1.
Heisler: I enjoyed The Neighbors ...
2.
Wiseau: Which part, if I may ask?
3.
Heisler: I enjoyed how you incorporated some
of the elements from The Room, like the chicken, basketball, and underwear. Did
you mean to draw those parallels?
4.
Wiseau: Not really. I don’t see it that way.
Because this is for TV, number one. How many times did you see The Room before?
5.
Heisler: A lot.
6.
Wiseau: It’s my style, you know? I want to present
something. I want to impact everybody, you know? All of America, you know what
I’m saying? I don’t know if we accomplish that, it seems to me people enjoy it.
And the reason I use basketball is because I like basketball. Actually I put
the hoops in my house. I wanted some little sports, you know what I’m saying?
7.
Heisler: There are a lot of similar themes, too,
like infidelity and drug use.
8.
Wiseau: Well, you know America is changing
right now, right? Marijuana? I don’t know—do you still live in Chicago?
9.
Heisler: No, I live in New York.
10.
Wiseau: Okay! So maybe you can promote The
Neighbors. Don’t believe what you read and what you hear, especially about this
interview yesterday that I had. Never mind about that. Anyway, continue, Steve.
I don’t see [The Neighbors] the same as The Room to be honest with you, because
the pace is different, number one. The relationship you have with friends,
what’s the difference between betrayal, and you have friends who are fighting?
You know what I’m saying?
11.
Heisler: The Room goes to such extremes. There’s
an extreme drug scene and there’s an extreme scene with all the fights. This
pilot was kind of the same way.
12.
Wiseau: I want to present that different
relationship, like you have a black, you have a Chinese, you have a pregnant,
you have this, you have that, et cetera.
13.
Heisler: There’s a gay character, too.
14.
Wiseau: Yeah, there’s Don. Actually he’s
bisexual. And you see, that’s the society way of right now. Let’s say we talk
about 10 years ago, people would not accept it very openly. Because you talk
about Chinese, you know, rednecks, and all this crap. We live in America, one
of the good things what we have with all the people is we have dialogue. So
that’s my message a little bit, you know? So, don’t be a redneck, don’t be
this, but you know what? We have that. So I’m contradicting myself right now
because this eventually will get better. As a whole, you know what I’m saying?
15.
Heisler: Were you thinking about racial
diversity when you were casting?
16.
Wiseau: Yeah, absolutely. We were very
discriminatory about who can actually present a certain way, America, a person
who maybe didn’t have so much acting experience, but you can feel the
commitment. You can feel the sincerity. And that’s what I like with actors, you
know? You may have actors who make 20 million dollars, but it doesn’t mean that
they can deliver what I want them to, you know what I’m saying?
17.
Heisler: What part of America is represented by
the women who are in bikinis the whole time?
18.
Wiseau: Okay, I will tell you that. Very simple.
What about Venice Beach, Los Angeles? We have some neighbors who actually go to
certain extremes. I used to live in New Orleans, actually, I know a dozen
people like that. Certain people like that who are very open, they’re yelling,
and they’re talking, you know?
19.
Heisler: What made you decide to play two
characters?
20.
Wiseau: Challenge. One actor doing two
characters. And I had the support from my team.
21.
Heisler: Why is now a good time for you to bring
The Neighbors out?
22.
Wiseau: Why is the sky is blue? Two reasons. One
of the reasons is the fans of The Room, they always ask me and I promised them.
And number two I think it’s a funny show and I think people should see it and I
think it could be the best TV show. The question is, does ABC or CBS say, “Hey,
we can work with you,” okay? And you know, Steve, I don’t have to explain to
you politics in entertainment. So we’re very optimistic and we do have an
audience, as you know. Every show is sold out, almost 1,800 people will show
up. So I’m very happy.
23.
Heisler: There’s a lot of curse words in the
pilot, and I was curious as to how you would adapt it for a network.
24.
Wiseau: We could adjust
that. Everything can be adjusted based on requirements. We’d go by whatever
rules they like. Give me an example. I know this already. But, continue. I’m
listening.
25.
Heisler: I was just curious, because you—
26.
Wiseau: Give me an example!
27.
Heisler: Of what?
28.
Wiseau: Anything! Which words you’re talking
about.
29.
Heisler: A character says “fuck” at some point.
30.
Wiseau: Okay, so we have substitute for it. We
don’t say that. We say “F you,” that’s it.
31.
Heisler: Sure, but you’re the kind of person who
likes to have creative control.
32.
Wiseau: Right.
33.
Heisler: So what would it be like to give up
creative control?
