Andy’s shoot with Tommy Wiseau
“This is probably wrong, but it’s how I remember it. I think Jason called me the day of, asking if he could use my studio to interview Tommy Wiseau. That guy from The Room. The “Oh Hai Mark” guy. I’d heard many stories about Tommy from Jason. There was no way I would turn down a chance to have Tommy in the studio.
Jason and Ian showed up with Tommy. He’s a whirlwind of energy, kinda crazy, kinda edgey, but also incredibly friendly. He’s intense. He’s nuts. He’s indescribable. Jason and Ian shot a couple episodes of Tommy Explains It All — I learned all about Tommy’s Thoughts on Kissing, and his Secrets to Success. After they wrapped the video, I grabbed an opportunity to photograph Tommy—you don’t get the creator of The Room in your studio and not photograph him.
There’s no directing Tommy. He’s got very specific ideas about what looks cool, and a style that is all his own. The only way is to flow with him and let him take you on an adventure. I shot one test at 2:41pm. He jumped, posed, yelled, spun, squatted, invented a new pose, re-styled his belt, did some Mick Jagger poses, gave me the Victory sign, thumbs up, stuck his tongue out, made explosion sounds, vogued, and jumped some more. He was done at 2:45. In 4 minutes and 77 pictures he gave me a crazy amount of energy. After that Tommy really wanted to do group shots with everyone. I got to do a “cool guy back-to-back” pose with Tommy!
Tommy flew out of the studio in a cloud of crazy energy, just the way he came in, leaving me dazed in his wake.”
We can’t wait to see The Disaster Artist in the theater– in the meantime, here’s a few of the images.
77 photographs in 21 seconds