The Room Returns

The Room Returns

A new take on the cult classic & the worst movie in the world

What happens when one of the most notoriously “bad” films ever made is handed over to genuinely great actors?

Tommy Wiseau’s original 2003 film “The Room” went down in cinema history, though not exactly for the reasons its creators may have hoped. The production reportedly cost around $6 million and took months to shoot, while its peculiar dialogue, baffling character choices and now-legendary scenes turned it into a worldwide phenomenon and one of the biggest cult classics in the “so bad it’s good” category.

“The Room Returns” takes the very same story and turns it into a fascinating experiment. This time, the film was made on virtually no budget and shot in under 12 hours. Bob Odenkirk, best known for “Better Call Saul” and “Breaking Bad”, takes on the role of Johnny, joined by Bella Heathcote, Kate Siegel and Greg Sestero – the only cast member from the original “The Room” to return for this new version, this time in a completely different role.

The project also features one of today’s most acclaimed horror filmmakers, Mike Flanagan, director of “Doctor Sleep” and “Oculus” and creator of “The Haunting of Hill House”. Flanagan served as an executive producer and also appears on screen as Peter, the psychologist and friend of Johnny and Mark.

There were no rehearsals. The actors relied on teleprompters and were given a seemingly impossible task: to perform Tommy Wiseau’s text completely straight.

And that is where the real fun begins. The filmmakers never distance themselves from the material, never wink at the audience and never turn “The Room” into a parody. Quite the opposite – the actors commit to the story with complete seriousness, total dedication and almost Shakespearean intensity. Bob Odenkirk genuinely tries to make every one of those infamous lines sound believable.

Can a brilliant actor rescue terrible dialogue? Can great acting transform one of the strangest scripts in cinema history? Or does the absurdity of “The Room” become even more powerful when treated with absolute seriousness?

“The Room Returns” is at once a tribute, a cinematic experiment and a new chapter in one of the most improbable stories in pop culture. And it was all made for a good cause, as a charity project by Acting for a Cause.

After the screening on October 24 at 7:00 PM, we invite you to a meeting with: Brando Crawford, the director of the film.