34.
Wiseau: You have to be realistic, that’s how TV
works. You have to compromise. I’m a very compromise person. I do not control
freak.
35.
Heisler: But you didn’t have to compromise with
The Room.
36.
Wiseau: Once again, The Room is different. It
seems to me some people don’t understand that. See, this is the thing, what
people don’t realize is that I don’t need the credit, but as you probably
notice [with The Neighbors] now everybody’s saying “What? What is this?” It’s
based on the TV industry standard. They have a certain standard—each scene
should have something to offer, you know? You talk about Cici [a character from
The Neighbors] looking for chicken, “What is chicken? What is symbol?” And I
say, you know, it’s a lot of stuff. It’s not just my definition. Because what
represents you as a person watching? So I think, TV, they should be happy to
work with me, but I don’t know, it’s up to them.
37.
Heisler: What is it that you like about working
in TV versus working in film?
38.
Wiseau: I did the Tim And Eric show, but I think
that we have better possibilities to reach more people. That’s the only reason
I did that. The TV format—I know TV format, I studied it, so it’s different
when you create the film. The Room is totally different. Because you see if I
go, as you probably know, I’ve said this many times, but the script, The Room,
if I brought it to Paramount Pictures or Universal they would say, “What? Are
you kidding me? That’s not the way we do it.” And now they come to me and say,
“Hey can we distribute?” Well, it’s water under the bridge, I asked you 10
years ago! But at the same time, I have a respect for them.
39.
Heisler: There are film studios that want you to
make another movie?
40.
Wiseau: I have, yeah, in the—partially, yeah.
41.
Heisler: And why wouldn’t you want to do it?
42.
Wiseau: I am doing! But that’s a different thing
I won’t talk about today. But I just gave you the example that sometimes I go
extra miles, and people don’t understand that you have to also understand the
picture.
43.
Heisler: Are there parts of The Neighbors
that are autobiographical?
44.
Wiseau: It’s come from the life. I mean, you ever have a neighbor like Cici? A crazy neighbor?
45.
Heisler: Not really.
46.
Wiseau: I did. I live in a place and have
crazy neighbors. Sometimes I do research, too, I just observe people, how they
react. So we have a lot of stuff where the people will relate to it. So, you
mentioned bikini girl you know? Again, girls like to express themselves.
47.
Heisler: I was also curious because, as you
probably know, I read The Disaster Artist and I work with [The Room star and
Disaster Artist author] Greg Sestero sometimes planning promo events for the
book. It talks a lot about your personal life. People used to ask you lots of
personal questions. And then his book gave a lot of the answers.
48.
Wiseau: I don’t think he gave the answers. You
may ask yourself, is that the correct answer? I think that would be the
question. But, continue, I’m listening.
49.
Heisler: How do you feel about the fact that a
lot of your personal stuff is out there?
50.
Wiseau: It’s 50 percent fact, and 50 percent is
not. So if somebody wants to be famous because he wrote some stupid book,
whatever. I don’t refer to Greg but generally speaking, you see. We live in
America, they are pro-freedom so I am pro-freedom. I’m not bashing people
because somebody bashed me. I’m better than that. I know who I am. So, some of
the stuff was not factual, so, in this case James Franco will have problems
because it’s not the way it’s supposed to be, you know? [Franco is set to direct and star in an adaptation of Sestero’s book,
naturally.—ed.] We have agreement with Greg that he was supposed to send
me the transcript before he published, and he used some of my pictures without
permission is illegal, number one, and number two, you know, even [co-author] Tom Bissell, that’s
what he’s called? What he did is wrong, too. I would say that he’s a very
disrespectful person because he has experience writing books. He never called
me. He just said whatever Greg says, that’s the statement. So I don’t know how
James Franco—I’m involved with his project, somewhat, so I don’t know what
would be the spin.
51.
Heisler: Are there parts of your life that you
still want to keep personal?
52.
Wiseau: Yeah, but I’m just saying that’s up to
them. Like I had this stupid interview two days ago, so you see, again they
spin it positive, but this is part of entertainment.
53.
Heisler: The more famous you get, the more
people know about you.
54.
Wiseau: That’s part of it. To me it’s a little
ridiculous, to be honest with you. Because on the one hand, yes you spin
negative or positive, fine, that’s okay with me. But the other way, sometimes
you became the fool because you don’t know me and I present myself the way I am.
Yesterday, some people apologized because they called the radio and did some
crazy stuff, but this is the thing what The Room is about, you know? I have a
dozen examples, I go to school and people apologize to me and I say hey, don’t
apologize, it’s okay.
