The Room’s Tommy Wiseau Attempts To Prevent Documentary Screening At The Sydney Underground Film Festival
Though The Room director Tommy Wiseau courted fame with the reinvention of his magnum opus as a cult classic, he has never been prepared to give up a certain part of his anonymity in exchange for that fame. Indeed, the writer/director has worked overtime to prevent screenings of the documentary Room Full of Spoon nearly anytime it is booked at a theater of festival.
In recent days, the Sydney Underground Film Festival is the latest organization facing Wiseau’s legal menace.
Festival director Steven Popescu told the Sydney Morning Herald that he is unsure if the trash auteur is bluffing. “My strategy at this point is to engage his lawyer in writing me as many letters as possible, as I know each letter would cost him at least $500 a pop,” he said. “I think this will indicate how much he’s willing to spend on stopping this screening.”
Of course, if his lawyer’s first name is John or Johnny, it may just be Wiseau himself under and assumed name; as some who have tangled with him before have claimed.
Room Full of Spoons is, according to the film’s website, an “in depth documentary about the cult film that is widely accepted as the worst film ever made: The Room, and it’s eccentric creator Tommy Wiseau.” As part of its mission statement, filmmaker Rick Harper attempted to piece together the true origin of Wiseau; a past he has kept well-hidden.
Wiseau has managed to keep the film from screening elsewhere and Popescu said there would be a certain irony if “the man with the reputation as the world’s worst filmmaker” censors a festival known for showing seditious and occasionally illegal films.
