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Even if you only have a passing interest in bad movies, there’s a good chance you’ve watched The Room. Written, directed, executive produced, and starring Tommy Wiseau, the indie film achieved mainstream popularity for being one of the worst films ever made. Whereas many directors and stars would be offended by the rabid hate-base that now defines the 2003 movie’s cult following, Wiseau has become a sort of pseudo-celebrity largely because of his willingness to laugh along with the joke. He’s cool with The Room mockery … right?
It seems that in at least one instance, that may not be the case. The cult classic is no stranger to fan made spin-off projects. In 2010, a video game about The Room was released to much critical acclaim. A mockmentary project headed by the original cast of the movie, The Room Actors: Where Are They Now?, has gained some minor circuit festival attention. However, it’s currently unavailable to stream. Later this year we’ll also see the release of a movie based on Greg Sestero’s tell-all book The Disaster Artist. Wiseau is involved in the project, and James Franco is slated to star. However, the project diehard Room fans have been waiting for isn’t a cutesy interpretation of Wiseau’s so-bad-it’s-good masterpiece. It’s a documentary.
Room Full of Spoons promised to be an intimate behind-the-scenes look at how the Citizen Kane of bad movies came to be. The documentary, which has been shown in select theaters, features interviews from all of the major actors, producers, crew, and of course Wiseau itself. The project came to Kickstarter for additional funding in February of 2015, and funders were told they would likely receive a copy of the documentary in September of 2015. According to Kickstarter, 476 backers pledged more than $26,000 to the project. To date, no one has received a copy of Room Full of Spoons.
Though the original pitch for Room Full of Spoons painted filmmakers Rick Harper, Fernando Forero, and Martin Racicot as friendly with Wiseau, things seemed to have changed. On their Kickstarter page, the filmmakers explain how they sponsored one of Wiseau’s events just to get a chance to meet him, and, to their surprise, Wiseau invited them to more screenings. Room Full of Spoons was described as a positive collaborative effort between diehard fans and the creator and stars they ironically love. The Room creator has since spoken out about the documentary, releasing a critical YouTube video about Room Full of Spoons in February of 2016. The video accused the documentary’s team of exploiting The Room fans for money, dishonoring their contract, and dishonoring Wiseau’s name among other allegations.
However, in June of 2016, the rivalry seemed to go a step further. The tweets have since been deleted, but according to Reddit, the official Room Full of Spoons Twitter account posted an explanation for why the film was almost a year late. If these reposted threads are to be believed, they outline a yearlong battle of compromises between Wiseau and the Room Full of Spoons team which resulted in numerous cuts as well as the request that the film be “60 percent more positive.” The threads also indicate that James Franco was at least partially involved in advising Wiseau about how to handle Room Full of Spoons.
Fast-forward to June of 2017, and Room Full of Spoons has recently received the biggest nail in its coffin thus far: a court order preventing the team from distributing the film.
Those who have been following this saga have pointed to Sandy Schklair as the source of the documentary’s unexpected shift. The veteran filmmaker claimed in an interview with EW that he was the actual director of The Room, not Wiseau. Fans have speculated that Room Full of Spoons’ decision to interview Schklair is what led to Wiseau changing his mind about the documentary. It’s unclear if that’s exactly what happened, but Wiseau has adamantly denied Schklair’s directing claims for years. Also, Scklair was certainly interviewed by Room Full of Spoons. Not only does the film’s Kickstarter page mention the director, but so does its IMDB page. Decider reached out to both the Room Full of of Spoons team as well as Wiseau and did not receive a comment from either party for this story.
At first glance, Room Full of Spoons’ delay doesn’t seem unusual. Movies are delayed all the time, and it’s not uncommon for projects to be scrapped entirely. However, Room Full of Spoons was a project that was made through fans’ money, and it’s in a really strange place right now. The finished project that fans paid for exists, but they’re unable to own it seemingly because of their bad cinema hero — Tommy Wiseau. It’s vaguely unsettling to know that a documentary you just discovered is involved in such an odd battle with its subject. However, it only makes sense that a documentary about The Room would be as needlessly convoluted as the movie itself.
