Production on James Franco’s adaptation of The Disaster Artist has hit the ground running. Only a few days after the cameras began rolling, The Hollywood Reporter brought word that both Kate Upton and The Hunger Games and Divergent alum Josh Hutcherson had been enlisted for the making-of drama, and now Franco has brought in Zac Efron to the burgeoning ensemble.
Headlining the real-life drama as the idiosyncratic Tommy Wiseau, Franco directs and stars in The Disaster Artist, telling the behind-the-scenes tale of The Room, which carved out a cult following for all the wrong reasons in 2003 when it was lambasted for being one of the worst movies ever committed to celluloid. At the time, Wiseau took the reins as writer, producer, director and star with zero filmmaking experience, and the finished feature he created was nothing short of a disaster.
Even still, The Room has always attracted a certain degree of interest from cinephiles, and now Franco is primed to bring Wiseau’s story to the masses. Based on the eponymous novel penned by Tom Bissell and Greg Sestero – who starred in the 2003 drama – The Disaster Artist follows a man named Johnny who finds his life torn apart in the most melodramatic way imaginable when his wife cheats on him with his best friend, Mark (Dave Franco).
Circling back to Efron’s casting, THR notes that his part in The Disaster Artist has been pitched as more of a cameo, joining Franco’s directorial effort to play a drug dealer.
James Franco toplines a star-studded ensemble that brings together Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, Kate Upton, Ari Graynor, Jacki Weaver, Hannibal Buress, Andrew Santino and Alison Brie. The Disaster Artist is currently in the thick of production ahead of a planned release in 2016. Until then, you can peak behind the curtain at Franco’s feature with this slew of set photos courtesy of Coming Soon.
