美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Disaster Artist' Is The Best Movie About A Bad Movie

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

What is the worst movie you have ever seen? Well, many people might point to Tommy Wiseau's "The Room," a romantic drama so ineptly¹ made it has been called the "Citizen Kane" of bad movies. "The Room" has inspired a cult² following, a video game and a making-of memoir³. And now the memoir has been turned into a movie directed by and starring James Franco. It's called "The Disaster Artist." Critic Bob Mondello says it may be the best movie about a bad movie you'll ever see.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE⁴: Even the worst movie in the world had to start somewhere, so our story begins a little before "The Room." The year is 1998. Teenager Greg Sestero is a wannabe actor so nervous he's barely audible in his acting⁵ class.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DISASTER ARTIST")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) You're like a wounded puppy. Do you even want to be an actor?

DAVE FRANCO: (As Greg) Yeah, more than anything.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) OK, well...

MONDELLO: Also in the class - Tommy Wiseau, an older guy who throws chairs, climbs to the light grid⁶, screams.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DISASTER ARTIST")

JAMES FRANCO: (As Tommy, unintelligible).

MONDELLO: Greg is clean-cut. Tommy's seriously weird⁷. So of course they bond and head for LA to try to crack the big time. Greg at least gets an agent. Tommy's auditions⁸ don't go quite as well.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DISASTER ARTIST")

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) Try not fall asleep everybody. Any question before we start?

CASEY WILSON: (As Casting Director #2) It sounds like you're doing - am I hearing an accent...

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) Oh, no, no. What do you mean?

WILSON: (As Casting Director #2) ...'Cause I'm hearing a kind of Eastern European accent.

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) No, that's from New Orleans.

WILSON: (As Casting Director #2) Where? What?

MONDELLO: Clearly not ready for his close-up, so Tommy decides they should make their own movie. He writes a script and then starts writing checks. And the checks don't bounce. And now this guy of indeterminate age, origin and financing is making "The Room" with Greg increasingly wondering what's going on as Tommy stars and directs.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DISASTER ARTIST")

SETH ROGEN: (As Sandy) Action.

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) What line? What line?

ROGEN: (As Sandy) I did not hit her. It's not true. It's [expletive]. I did not hit her. I did not. Oh, hi, Mark.

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) OK.

ROGEN: (As Sandy) Action.

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) What is line?

ROGEN: (As Sandy) I did not hit her.

MONDELLO: That's Seth Rogen behind the camera - in front of the camera, as it were - while James Franco is so Tommy under a black mane of hair, he's practically unrecognizable. Franco supposedly stayed in character all the time he was not just starring in but also directing "The Disaster Artist," which is interesting.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DISASTER ARTIST")

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) I did not hit her. I - OK, OK, line?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters) I did not hit her.

MONDELLO: Franco also has a rep for being, shall we say, over the top - such a workaholic jack-of-all-trades that in the last decade, he's not just acted and directed. He's published poetry, short stories and a novel, earned both an undergrad degree and a Master's in Fine Arts, hosted the Oscars and gotten nominated for one.

And here, playing a guy who's convinced he can do anything, who sort of did do anything without discernible talent, Franco has not just made a really sharp, funny movie about movie making. He's also made a layered and intimate portrait of a friendship with his own brother, Dave Franco, cast as Tommy's best friend, Greg, who Tommy cast - remember - as his best friend in "The Room." If all of this weren't true, you'd never believe it.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DISASTER ARTIST")

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) I don't want a career.

D. FRANCO: (As Greg) You don't want a career. I thought that's...

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) I'm want my own planet.

D. FRANCO: (As Greg) Your own planet?

J. FRANCO: (As Tommy) Yeah, it's cool. Everybody love each other. That's why it's the best planet.

MONDELLO: Do you need to have seen "The Room" to understand this movie? Well, when I saw it, the guy sitting to my right had never seen "The Room." The guy to my left said he had seen it way too many times. And I'd seen it once about a decade ago. And we all laughed at different moments, but I'd say we laughed about equally, which says something.

One thing all of us sat open-mouthed at along with the rest of the audience - the final credits for "The Disaster Artist" have about 3 minutes of side-by-side excerpts⁹ - Franco's recreation of "The Room" on one side, the original scenes from "The Room" on the other and the audio up on both sides so you can tell how precisely¹⁰ it's been reproduced - not just sets and costumes and angles but expressions, inflections, timing¹¹ so exact that you'll lose track of which is which. As that final reel reels, the mind reels, too. I'm Bob Mondello.

1 ineptly   

adv. 不适当地，无能地

参考例句：

• Unless the tests are ineptly designed, removing tests will just remove power. 除非测试用例是不熟练的设计，否则去掉测试用例就是去除作用力。
• This function is ineptly left to a small voice. 这项任务不适当地交给了一个声音小的人。

2 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

3 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 auditions   

n.（对拟做演员、歌手、乐师等人的）试听，试音( audition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Find modeling auditions, casting calls& acting auditions, all in one place. 找一个立体感试听，铸造呼叫和表演试听一体的地方。 来自互联网
• We are now about to start auditions to find a touring guitarist. 我们现在准备找一个新的吉他手。 来自互联网

9 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句

10 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

11 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。