Tag Archives: Bristol Bad Film Club

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The night Bristol Bad Film Club met Tommy and Greg…

How Tim and I met the stars of ‘the Citizen Kane of bad movies’ – The Room.

The BBFC with Tommy and Greg

It all started with an email in early November.

For months, we had known that at some point we would have to show The Room, so I was deep into researching how we would go about getting permission. Full screening rights for The Room lie with Tommy Wiseau and if he doesn’t want you to show it, you can’t show it. He’s also notoriously hard to get hold of.

I contacted the Prince Charles Cinema in London, who famously do regular screenings of the cult classic, in order to pick their brains and it was then I read the most awesome sentence ever.

“Well, Tommy and Greg are coming to London in February to present some screenings here, so if you want to ask him face-to-face, there’s your opportunity.”

TOMMY WISEAU AND GREG SESTERO ARE COMING TO LONDON?!

That was all I needed to hear. Quickly, an email was sent out to the Bristol Bad Film Brain Trust (the group of people who are regularly forced to endure the latest monstrosity that I have uncovered) informing them of this amazing news.

Their response was equally ecstatic, with one even putting forward an elaborate plan to kidnap both Tommy and Greg in order to have them at our future screening.

Tickets were promptly purchased and over the intervening months, I finally managed to get a screening licence for The Room (although that was an epic feat in its own right).

Tommy Wiseau

Finally the day came and eight of us made the trip to London (complete with Tube strikes) in order to see if meeting Tommy and Greg would be as awesome as we had always imagined.

They did not let us down.

In front of a crowd, Tommy is everything you’d expect him to be. Confident, funny and with one eye on the pretty girls. Greg is, understandably, fully aware that this is Tommy’s World and he’s just living in it, but seems to enjoy meeting the fans of his most infamous role.

There was also a Q&A. Sure that they must have been asked the same questions ad nauseum regarding spoons, footballs and ‘Why is it called The Room?’, I decided to try something a little different…

Keen to get Tommy and Greg to film an intro for our screening, Tim and I slipped out as the film got underway. We’d been told that Tommy and Greg hang around the bar for the film’s duration.

Not only did they sign our merchandise and pose for photos, but they both seemed genuinely interested in our screening. Tommy even mentioned that he had never been “to the country of Bristol” and would love to go, therefore we should show the film every month. Once he heard it was a charity screening, he furnished us with a bunch of free bags, and was keen to point out he also designed them himself.

As for the intro? Well, he essentially directed us on how it should be done, but then he was the only ‘qualified’ director out of us.

He also blessed Tim, who had decided that the one thing missing in his life was Tommy Wiseau underwear.

As we left the screening, happy that we’d met them both and that they were both as nice as we’d hoped, we noticed Tommy was out front playing football with the crowd who were waiting for the next screening.

Well aware of the devotion of his fans, Tommy was not going to let them down and whether you like The Room or not, you have to admire his boundless enthusiasm.

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Dare you enter The Room?

This month, we’re showing ‘the Citizen Kane of bad movies’ – The Room. But why has a film that is so bad become so popular? And how, after ten years since it first came out, does it continue to sell out around the world?

Great story Mark

Last year, co-star (and producer) Greg Sestero wrote a book called The Disaster Artist detailing how The Room came to be. In his hilarious book (which we highly recommend you get), Greg details how he met Tommy Wiseau at an acting school and was draw to the man’s bizarre accent (is he Austrian? Eastern European? No one actually knows…), his ‘unique’ style of acting and his passion for films. The two soon became friends, resulting in Wiseau’s last-second offer to Sestero of costarring with him in The Room, a movie Wiseau wrote and planned to finance, produce, and direct—in the parking lot of a Hollywood equipment-rental shop.

The shoot was a circus. Apparently, Wiseau spent $6 million of his own money on his film, opting to buy equipment outright, rather than hire it, which is the industry norm. However over eight months, which saw crew and assorted actors frequently fired, The Room came to life… like some sort of resurrected corpse.

Like a resurrected corpse, it made no sense, as Tommy insisted everyone stick to the words that he had originally written.

Despite the concerns of all the cast and crew, Wiseau rented a Hollywood billboard featuring his alarming headshot and staged a red carpet premiere. The Room made $1800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. One reviewer said that watching The Room was like “getting stabbed in the head”.

But that was not the end…

Of the few people that saw the film, a handful realised the magnitude of the film’s unintentional hilarity. This prompted a series of midnight screenings in and around Los Angeles that allowed The Room to solidify its reputation as a cinematic experience, although not in the way Wiseau intended.

Before long, The Room had worldwide cult appeal and was being shown in cinemas all around the world, with audience participation on a par with The Rocky Horror Show.

And now, finally, we are showing it in Bristol!

Get your tickets here… you won’t regret it.

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That damn gang and their stupid cocaine

Last Thursday, at The Cuban in Bristol, we showed our first film of 2014, Miami Connection, to a crowd over 180 people. 

Our fifth film overall, this was by far our largest: our previous largest screening had been to ‘just’ 110 people. With over 150 advance tickets sold for Miami Connection, this is hopefully a sign of things to come for 2014. Bristol has developed a taste for bad cinema, and we’re the guys with the menu.

