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Tommy Wiseau
The creator of The Room, everyone’s favorite worst movie, was not pleased to learn that a group of film makers were creating a documentary about his masterpiece. Now, Tommy Wiseau has been ordered by a Canadian court to pay the creators of Room Full of Spoons about $700,000 for thwarting the film’s release, Variety reports.
Room Full of Spoons was originally planned for a 2017 release, the same year as James and Dave Franco’s film about Wiseau, The Disaster Artist. But before Room Full of Spoons could be released, Wiseau filed suit and obtained an injunction in Canada. He claimed that the documentary violated his copyright with its use of clips from The Room and that it invaded his privacy. Wiseau is from Poland, which Room Full of Spoons revealed (Wiseau had been keeping his origins a secret).
In a January trial, Wiseau’s copyright claims were denied by the judge, who ruled that the Room Full of Spoons documentary makers were entitled to use clips from The Room, and that the film did not violate Wiseau’s privacy. Wiseau was ordered to pay $550,000 to the Room Full of Spoons creators in lost revenue and was also ordered to pay approximately $140,000 in punitive damages for his “oppressive and outrageous” conduct.
The Room Full of Spoons creators reached out to Wiseau back in 2015 to try and license the clips from The Room, which total about seven minutes in their film. Wiseau refused unless they paid him a large sum and granted him final approval of their documentary, which he said needed “more positivity by at least 60 percent,” according to Variety.
Wiseau, who wrote, directed and starred in The Room, has become a niche celebrity for the creation of his 2003 film — regarded as the “Citizen Kane of bad movies” — and for his mysterious background and origins. Room Full of Spoons focuses on the creation of The Room and features interviews with actors, producers and crew involved in the making of the film. Richard Harper, writer and director of Room Full of Spoons, told Variety he is working on releasing the documentary on streaming platforms.
