History Literature / TheDisasterArtist

* {{Fauxreigner}}: Greg lands a brief TV role as a character pretending to be French [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench because it helps him get girls.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: [[invoked]] It wasn't. Sestero has never seen Wiseau drink or take illegal drugs. He does report, however, that he takes a lot of prescription meds, vitamins, and chugs Red Bull around the clock. An example of this can be seen during parts of the film's climax. During the filming of the party confrontations and the "trashing the apartment" scenes, Tommy had been taking heavy dosages of Nyquil to counter a stuffed nose and sore throat, coupled with a severe lack of sleep. In the movie he looks convincingly drunk or stoned, slurring and barely awake, but the reality was that he was just exhausted.

* [[invoked]]EscapistCharacter: Greg Sestero eventually realizes that [[AuthorAvatar Johnny]] is this for Tommy, being a successful "American" version of himself who has a beautiful wife, a job he's great at, and many young friends.

-->-- '''Johnny (Tommy Wiseau)''', ''Film/TheRoom''

That man was one [[Creator/TommyWiseau Thomas "Tommy" P. Wiseau]], who avoided questions about his background. Little did Greg know that Wiseau would change his life forever, especially when the latter began work on what he saw as his magnum opus -- a romantic drama called ''Film/TheRoom''... and boy, was it a magnum opus for [[SoBadItsGood all the wrong reasons]].

* CerebusRetcon: Parts of ''Film/TheRoom'' seem less funny once you read the stories behind it.

** Of the mythos surrounding the film. You don't make a movie as hilariously bad as ''Film/TheRoom'' without major dysfunction going on behind the scenes, especially when the director is not entirely "there" and everyone else knows that things are going disastrously.

** Tommy wouldn't have lost Raphael as his DP if he simply hired a line producer for him, instead of having Greg do the job on top of acting, something he constantly asked Tommy to do and warned that he would quit if it wasn't done. Graham, his successor, similarly asked Tommy several times to rent a generator for the film equipment, something that was badly needed. Tommy lied about calling the rental companies and told Graham that they were out of generators. Graham himself caller them, found out about Tommy's lying, and angrily quit as a result.

** A truly sad example of this has Tommy telling Greg that at his one improvisational class that the fellow students liked him so much, that he made some friends and that whenever he would go on stage, they would chant his name. Later on, however, when the latter goes by the classes (to pick the former up, not to spy on him or anything), while all the classmates are laughing with each other and having a good time, Tommy is standing away from everyone else, looking sad and lonely.

!!Tropes:

* BigBrotherIsWatching: Tommy hired a cameraman named Markus to film the movie's production under the pretense of a "Making Of" documentary of ''The Room''. In reality, Tommy spent every night watching the raw footage to see what the crew was saying about him.

* CoolOldLady: Iris Burton, Greg's agent. The woman landed an acting contract for a ''[[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome fetus]]''.

*** Both are then kind of [[{{Reconstruction}} reconstructed]] in that, while the finished product is horrible, its horribleness is strangely [[AchievementsInIgnorance masterful]] and part of its appeal.

--->"In the end, Juliette was cast as Lisa because she was the only actress capable of surviving the meat-grinding torture of Tommy’s casting process. For Juliette, serial humiliation became just another obstacle to smash through."

** Tommy himself comes across as one of these too, determined to make his movie and tell his story, and unwilling to let anything - not even a lack of talent - stand in his way. See {{Deconstruction}}, above.
*** By the time the book takes place, Tommy had been trying for years to shake his accent, and was still at it. Whatever he's been doing, though, hasn't quite worked.

** Another with Tommy's fake review blurbs; One of his made up "Movie Review publication" sources is ''Series/BeverlyHills90210''... which was a television drama series and not a movie/entertainment publication.
** Once Tommy finally successfully completes a take of the scene of Johnny walking down the stairs and crossing the room to the answering machine, he's quite smug about it. Greg decides not to remind him that earlier that day, Carolyn and Juliette had filmed an entire scene--in the middle of which Carolyn had collapsed from heat exhaustion, gone to the hospital, and returned to finish the scene--in less time than it took Tommy to film that one shot.

