‘The Disaster Artist’ Trailer: Proves Sometimes It’s Good To Be Bad

James Franco delivers an homage to fromage.

James Franco delivers an homage to fromage.

A24’s upcoming picture, The Disaster Artist won’t hit theaters until December but it’s already generating lots of hype. A24 dropped a well-received trailer back in September and then unleashed The Disaster Artist upon the festival circuit where it garnered almost unanimous praise. And now, just a month out from the film’s theatrical release, A24 is back with a second The Disaster Artist trailer.

The Disaster Artist tells the real-life story of “filmmaker,” Tommy Wiseau (played by a gleeful James Franco). Back in 2003, Wiseau released The Room, a film many people consider to be the world’s worst movie. In the years since, The Room has achieved cult status, with screenings still selling out to zealous crowds. Polymath, James Franco, decided it’s time to share Wiseau’s story with the world, so he jumped behind the camera to direct The Disaster Artist. Take a look at the trailer below.

What stands out here is that trailer number two is cut in a way that approaches the material from a different angle than the first trailer. The previous trailer highlighted the sheer lunacy of Wiseau’s personality, but this trailer reveals a story that appears far more earnest. What we see isn’t Tommy Wiseau: Human Muppet. Instead, it’s, Tommy Wiseau: Delusional artist.

Wiseau released his seminal contribution to trash cinema, The Room, in 2003; years before YouTube, social media celebrities, and the reality TV flood. Through the lens of 2017, Wiseau’s The Room project comes across as very of the moment. The film seems to be exploring an issue that is plaguing society today: The person that yearns for fame and notoriety without the talent or work ethic to achieve it. It’s easy to laugh at the people who would show up to American Idol auditions without having the ability to sing; what’s more fascinating is deconstructing the mentality that drives people towards these common delusions.

Based on both trailers, The Disaster Artist appears to have its cake and eat it too. There are clearly laughs at Wiseau’s expense but the film also understands his longing for self-expression. I’ve never watched all of the room and had no intention of watching The Disaster Artist either. But coming out of TIFF, I only heard glowing praise for the film from movie-nerds with opinions I respect. And after watching trailer number two, I’m even more interested in checking out this movie. It looks like you can find me at the multiplex when The Disaster Artist hits theaters on December 01st 2017.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

With The Disaster Artist, James Franco transforms the tragicomic true-story of aspiring filmmaker and infamous Hollywood outsider Tommy Wiseau—an artist whose passion was as sincere as his methods were questionable—into a celebration of friendship, artistic expression, and dreams pursued against insurmountable odds. Based on Greg Sestero’s best-selling tell-all about the making of Tommy’s cult-classic disasterpiece The Room (“The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made”), The Disaster Artist is a hilarious and welcome reminder that there is more than one way to become a legend—and no limit to what you can achieve when you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing.

Victor Stiff: Pop culture writer & film critic. Film/Television/Tech Reviews & Interviews @ FSR, Screen Rant & Sordid Cinema