and become a quirky character actor, seeing himself only as the hero. Both he and Greg (who has some talent, though lacks the drive and passion to bring it out fully) are also told repeatedly that even if they ''do'' have the ability, it's still at least a MillionToOneChance that they will succeed, yet Tommy refuses to face reality on this point.

* HighHopesZeroTalent: Averted. Tommy is GiftedlyBad, never notices just how bad of an actor he is, and never tries to improve, refusing to face reality.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Many of Wiseau's directing decisions run on this. Why did Tommy build an exact replica set of a nearby alleyway when they could just film in the actual alleyway? "Because, it's real Hollywood movie." Given that he'd made a deal with the film crew to shoot as much of the scenes as possible within their studio, he probably took it too literally.

** In the book, Tommy's reaction to the audience's mockery at the premier is left up to the imagination, as Greg loses sight of Tommy when the lights go down. In the movie, his increasingly distressed reactions – his initial satisfaction at the audience's rapt attention then turning to confusion, panic, humiliation, and despair – are given great focus, and likewise the entire scene afterwards where he flees the venue and repairs his friendship with Greg during a heartfelt retrospective on the bizarre, beautiful monster they created is not described in the book.

** In the book, Tommy's reaction to the audience's mockery at the premier is left up to the imagination, as Greg loses sight of Tommy when the lights go down. In the movie, his increasingly distressed reactions – his initial satisfaction at the audience's rapt attention then turns to confusion, panic, humiliation, and despair – are given great focus, and likewise the entire scene afterwards where he flees the venue and repairs his friendship with Greg during a heartfelt retrospective on the bizarre, beautiful monster they created is not described in the book.