* FakeBrit / TheQueensLatin: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. The casting call for [[Film/PuppetMaster Andre Toulon]] specifies a British accent despite the character being French. Greg manages to avert this.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Tommy Wiseau set out to make a much-beloved film that would be a box office hit and discussed for years to come, and he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
** Tommy even ''vowed'' to Greg, more than once and as early as its conception, that the film would be such a stand-out that audiences "won't be able to sleep for two weeks". While Greg may have politely kept his doubts in his pocket throughout the entire production, it was only during the filming of Johnny's pre-suicide intimacy with Lisa's sexy red dress did it hit Greg just how horrifyingly true Tommy's prediction might become.

* HumiliationConga: Greg started to hate both Tommy and the film when Tommy demanded he shave for the "Babyface" close up. Not only did Greg like his beard but he was also planning on shaving it off later so no one would recognize him from this film. He then nearly walked off the set when Tommy wanted him to imitate a chicken. He finally reached his wit's end during a struggle to say the line "Leave your stupid comments in your pocket!" The only way he was able to produce any emotion for the incomprehensible, awkward sentence was by imagining that it ''really'' meant "Why are you doing this to me?" and that he was shouting it in Tommy's face. Ironically, this line, which Sestero hated more than any other in the script, ended up being one of his character's most famous catchphrase.

* ImpossiblyTackyClothes: The movie had some hits and some misses as far as the wardrobe goes. One of the most memorable fashion missteps is the hideous outfit Tommy is wearing during the infamous "I Did Not Hit Her!" rooftop scene. Sadly enough, to the costume designer's credit, not only was she working with a ''very'' limited budget and was forced to go to thrift shops (while Tommy was willing to buy expensive cameras he ended up not even using), turns out, the director picked this outfit to wear in the scene ''himself'' while said designer was out running an errand... and he refused to change. What makes this example funnier (or more infuriating) is that the costume designer was doing her errands while banking on the fact that Wiseau was habitually three to four hours late. Only when he found out about her absence was Wiseau compelled to get ready for the scene.

* LoopholeAbuse: Greg tells Tommy he can get a Screen Actors Guild card by being in a commercial. Tommy responds to this by writing, producing, directing, and starring in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cufePE5NaEM a commercial for a company he owns]]. Greg entertains himself with the thought that after receiving Tommy's commercial, SAG went through their legal documents with a fine-tooth comb trying to find a loophole that will let them refuse him membership.

* OneSteveLimit: The actor originally cast as Mark was named Dan, but Tommy always called him "Don." The weird thing is, the narration calls him Don too; while never explicitly stated, it's easy to surmise that this was to avoid confusing Don with Dan Janjigian, his roommate.

* OxymoronicBeing: Tommy Wiseau wants to be an actor -- no, a ''movie star'', seen and adored by millions. However, any discussion or examination of his life--personal ''or'' public--is cause for a meltdown.

* RemittanceMan: Sandy Schklair's initial impression of Wiseau was that he was likely a modern example of one of these - specifically, he believed the latter to likely be the spoiled son of some Bulgarian oligarch who had been paid to leave and never come back to avoid embarrassing his family.

* RiddleForTheAges: Everyone who meets Wiseau is curious about his background and the source of his wealth. Sestero learns early on that these are Forbidden Questions when dealing with Tommy, and what little he manages to learn only adds further questions.

* TheScrooge: Zig-Zagged with Tommy. While he's easily willing to ''buy'' instead of rent cameras and lenses to make an HD/35mm monstrosity, he's unwilling to buy extremely basic goods and services necessary for a film production such as generators, air conditioners and dinner for the cast & crew.

* StartMyOwn: ''The Room'' owes its existence to this. Tommy was, in his own words, tired of 'waiting for Hollywood' to give him a chance so he decided to write, produce and bankroll his own movie.

* ThisIsGoingToBeHuge: Tommy Wiseau, to what should be no one's surprise. He thought ''The Room'' would be a universally acclaimed classic that would net him several Oscars, that people would love and talk about for years to come. [[GoneHorriblyRight Well, people are talking about it...]]

** The famous "hospital on Guerrero Street" was thrown in by Greg because that was where Tommy's San Francisco apartment was. Even though no one who saw the film would ever get the reference, Tommy was furious (yet kept the take since it was the best one they had).

* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: Tommy did this over Greg after "winning" the Bay To Breakers race (he was among the first 10,000 people to cross the finish line and would be in the newspaper as a result). The funny thing is that Tommy ''unknowingly'' entered Greg into the race (he was even wearing sandals at the time) and with all that was said and done, Greg didn't care that he "lost" and actually enjoyed himself by walking in the race and going to a race-side house party while participating.

* WhatExactlyIsHisJob: Tommy Wiseau is '''absurdly''' wealthy, and no one has any idea how. He owns properties in both Los Angeles and San Francisco ([[https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080916/top-10-most-expensive-cities-us.asp two of the most expensive cities in the USA]]), and buys Greg a brand-new SUV practically on a whim. He paid for ''The Room'''s $6 million budget out of his own pocket (yes, it really cost that much to make) and was in no danger of going bankrupt even after his movie bombed in theaters. A bank teller describes Tommy's bank account as "[[ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount a bottomless pit]]", and Sestero surmises that it must have been true if a bank teller [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness would describe it in such an informal and unprofessional manner.]] It's yet another strange detail about Tommy's life that he absolutely refuses to explain, under any circumstances.

** Greg saw ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'' and chillingly realized it was disturbingly applicable to his relationship with Tommy Wiseau. Tommy saw ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' and thought "I can make a better movie than that".
** Greg's mother said "no sex, Tommy", and his awkward response was "Well, we all do". Given that she was just interrogating him on his relationship with her son Mark, she has a specific person in mind not to have sex with.

** Tommy arriving at the shoots ''hours'' late on some days resulted in a lot of time and money wasted on shooting as well as frustrating most of the cast and crew. One day he arrives earlier than usual but the costume designer, accustomed to Tommy's frequent tardiness decided to leave the set to run some work-related errands. Tommy of course [[NeverMyFault is annoyed by this and blames her for the absence]] and begins grabbing random articles of clothing from the rack to shoot the rooftop scene. Resulting in Johnny's infamous IconicOutfit.
** Kyle Vogt warned Tommy several times in advanced that he had to leave production early to work on another project he committed to and was advised to prioritize shooting the last of Peter's scenes before his final day. Tommy ignored the advice and instead decided to shoot unrelated scenes (like more [[AuthorAppeal football tossing]]). This is why Peter is absent from Johnny's birthday party and the character Steven is written in to take his place. Tommy again [[NeverMyFault blames Kyle for this, accusing him of not being "faithful" to the production]] and bans him from attending the Room's premier.
** Tommy wouldn't have lost Raphael as his DP if he simply hired a line producer for him instead of having Greg do the job on top of acting. Something he constantly asked Tommy to do and warned that he would quit if it wasn't done. Graham, his successor, similarly asked Tommy several times to rent a generator for the film equipment, something that was badly needed. Tommy lies about calling the rental companies and tells Graham that they were out of generators. Graham himself calls them, finds out about Tommy's lying, and angrily quits as a result.

* DrivenByEnvy: As Sestero achieves modest successes in acting, Wiseau tries to copy him. He talks of going to the same acting school Sestero did, moving to L.A. where Sestero was, and he gets a SAG card by making a commercial that rips off Sestero's demo reel. Also he told Sestero at several points to not be jealous/don't be jealous of something he said or done that seemed impressive, which spoke volumes about his own jealousy. FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize that Sestero was finding success by being himself (wearing shorts to the interview with the Agent he eventually got, getting a part based on his ability to do a French accent) whereas Tommy was and is constantly running from who he is and was failing to find success.

** Robyn Paris aka Michelle. Despite playing a second-string character to a second-string character, she charms the entire crew from pretty much the moment she shows up, is one of the only people who immediately [[GenreSavvy grasps what kind of shitshow she's entering]] and starts taking steps to prepare, and wins the heart of every man on set pretty much immediately.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Greg on occasion semi-jokingly questions whether Tommy is actually a human being once or twice. His strange accent and mysterious origins were already well-known before this book came out, what the public didn't know were things Sestero disclosed like Tommy's BizarreTasteInFood, his massive bank account, and his ability to ''put himself to sleep and then wake up at will'' moments before arriving at their destination (something that Tommy would always explain as being a "vampire trick"), or the fact that Tommy managed to locate Greg and send him a supportive telegram while Sestero was staying ''in a hotel in Romania'' despite the fact that Greg [[ParanoiaFuel never told Tommy where he was going.]]

