For those who don’t know about the cult classic atrocity known as The Room, it’s widely revered as the most melodramatic, poorly executed and all-around worst movie of all time. The man, the myth, the absolute legend behind this work of true hysteria is the mysterious Tommy Wiseau, an ethnically unknown, droopy faced weirdo.

To him, the film was a dramatic masterpiece filled with deep characters and a riveting story. To the rest of the world, it was a laughable trainwreck that had absolutely no cinematic quality. Upon its release in 2003, audiences avoided the ridiculous abomination, seeing it only as a waste of time. But as time went on, it developed a huge fanbase of people who praise it as “the best bad movie ever made,” as theaters across the nation began to hold monthly midnight screenings where people would come dressed as characters, armed with spoons to throw at the screen (as a reference to the film) with their mouths open to relentlessly mock the stupidity on screen.

Perhaps one of the men closest to the project rather than Wiseau himself was his friend/supporting actor/line producer, Greg Sestero, who wrote a book in 2014, with the help of writer Tom Bissell, titled The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made, which documented his relationship with Wiseau, the making of the film, its journey to cult status and so much more. It was an extremely fascinating book, but not exactly a book that one would expect to have a movie made out of, but alas, shortly after its release, actor/director/writer/artist/poet/a million other cool things James Franco and his friend Seth Rogen purchased the rights to the book and have just recently began production on their upcoming feature adaptation The Disaster Artist.

Directed by and starring Franco, with a script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, writers of 500 Days of Summer, Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars (yuck), the film doesn’t have a release date yet but will be in theaters some time in 2016. Franco’s production company Rabbit Bandini Productions alongside Rogen’s company Point Grey will be producing the picture with their respective partners Vince Jolivette and Evan Goldberg, with New Line distributing.

Franco will be playing the illusive Wiseau and his younger brother Dave will be playing Sestero, marking the first time in which the brothers will share the screen together. Rogen also signed on for an unidentified role once the deal was made.

Recently, some pretty big names got attached to the project as production began earlier this week. The first group of people to board were Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games franchise), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Hannibal Buress (Neighbors) and Kate Upton (The Other Woman). After the first batch of actors, another huge bombshell hit when it was announced that Zac Efron (We Are Your Friends) signed on for a smaller role, but a role nonetheless.

The Disaster Artist started out as a relatively small production with a couple of few names attached, but now it’s being backed by a major studio and will be featuring a star-studded cast. With Franco at the helm and in the lead, with this terrific gang of performers at his side, things are looking good for this weird biopic about a weird man and his weird movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCj8sPCWfUw