UPDATED with video: How often does a guy win best actor for playing a really bad actor — or at least a really bad performance in a really bad movie? At the Golden Globes tonight, James Franco took the Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical trophy for his role as Tommy Wiseau, the “multihyphenate” behind The Room — a film generally regarded as one of the worst ever made.
But the film is more of a tribute that a takedown of its creator and star, and before you could say “Ed Wood,” Franco invited Wiseau onstage to help accept the award. The crowd got a hoot out of that. Franco said a lot of people think Disaster Artist is “a movie about the best worst movie ever made, but it’s really a movie about friendship.”
This after Wiseau made a play to grab the microphone, but Franco was too quick for him and quashed the effort — with a big grin:
Sestero was on hand at the show as well but didn’t take the stage.
Based on the book by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, The Disaster Artist tells the story of Sestero’s friendship with Wiseau and how they came to Hollywood and set out to make Wiseau’s dream project, which he wrote, directed, starred in and financed to the tune of millions. Despite Sunset Strip billboards — which had Wiseau’s personal phone number on them — it was an unmitigated disaster that turned into a cult sensation that still plays at midnight shows. The story of how it all came about became the basis for the book and now Franco’s movie, which focuses on their friendship as much as it does on the creation of The Room.
Franco scooped the award by beating out Steve Carell for Battle of the Sexes, Ansel Elgort for Baby Driver, Hugh Jackman for The Greatest Showman and Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out.
Can’t resist including this pic of you-know-who from the pre-show:
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