* AmbiguouslyHuman: InUniverse, Greg on occasion questions whether Tommy is actually a human being once or twice. His strange accent and mysterious origins were already well-known before this book came out, what the public didn't know were things Sestero disclosed like Tommy's BizarreTasteInFood, his massive bank account, and his ability to ''put himself to sleep and then wake up at will'' moments before arriving at their destination (something that Tommy would always explain as being a "vampire trick"), or the fact that Tommy managed to locate Greg and send him a supportive telegram while Sestero was staying ''in a hotel in Romania'' despite the fact that Greg [[ParanoiaFuel never told Tommy where he was going.]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: [[invoked]] Despite being a film buff, Wiseau gets basic things about his favorite films wrong.
** He put the "You're tearing me apart!" line in ''The Room'' as an homage to ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'', but he wrote the line as "You're taking me apart".
** Wiseau named Greg's character after the lead actor in ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'': "[[Creator/MattDamon Mark Damon]]." To be fair, there is an [[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0198941/ actual Mark Damon]] but it’s very hard to confuse the two.
** He aspired for Lisa to be absolutely irresistible to men, like "[[Creator/AngelinaJolie Angelika Jolie]]."
** The night before production began, Wiseau remarked that Greg's beard made him look like Spartacus. In [[Film/{{Spartacus}} the Kubrick film]], Spartacus doesn't have a beard.

* According to Creator/TommyWiseau's backstory in ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist'', at one point a mysterious wealthy older gentleman had taken him in after a particular unpleasant run-in with some French cops. The man then offered him a large amount of money if he would give him fellatio. An angered Tommy then tore up the money and threw it into the shocked man's face and then promptly left.

* [[invoked]]UnfortunateImplications: The book invokes this with the female characters of ''The Room'', stating that they're only capable of drinking, shopping, gossiping, and/or having sex.

* {{Corpsing}}: A behind-the-scenes version. In addition to the "giggle tent", Juliette Danielle (amongst others) kept laughing at Wiseau over the infamous "You are tearing me apart, Lisa!" scene due to blown take after blown take. It got so bad that crew members had to turn away just to hide their faces. Despite him being very touchy and a perfectionist (he even railed on a crew member for ''farting''), he didn't seem to notice their behavior.

* PsychopathicManchild: Wiseau acts like a child throughout the book. One example is how he threw temper tantrums to get his way.

** Greg's mother said "no sex, Tommy", and his awkward response was "Well, we all do", not getting the implication that she was referring to her son.

* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: Wiseau's bank account is referred to as a "bottomless pit" by a bank teller, and Greg notes that it really must be for a bank teller to say something so unprofessional. How Tommy managed to actually ''acquire'' so much money despite his apparent lack of basically any recognizable human talent or business sense is one of the many [[TheUnreveal unresolved mysteries]] surrounding the film's paradoxical auteur. Many people on set immediately assume that Tommy is somehow involved in money laundering or organized crime, but Sestero dismisses this theory on the very logical grounds that no mafia syndicate on the planet would ever trust [[CloudCuckooLander this guy]] with ''any'' amount of money, even if he hadn't been trying to become a movie star.

* [[invoked]]RealitySubtext: The backstory of Tommy that Greg puts forth (which may or may not be true) describes how Tommy first came to San Francisco: he arrived with two suitcases and a $2000 check he couldn't cash, and stayed at the YMCA. In other words, it's identical to how Johnny met Lisa in the film.

** To wit, Wiseau ''purchased'' half a million dollars worth of film equipment (a move not even most ''major studios'' would make), including his infamous side-by-side HD and 35mm film cameras, yet caused his second DP to resign because Tommy refused rent a badly needed generator for $200 a day.

* WeirdAlEffect: [[invoked]] Greg mentions the possibility of Tommy's "You are tearing me apart, Lisa!" line becoming more well known than than Creator/JamesDean's [[Film/RebelWithoutACause "You're tearing me apart!"]], noting with some concern that a clip of Wiseau's version has ten times as many hits on Website/YouTube as a clip of Dean's.

* ArgumentumAdNauseam: Every attempt to change Tommy's mind about a course of action is met with some variation of "I disagree with that" until the speaker gives up arguing in frustration (or quits the production altogether).