Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Need To Phone A Friend? Tommy Wiseau Is On The Line

James Franco and Tommy Wiseau. Who can even tell the difference anymore? One’s a Jewish artiste, and one’s a European of indeterminate origin. But these days they’re looking very similar.

Years ago, Wiseau rented a Los Angeles billboard advertising his movie “The Room”, fated to go down in history as the worst best movie ever made. The billboard included a phone number people could call to RSVP.

Now James Franco is following suit.

To promote “The Disaster Artist”, Franco’s new movie about the making of “The Room,” Franco has rented the same Los Angeles billboard that once trumpeted Wiseau’s film. And Franco, never one to shy away from disappearing into a character, is once again going above and beyond the call of duty to answer the phone in character.

@DisasterArtist is posting transcripts of the calls. Proof has been given by Seth Rogen, Franco’s costar and friend, in the form of a tweet.

Calling the line might be worth it, if only to potentially receive your own personalized non-sequitur from Franco as Wiseau: “Hi, doggy!”

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.