55.
Heisler: What do they apologize for?
56.
Wiseau: They sometimes ask stupid questions, or
they criticize The Room, for example. Too deep. And they don’t understand.
That’s why Greg’s book is misleading. Let me give you an example. The doggy
scene [from The Room], right? Are you familiar with that?
57.
Heisler: Yeah.
58.
Wiseau: So I actually knew the owner indirectly.
What [Greg] put was that we just go there and say, “Hey, I’ll give you 20
dollars to do this scene.” Are you insane? Nobody will allow this kind of
stuff, including myself. Even doggy was paid. We paid a hundred bucks to doggy,
for your information. Because she said, “No, you cannot use my doggy unless you
pay.” Plus she was Chinese and you know how they are! [Laughs.] This is from
The Neighbors now, just teasing.
59.
Heisler: I know.
60.
Wiseau: Okay, Chinese, whatever, don’t put that.
Well, you decide. But anyway, this is the thing. You have to organize. I have
two cameras. So are you telling me I grabbed the camera, “Okay, everybody out,
I’m coming here and give you 20 dollars, let’s just do it, come on, guys, let’s
just do it. Get out everybody. I’m the God.” Are you insane? This is laughable.
Who’s believing this garbage? Seriously. Do you have the Blu-ray?
61.
Heisler: Yeah.
62.
Wiseau: Okay, cool. So look at the behind the
scenes of the Blu-ray. So you can see it very clearly what transpired. How
production was. We feed everybody. I hear the story, this is a good one. This
is going to make you laugh harder. “Tommy Wiseau did not have a wardrobe
person. Oh, no, he cannot afford it! Oh my God, he built his own bathroom.”
Well Brad Pitt can build his own bathroom but Tommy Wiseau cannot! Oh my God.
63.
Heisler: What do you think he has to gain by
fabricating things?
64.
Wiseau: I don’t say he fabricates, but I would
say he exaggerates. It’s two different things. I still consider him as my
friend, so I’m not bashing him, but by the same token, some of his production
is ridiculous. “Tommy say hundred times, or six, eight times, whatever.” I’m a
director. My job is to think how I want to present it. If I want to say [lines]
eight times or 10 times, a hundred, it’s my choice. I have a certain vision. If
you don’t have the vision, you don’t have the story, you can’t be interviewed
... And Greg doesn’t have vision, and he doesn’t understand when somebody has
the vision. And the jealousy eventually will come out. That’s what is proved by
The Neighbors. We have a vision. So like I said yesterday to someone, is a very
difficult job. It’s not easy. But I enjoy it. I studied acting for, what, 10
years, 15 years? So I enjoy it. But I would never write the book ... Some fans
of The Room encourage me to write the book, it’s called Disaster Artist by
Tommy Wiseau. [Laughs.] So you know what? I may even do it, you know? But I
would present it based on the facts, so actually you can verify stuff. Okay?
It’s not a fantasy, so, next question. What is your question? I give you a
little comedy here. [Laughs]. You just sat there.
65.
Heisler: I’m also interested in the characters
you play. Like Johnny in The Room, Charlie in The Neighbors, they’re
both—everybody in The Room agrees that Johnny is a really good guy. Everyone in
The Neighbors agrees that Charlie is a really good guy.
66.
Wiseau: Well Ricky’s not, actually. [The other
character I play] is a bastard.
67.
Heisler: We only saw a little of him in the
pilot.
68.
Wiseau: You will see next time, in episode two.
Because we are shooting episode two one way or the other. I’m a very stubborn
guy.
69.
Heisler: What draws you to write those kinds of
characters?
70.
Wiseau: From life. I know somebody that was a
landlord.
71.
Heisler: You mentioned vision. What is your
vision for The Neighbors?
72.
Wiseau: I think I should be on the TV, number
one, number two, the theaters, and that we should maybe do Netflix thing,
because The Room is on Netflix, so I think if eventually somebody give us a hand,
they say, “Hey, this is pretty cool.” And we have an audience already, so I
think we’re halfway there. That’s my take.
73.
Heisler: Do you face any challenges trying to
sell a sitcom because of The Room?
74.
Wiseau: I don’t think so. I think contrary. I
talked to one reporter a long time ago, that I’ll be screening The Room for the
rest of my life, and I’ll be traveling for the rest of my life, all over the
world. Because I like it. I like to travel. We go to Australia next year.
75.
Heisler: How have you grown since making The
Room? Specifically, how have you learned to manage criticism?
76.
