Greg Sestero, the myth of 'The disaster artist': "Be extremely good or extremely bad"

• Criticism. 'The Disaster Artist': ecstasy and sublimation of this "sindiós"

The room , by Tommy Wiseau (2003) is considered one of the worst movies ever. It is very bad, as infamous as indescribable. It is so bad that it is good in a twisted and inexplicable way . The room was already a cult tape before, when tickets were sold out for mass passes in which attendees recited the lines and threw objects on the screen. After the publication of The disaster artist , the novel in which Greg Sestero detailed the details of a shoot that lived live as an actor (he played Mark, the handsome one of the film ), and the subsequent film of the same title directed and starred by James Franco, The room transcended. Wiseau, the genius behind him - and in front, because he also plays Johnny, the protagonist - became legend.

As James Franco explains in the introduction of the novel, Wiseau "always made the worst possible decision, but in a perfect way, so the film is inimitably drinkable." His character, a mysterious millionaire who claims to be from New Orleans despite having an accent that Sestero defines as "Austrian hit by a French bus , " is as captivating as that of the film. It is the personification of The room .

The fame of the film, which was defined as "the Kane Citizen of Bad Movies", has brought Sestero to the ninth edition of the Cutrecon festival in Madrid. In this edition, The room and The disaster artist will be screened with Best f (r) iends: Vol. 1 and Best f (r) iends: Vol. 2 , which brought both actors together again.

The room has a script that walks between the incoherent and the insane. The spectator feels as if he were facing a pampering than competing in a Formula 1 race on a unicycle and blindfolded; Nothing can go well, but you have to stay until the end. the characters are at the same time flat -in their essence- and contradictory -in their actions- and some of the performances are worthy of an erotic movie. Nor does it help that his aesthetics be a mixture of ninety-year-old pornography seasoned with some heavy- duty ñoño music video and even a point of announcement of the tele-store.

It's not little. How do you deal with creating a spiritual sequel, like the two volumes of Best f (r) iends , when expectations are both high and low ? "You have to try to do something totally new," explains Greg Sestero in an interview with PAPER. "The inspiration has to be something different than The room because when we did it we had no idea that it would be something that people would continue to see 17 years later," he continues. "You have to have a sincere approach and you must try to do something original, something that goes your way."

Sestero was an actor who had worked as a model and accumulated a few appearances as an extra when he met Wiseau. And if it had not been for him " probably would have been another aspiring artist trying to survive, " he explains. “ The room gave me a lot of great experiences, it has made me meet many wonderful people and has allowed me to continue making movies. It has been, ironically, a success ».

Of course, at the time, the actor did not think that he was creating a cult character: "Of all the films I have worked on, I think I was least likely to have an impact ." But it arrived.

After its premiere, it raised about $ 1,800 (it had cost approximately six million, paid from Wiseau's pocket). In one of the few cinemas in which it was kept there was a sign reminding that money would not be returned to those who paid to enter the room. One review sentenced her: "Watching this movie is like being stabbed in the head." And people, of course, were curious . There began the second life of The room.

"It was time until they started talking about her," recalls Sestero, who believes that today, with the immediacy of social networks, he would not have had the same success. "Now everything burns faster because there is so much content that the public goes to the following immediately."

The funny thing is that The room triumphs because it is noble, «because it has the heart it has . It is seen that there is passion, that there is a message and that it has humanity, even though it is executed in such a strange way ... The only way it can exist is being as it is, ”explains Sestero. «It is a story told by a man who sees the world in a totally different way. If you exchange Tommy for a normal actor you lose the oddity, which is what makes it ridiculous, but also adorable. In fact, an attempt was made to make a normal version of the tape and it passed without penalty or glory. Anarchy in small doses is only disorder.

"I suppose there are people for whom it is more fun to meet a group of friends and see something they don't know what to expect," he explains. "Being boring or mediocre is probably the worst thing to be, because then your movie is saying nothing," continues the writer. «You have to have a message that works or doesn't work at all ; if it's in the middle you're not saying anything that impacts. You have to be extremely good or extremely bad ». Better bad than mediocre. The best test is The room .

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• cinema
• culture

Cine 'Dolor y gloria' by Almodóvar, nominated for the César awards of French cinema for best foreign film

The final interview Los Compadres: "Only with laughter can the tension of being Spanish be overcome"

ExhibitionPaterna wants to share the glory (not pain) with Almodóvar