After I first watched The Room (and reviewed it here), the film exploded in popularity with my friends and I. Multiple viewings for other friends so they could see it, and even a ill-fated drinking game. Sadly, the film had so many repetitive moments, the game was derailed after about 30 minutes, when everyone was too drunk to remember when they were supposed to drink.
After that, The Room laid low for a while, but when we heard the news that there was a screening at the Prince Charles Cinema in London, with director/star/producer/writer Tommy Wiseau and star/producer Greg Sestero in attendance, it came back!
We arrived at the cinema about an hour before the doors were going (any attendees reading this, we were at the 7pm screening on the Saturday night), to find no one queuing. Having nothing else to do, we decided to wait. As Tommy himself might say, this was "Good thinking!"
After a while of waiting (in the company of, it has to be said, some rather surly security people), who should we see walk up the street but Tommy and Greg themselves! Now bear in mind that the most we thought we'd see of them was inside as part of the introduction/Q&A portion of the evening, so when we were able to say "hai" and shake hands with them, we were ecstatic!
Not long after that, we were let in and quickly entered to find the merchandise table (selling shirts, posters, the DVD and a Johnny Bobblehead doll!), as well as Tommy and Greg waiting to meet and greet everyone! At this point, excitement levels pretty much went off the chart. I bought a shirt (in hindsight, I probably should have bought a second DVD, as washing it is going to be a pain, but I didn't care at the time!), which Tommy signed. I was so shocked, that I forgot to get Greg to sign it also, sorry Greg! Then we got photos with them, that you can see below...
After that, we bundled into the screen and got some killer seats in the front row, right in front of the stage. An employee of the PCC quickly ran through the ground rules, making sure we knew about the spoons. I should add at this point, it's tradition to throw spoons every time a spoon photograph is seen in the background. If you're reading this, and haven't seen The Room, I'd stop now, go find it, then come back.
Tommy and Greg then hit the stage, for a frankly bizarre Q&A session. If people are wondering if Tommy's weirdness is just an act, or it's real, well I still don't know. Judging by his erratic behaviour and answers to the questions ("Move on, next question" was repeated a lot!) and the fact he was wearing his belt half way down his trousers, I'd opt for the latter.
Meanwhile, Greg, who didn't get too many questions, just seemed bemused by the whole thing, and seemed to not even be listening at one point, although when Tommy starts going on about how "retarded" the character of Denny was, or trying to do a French accent (at least, that's what I think he was trying to do), you can't really blame him for zoning out a bit. He did convince Tommy to perform some of his Shakespearean sonnet, which he did. In a way. I should mention, that no matter how strange any of this sounds, I'm not making any of it up.
The screening begun to a huge reaction, and the shouting began! Shouting along to the dialogue, swaying arms, singing and clapping along to the songs, throwing the aforementioned spoons, and just generally heckling the film were all part of the experience, and I even discovered new things to do during the film...
I'd heard the term "wine and neck" used about a scene in The Room before, but not until I saw it on the big screen did I realise what it meant. Next time you watch it, check out Lisa's neck during the scene with Michelle before the amazing "You're tearing me apart!" scene. Screams of terror resonated throughout the screen!
Other new fun to be had included counting the amount of passes during the games of "throw the ball", and chanting "GO GO GO" during the repeated establishing shots of the Golden Gate Bridge ("Meanwhile, back in San Francisco..."), it was all just amazing fun!
The film ended, and everyone gave it a standing ovation, and as we all left the building, looking at the queue forming for the next screening, we were satisfied. But it wasn't quite over yet...
Earlier in the evening, Stacey had her American football confiscated by the grumpy security people, and we had to grab that before we left, it was £12 after all! But as we asked, out bounds Tommy Wiseau, with Stacey's ball in hand, wanting to play "throw the ball"!
Needless, to say I ran over, and sure enough Tommy THREW ME THE BALL! And I threw it back! If the previous few hours weren't Room dream fulfillment enough, actually playing "throw the ball" with Tommy was the icing on the cake!
We then watched on as a huge circle formed, and Tommy threw the ball back and forth with people for a while, then went back in to get Greg. All this time we were very aware we needed the ball back before we left, so we waited. But then, Tommy went in, ball in hand, and we turned into the little kids next door - "Can we have our ball back please?"
Eventually we got it back, but it's typical isn't it? You go to see a film at the cinema, and the director and star steals your American football. I don't know!
After that, we stumbled back to the tube, in a dream like state. In fact, the dreams I had during the night that followed were more realistic than the events of Saturday evening. I can only hope that Tommy and Greg do indeed return next year, as they were "99% certain" it would happen. I can't miss another evening like that. But the scary thing is, other than that, where can we take The Room from here?
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