Wiseau: I don’t care, to be honest with you. I
just don’t care. I’m very strong in who I am, I’m very happy where I am. And
wherever—again, as you know some people go overboard with criticism, but you
know what? I would say look in your mirror, and see who you are, and what did
you do. What we do, The Room right now is pop culture, as far as I’m concerned,
and some of the networks, ABC or CBS, if they don’t see that, I’m sorry for
them. You know people don’t like to play football in London, for example, or
Australia, whatever. They don’t know our culture. We have such a unique
culture. We’ll actually be screening The Neighbors in Australia, New Zealand,
and other countries as well. But you can see very clearly the mainstream media,
they don’t see that. They prefer bullshit like Jimmy Kimmel’s show, a redneck
asshole, basically, I’m sorry to say that, okay? Because they put Crystal Bell
[Kristen Bell] on the program, and she advertised The Room and she’s supposed
to be a fan of The Room, this is ridiculous stuff! So for example Blu-ray.
Nobody talk about Blu-ray. There’s only one Blu-ray you have in the entire
world. Even Sony, now I’m working with them, so we’ll see how we’re doing. But
it’s, again, some of the biggest stars were supposed to support The Room,
they’re bashing The Room, at the same token, what did you do lately? Did you
show your nice legs? She would say, “Oh, I’m a businesswoman.” What type of
businesswoman you are? Are you telling me, when you’re born, 6 years old, you
knew about acting? How to behave yourself and the quirky smile and the squeaky
voice, you think you own the world? I’m sorry, you’re not! You’re not Elizabeth
Taylor. You’ll never be her. Because you don’t have range. I’m sorry, sweetie.
Okay, and all the actresses are the same, they’re making 20 million dollars,
what did you do? I can create actors who give 20 million dollars with the best
of the best. Give me media. So again, I speak out very openly so don’t bullshit
with me. We have the fans, people enjoy it, so give the credit where it’s due.
77.
Heisler: But how did she bash The Room? She says
that she loves it.
78.
Wiseau: It is bashing my personality. And I will
tell her someday. And it’s very disrespectful, because she doesn’t know me,
that’s number one. And Jimmy Kimmel, again, this is politics in Hollywood!
79.
Heisler: Yeah. I’m sorry, I just didn’t know
what they said.
80.
Wiseau: I’m just telling you. This is the story,
what drives me crazy. I studied film for, what, 10, 15 years. I know what I’m
talking about, okay? And she said, “Oh, he was, Greg Sestero was”—it’s a clip
on the YouTube, you probably find out easily—“Greg Sestero, he was the actor
... No, he was not just the actor. He was also his assistant.” Well, what the
heck are you talking about? How many assistants do you have? With the hair or
whatever else you do? But she’s a nice lady. I like her. Actually, we should
call her to do The Neighbors.
81.
Heisler: What happened
to your other assistant, John?
82.
Wiseau: Well, I have
dozen of assistants. I have four assistants. Move on, next question. Yes?
83.
Heisler: There is no
John, is there?
84.
Wiseau: Why you say such
a thing? Don’t insult me right now, because the meeting is over in one second
right now, okay? Okay, you leave right now, okay? Because that’s how it will
be.
85.
Heisler: I wasn’t trying to ...
86.
Wiseau: Because don’t insult me right now. And
in front of my assistant right now, okay? You insult me right now. Can you
apologize right now?
87.
Heisler: Yeah, I’m sorry.
88.
Wiseau: Okay, so next question. Because I don’t
give a shit about you guys. I’m talking right now, okay. So next question. What
do we have next?
89.
Heisler: How many episodes have you written so
far of The Neighbors?
90.
Wiseau: We have 10 episodes, that’s what I told
you. I apologize to you at the same time, but don’t do that because it is very
disrespectful. I give you the meeting, I give you my time, and I don’t want
people to insult me anymore. Do you know me?
91.
Heisler: No, but you told me that you don’t care
about criticism.
92.
Wiseau: Yeah, I did, but how do you know how
many employees I have? I have in my business 12 Johns, for your information.
You dig that? Okay? And if you insult me one more time you better leave. I
think the meeting is over right now. I think that’s the best way. Because we’re
not on the same page, my friend. [At this point Wiseau stood up and gestured
for the interviewer to leave.]
93.
Heisler: Okay.
94.
Wiseau: Okay? Because it seems to me you don’t
understand the entertainment business. Who are you? Tell me who you are. Who
are you?
95.
Heisler: I’m nobody, Tommy.
96.
Wiseau: You’re a prick!
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