Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon. Scorsese and De Niro. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. We’re not sure we expected to add James Franco and Josh Hutcherson to the list of regular director/actor teams, but we’re going to have to, as Franco has cast Hutcherson for a third job, this time in The Disaster Artist.
Franco is both directing and starring in this one, which chronicles Tommy Wiseau’s plans to make The Room, which became known as a famously cheesy misfire and is now revered as an unintentional comedy classic. Writers Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber have adapted actor Greg Sestero’s book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, which he wrote with journalist Tom Bissell. The tome chronicles the chaotic creation of The Room, which really needs to be seen rather than described. You can find the trailer here to give you a taste of the finished product.
Dave Franco is attached to star as Sestero, with his older brother directing and playing Wiseau, who thought his filmmaking dreams had come true when he got to shoot the drama. Little did he know… Hutcherson, meanwhile, will be Philip Haldiman, who played Denny in the film. The cameras should be rolling this week.
This is just the latest Hutcherson/Franco collaboration – the actor has previous worked on and co-starred with him on novel adaptations In Dubious Battle and The Long Home.