Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Room: Man claims Tommy Wiseau didn't direct 'the worst movie of all time'

Former colleague of Wiseau speaks out

Ilana Kaplan
New York
Wednesday 10 January 2018 17:16 EST
Comments
Best of The Room- the film many consider to be the worst ever made

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A man named Sandy Schklair claims it was he - rather than Tommy Wiseau - who directed The Room, the notoriously terrible movie written, directed and acted in by Wiseau.

Schklair, whose credits include War, Inc and The Devil's Rejects, has stayed mostly silent about his involvement with the film for the past 15 years.

The timing for Schklair to come forward is interesting considering James Franco's biographical adaptation of the film, The Disaster Artist, just won a Golden Globe for 'Best Musical or Comedy.'

In The Disaster Artist, Schklair was played by Seth Rogen, helping out Wiseau on set.

Schklair claims his job was originally as The Room's script supervisor, but that he ended up directing the majority of the movie when he was made director and first assistant by Wiseau.

"He had no idea what the directing process was, no idea how you shoot," Schklair explained to THR.

Schklair has now detailed his claims in a new book titled, Yes I Directed the Room, which will be released this Friday via Canadian publisher Finding Dimes Literature.

"You know what, I don't care if it's a sh***y movie. I directed crap and got it noticed all around the world," he said. "I directed this entire movie, except for the love scenes and the second unit stuff in San Francisco."

In the 2013 book version of The Disaster Artist, Schklair's involvement in the film is detailed by authors Greg Sestero (Wiseau's close friend and The Room co-star) and Tom Bissell saying, "Sandy helped set up eyelines, blocked scenes, worked on the dialogue, and established a basic through-line of minimum coherence," later explaining Schklair was the "only reason we'd gotten anything remotely watchable on film."

It's understandable as to why Schklair's involvement with The Room would have been downplayed for the past 15 years, considering it wasn't a part of mainstream pop culture for so long.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in