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.
Disowned Adaptation: Tommy Wiseau wasn't a fan of the book. It has been speculated his disdain stems from the sections about his life before he came to San Francisco — the book itself notes that the topic is something of a Berserk Button for him. The movie, on the other hand...
Life Imitates Art: After finishing his scenes, Dan asked Tommy to repay him for his boots, which were damaged during the rooftop fight. Dan essentially had to intimidate Tommy into reimbursing him, to the point where you can't help but imagine him going "Where's my fucking MONEY, Tommy!?!?!", just like he went "Where's my fucking MONEY, Denny!?!?!" in the film.
Missing Episode: Most of the movies and TV shows Greg talked about being on before The Room. You can't find his car commercial online, the only online copies of the episode of Nash Bridges he was on are from a syndicated rerun that seems to have cut his scene out, and you can't find the episode of Days of Our Lives he was on. Plus the Deleted Scene for Metro isn't on the DVD so you'll have no luck finding the scene he was in that they cut out of the movie. His only pre-Room credits you can find are appearances in Gattaca, Patch Adams, EdTV, and Retro Puppet Master.
The book itself, if read in chronological order, skips directly from Tommy being finished writing The Room and ready to go into production, to the night before the first day of shooting, only briefly touching upon the casting process and vaguely alluding to the rehearsal and pre-production, which were just as chaotic as the shoot itself and had their own train of Tommy Wiseau tantrums and firings.
Greg Sestero at 6'2" towers over 5'7" Dave Franco, who was cast to play him in the film. James' reason for casting his younger brother was because he interpreted Tommy and Greg's relationship as being fraternal and was hoping to match that interpretation.
Dan Janjigian (the actor who played Chris-R) is a 6'2" Armenian man. Zac Efron is 5'8" and Jewish. He makes it work.
Actor Allusion: Robyn Paris has a short monologue on how she suspects The Room's characters to be analogous to people in Tommy's life. Robin is played by June Diane Raphael, a cohost of the podcast How Did This Get Made, in which comedians analyze awful movies.
Both other HDTGM cohosts also appear in the movie: Paul Scheer is cinematographer Raphael Smadja and Jason Mantzoukas is Peter Amway, who sells Tommy his filming equipment.
Tommy Wiseau approved of both Franco brothers' casting, although his personal preference for himself would have been Johnny Depp. He later gave the film an absolutely glowing review, saying a lighting issue in the first scene was the only problem he had. James Franco pointed out to Wiseau that he had been wearing sunglasses when he saw the movie.
Juliette Danielle was perfectly happy with Ari Graynor's performance as her.
Billing Displacement: Though James and Dave Franco are co-leads in the film, with the film almost always following Greg, James Franco as Tommy Wiseau is the main draw of the film and is usually billed first in promotional materials. However, in the end credits of the film proper, Dave is billed first. Furthermore, while James was submitted and won in the lead categories in the awards circuit, Dave was submitted as supporting. Ironically, James had pushed for Dave to be billed first and submitted as lead so his younger brother could get more exposure.
Cast the Runner-Up: Greg Sestero said at a Q and A for The Room (2003) that he would have loved to have played the actor who was originally cast as Mark in the film as a form of Meta Casting. This aspect is dropped from the film, but he does make a cameo as an assistant casting director.
Channel Hop: While the film was produced by New Line Cinema, the US distribution rights were sold to acclaimed indie distributor A24 after New Line parent Warner Bros. cast doubt over its commercial potential. Warner Bros. still retains the rights for most international territories, and their logo still appears on the US version.
Creator Backlash: Sandy Schklair is apprehensive about Seth Rogen's portrayal of him, especially since Rogen turned down an offer to meet up with Schklair and talk about the role.
In-universe, Philip ("Denny") comments on it being odd that he's playing a character over ten years younger than him, which Greg visibly agrees is strange. Dave Franco, who plays Greg (who is nineteen when the story starts), was over thirty at the time of filming. Like the actor he's portraying, however, he's baby-faced enough to make it work, not to mention the film covers a period of about five years.
The film also cast 33-year-old Ari Graynor as Juliette Danielle, who was 22 when the film was being made. And June Diane Raphael (36) as Robyn Paris, who was in her early 20s, mid-20s tops, during the making of The Room.
Deleted Scene: An interview with David Decoteau as well as a reddit post confirm that the movie originally had scenes involving Greg's starring role in Retro Puppet Master.
Disowned Adaptation: Greg Sestero admitted in a December 2017 interview that he was disappointed with the film. He felt the film "should've been a half hour longer" and that it "should've included Tommy's backstory."
Dueling Dubs: There are two Latin American Spanish dubs: One done in Argentina for the rest of Latin America, and another one done in Mexico exclusively for that country.
Enforced Method Acting: The costume designer's look of irritation and disgust during the various failed takes of the "I did not hit her" scene mirrored Charlyne Yi's own annoyance at still having to take part in the production, despite their having attempted to quit due to being uncomfortable working with James Franco.
Fandom Nod: For the longest time, Chris-R's scenes have been acknowledged by the fandom as being the best performance in The Room. It even reached in-joke status of his actor being an actual drug dealer who just wandered on set. The film plays with the idea by having him instead be a Method Actor who got a little tooin character. (Note that according to the book, this portrayal of Janjigian is 100% accurate.)
Hostility on the Set: In April 2021, Charlyne Yi claimed that they tried to quit the film over the sexual misconduct allegations against James Franco, though they said the filmmakers offered them a bigger role when they tried to leave the movie, which Yi viewed as an attempted bribe. Yi also accused Seth Rogen of being an "enabler" of Franco.
Method Acting: James Franco maintained Wiseau's accent throughout the shoot. This sometimes made it unclear to the production crew whether his directions were meant to be applied to The Disaster Artist as James or part of the scene when shooting The Room as Tommy.
This was also averted in Latin America for the same reasons as the Chinese-speaking countries.
Real-Life Relative: In the film, Tommy is played by James Franco, and his brother Dave Franco plays Greg. Their middle brother, Tom Franco, has a minor role as a crew member named Karl.
Recursive Adaptation: The film version is the live-action film of a book of the production of a live-action film.
James Franco was 38 at the time of filming and about a decade younger than the real Tommy Wiseau when he was making The Room.
Josh Hutcherson, one of the younger members of the cast, is playing an actor who is actually one of the oldest of The Room's cast who played the film's youngest character.
Working Title: Originally announced as The Disaster Artist, it was later renamed The Masterpiece, but was ultimately released under the original title.
as well as a reddit post