I (Tim) kicked off with a brief welcome, before handing over to a couple of reps from the Travelling Light Theatre Company, the charity we were sponsoring for this screening. After a short video briefly outlining what they do, co-founder Ti introduced the film itself.

With a video explaining who Miami Connection writer, star, and all round awesome guy, YK Kim actually is, the audience was well prepared for the awful, awful majesty of what was to follow.

From my vantage point at the back, the audience reaction was unparalleled. Quite how many knew what they had let themselves in for, I don’t know. But I do know that many, many people went home with their lives changed after this event. Battling back tears of joy, I heard one audience member say with disbelief, “I am SO GLAD I came”.

This is what Bristol Bad Film Club is about. We didn’t start the club to make money, we started the club so we could travel through time. No, wait, that was the DeLorean. We started the club to watch bad films and have a good time. Watching a bad film on your own is OK. Watching a bad film in a group is immense. Watching a film in a group, with a drink and some food, and a great setting is the best.

One of the highlights of the evening was the visceral reaction to the trailer for what we have coming next. A custom-made teaser trailer made by Gaby Staniszewska delivered exactly what we needed. A resounding YES at the first glimpse of, followed by more recognition at the second glimpse.

Because, in February, we are, finally, showing…

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Bad Films Doing Good

When Ti and I set up the Bristol Bad Film Club, it was – let’s be honest – to see brilliantly bad films on the big screen. What we didn’t expect was the hugely positive response we have had from the people of Bristol and its surrounding area.

This wasn’t a venture we set up to make money. It was for the love of cinema, especially really bad cinema. So, since it wasn’t to make money, we figured that we could give something back to the community in the unlikely event it made some small amount of profit.

Because of YOUR support and love of bad films, we have been able to donate the frankly phenomenal sum of over £1,100 in 2013, split across the following charities:

Awamu – a charity helping children with HIV in Africa;

 

 

The Whiteladies Picture House Campaign – Bristol’s very own Kickstarter-assisted campaign to restore a beloved cinema;

 

Help for Heroes – helping those who suffer life changing injuries sustained in the line of duty, and;

 

Millie’s Trust – providing Paedriatric First Aid to help reduce the instances of cot death, following the tragic death of the girl who gives the charity its name.

The charities are not all promoted at the screenings themselves: they are not necessarily appropriate to be discussed before or after what is essentially a night of comedy. But these are charities with focuses that are important either to us, or to someone connected to us, and they deserve the recognition and the funds that, through your help, we can provide.

In 2014 our charities continue to be diverse, and important. We may not make a big thing at all our screenings about it, but it is one of the real-world outcomes of your attendance at our screenings.

Thank you.

 

Tim

Previous Screenings

SOLD OUT: THE ROOM (2003) – 20th February 2014: Cresswell Centre, Bristol Cathedral Choir School

The “Citizen Kane of bad movies” is finally here…

Continue reading SOLD OUT: THE ROOM (2003) – 20th February 2014: Cresswell Centre, Bristol Cathedral Choir School →

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StarCrash screening: “I only have logic and emotion circuits. No room for craziness.”

For our final screening of 2013, we pulled out all the stops with a fantastic venue in the heart of Bristol, a knowledgeable and witty guest speaker and a film that features chauvinistic robots, The Hoff in a laser beam-firing monster mask and some of the best/worst dialogue this side of the Haunted Stars. 

Starcrash screening

Since discovering that Bristol Planetarium had the facilities to host a screening (not to mention weddings should you be interested), Tim and I have been racking our brains for the perfect film to show there. Something space-related obviously, but something that would entertain the 100 or so people that we could accommodate.

Proteus? Too rubbish. Inseminoid? Too disturbing. The Pink Chiquitas? Too much Frank Stallone.

And then it hit us. StarCrash.

Zarthan

“I’m the bad guy!”

With its perfect blend of on-the-nose dialogue, rubbish FX, a mixture of over-the-top (take a bow, Joe Spinell) and underplayed (Christopher Plummer) acting and the slowest walking ever seen on screen, it was perfect – and the city of Bristol seemed to agree.

Tickets sold out in 8 days due to the unprecedented demand and people were pleading with us to do two showings. Unfortunately, we opted to just do the one, but after the wonderful service we received from Sarah Gwynne and the staff of At-Bristol, we can guarantee that we’ll be back in the future.

The night itself was a roaring success. Dr. Mark Bould opened the proceedings with some wonderful insight into Italian sci-fi cinema and the production of StarCrash. He also managed to expertly deal with some heckling from an unexpected source – a very enthusiastic 7 year old, whose recall of cinematic trivia made Tim and I doubt our own extensive knowledge.

The film itself hit all the right spots. Whether it was the awkwardly long tracking shots of the poorly made models, Joe Spinell strutting around the sets shouting “Kill! KILL! KILL!!” or the bizarre sidekicks that were Elle and Akton, there was something that simultaneously produced laughter and disbelief for everyone.

If you missed our screening last night, for your pleasure below is one of the great, no – the GREATEST, scene from StarCrash. Enjoy, and we hope to see you in 2014 for Miami Connection.

Tim also promises not to cough all the way through the next screening. His recent bout with man flu unfortunately left him unable to thank you all for coming, but he will return! Just like Elle…

“It’s so nice to be turned on again…”