#greg is like... based off of that. i didn't have much idea for him specifically. oh wait now that i think of it he could be like... a -

[hauntedpearl]

A lesser known fact about The Room (2003, dir. Tommy Wiseau) is that the iconic "Oh, hi, Mark!" scene is inspired by one of the charged confrontations that take place between Goncharov and Ice Pick Joe in the first act of the Scorsese film. Now, Wiseau is infamous for his poor directorial skills, and so, it's no surprise that this reference that he put in the movie was almost indiscernible as an homage by the audience. However according to this interview, it was something that was really important to him as he based Lisa's character off of Katya Goncharova, and also wanted to depict the relationship between Johnny and Mark to be similar to the one Goncharov shares with his not-so-trustworthy double-crosser of a right-hand-man Ice Pick Joe.

In the book about Wiseau and the filming of The Room, The Disaster Artist, his co-star and friend Greg Sestero writes:

Tommy was always very secretive about where he came from, or how he came by the fortune that he spent on the filming of The Room. He often vaguely alluded to time spent on the French coast or the vineyards of Italy while talking about his past, but he never did go into the specifics of his life, or his businesses. From these conversations, I got the idea that his life before he came to the States probably involved things that were either extremely illegal, or traumatizing, or both. Still, there's always been a dreamer in Tommy. It seemed that he'd clung to the idea of fame and the glamorous life of a Hollywood star to get him through those years.

In the early stages of the production, before we'd begun filming, Tommy and I were getting dinner at an extremely expensive restaurant in downtown LA. It was the kind of place paparazzi flooded in hopes of catching a glimpse of the elusive Elite in the business. Over plates of fish that cost more than my rent, Tommy told me about the kind of film that he wanted The Room to be.

"I watch this film when I was young," he said, a faraway look in his eyes that reminded me that for all that Tommy came off as the clown with too much money to burn, he had come from pain. "It was a Scorsese. We did not have it in English, so my brother and I, we watch this in Italian. I think, 'I am going to go to America, and I am going to make movie like this.' And look! Now I am!"

He was, of course, talking about the '73 Scorsese classic, Goncharov. It's not unknown that physical copies of the film were really hard to come by in the 80s, which is probably when Tommy and his brother would have watched the film. My guess is that they might have managed to find some illegal copies of the Italian dub of the film through personal channels. Debates about the differences in the two versions of the films aside, I understand what about that film drew Tommy into the industry and the glitz and glamour of it all. This story about love and power and betrayal and family, all set in the bustling streets of Italy — streets that Tommy was familiar with, I'm quite sure — that captivates the audience and makes them forget where their world ends and Goncharov's begins. It's a special movie, and Tommy is a special guy. Makes sense that he was moved by it. That it inspired him.

We toasted to this sentiment that night, and for that one moment, even though I knew that The Room was an unintentional parody of the genius of Goncharov at best, I believed in Tommy. I believed in his dreams. I hoped that at the end of this journey, we would make magic like that, too.

The book is a great read (would definitely recommend!!), and it's filled with these little moments where we see what it was like to interact with the person Tommy rather than the caricature Wiseau has become over the years. It's quite heartwarming to see how a film like Goncharov reached this little boy somewhere, and made him want to leap for the stars. Maybe we didn't get another Scorsese out of it, but we did get a cult classic that managed to have a huge cultural impact, all the same.

It's really fascinating to see the ripples Goncharov has caused in the landscape of film, the unexpected projects it inspired and continues to do so to this day. So. The next time you watch The Room, and have a hearty laugh about it, remember that there's a little piece of Goncharov in it, too. God!! Truly, what a masterpiece of a movie!!

#goncharov #unreality #The Room #bet y'all didn't know about the tommy wiseau goncharov thing DIDJA??? #Tommy Wiseau #martin Scorsese #the Disaster Artist #actually have read the disaster artist tho it's a super fun book you should check it out #SPENT TOO LONG THINKING ABOUT HER ACTUALLY LMAO