Did you know Josh was involved in "the worst movie ever made"? Well...sort of. He has a small part in a film based on the story behind the making of "the worst movie ever made"...which some consider to be the 2003 independent film, The Room.
Despite having that reputation, the The Room went on to be financially successful after gaining a cult following...and it even inspired the 2017 film, The Disaster Artist, directing and starring James Franco, his brother, Dave Franco, and....our boy!
(Pop Quiz Time: What other movie directed by James Franco did Josh appear in? Hint - the film was featured in a recent post!)
Yes, Josh and James are back after joining forces for In Dubious Battle and work together again in The Disaster Artist. Now, I'll admit, I went in to this film "blind" as I haven't seen The Room, nor did I know much about the people who created it, but I can attest that you don't need that context to understand and enjoy this film. It's ridiculous, it's playful, and so is Josh's performance. He's in a silly wig that had me racing to my phone to send my friends screenshots, asking why he looks like Tom Holland from a distance (which, he kinda did.)
While Josh has a small part in this film, it's an interesting one. In this case, Josh is an actor playing an actor as Phillip, a 26-year-old who is roped into this independent film's cast. Therefore, during his The Disaster Artist performance, Josh has to not only act as Phillip, but act as Phillip acting. (Did I confuse you? Hope not! Think of it like "actingception".)
Whatever we call it, Josh does a great job and while we don't see a lot of Philip in this film, we can pick up a lot on the character during the small spurts on screen. Although he reveals he's 26, Tommy (James Franco) gave him the gig thinking he could pull off a 15-year-old-character. Despite this, Phillip seems to be trying his best on the film set, is a little timid, a little awkward, but clearly is just a young man trying to catch his big break. He speaks up a little when sharing he's 26, but is otherwise a more "go with the flow" participant, but joins the audience in laughter when Tommy's creation had its big premiere.
What stood out to me was Josh's ability to join the rest of the cast's efforts in mimicking The Room exactly. In the ending credits, we get a side by side comparison, with half the screen showing The Disaster Artist's clips (including some of Josh's scenes) and the other half with the 'real' version, and they truly were identical! Josh followed the original perfectly and it was really amusing to witness the inspo along with "Josh's version" at the end.
Even though Josh wasn't in a ton of this film, I still really enjoyed it and would highly suggest giving it a chance! At the time of this post, you can find this film streaming on MAX.
Peace and Joshperity,
G
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