Not only was The Room not appreciated on its initial limited release, but Variety reported that audience members asked for a refund after the first 30 minutes. When word spread that it was in fact the Citizen Kane of bad movies, the picture became an underground phenomenon as viewers flocked to see writer/director/star Tommy Wiseau, the only thespian ever to bring down the house with the line Hi, Mark. Looking like a genetic experiment that sampled DNA from Willem Dafoe and a lizard, Wiseau has all the charm and grace of a street-corner drug dealer. When not delivering soap opera dialogue in his impenetrable East European accent, hes constantly chuckling apropos of nothing, even while listening to a story about domestic abuse. And hes the romantic lead in The Room, a vanity project Wiseau financed himself after failing to sell it as a novel, a play or a script. You can see why: its Wiseaus love letter to himself, with characters constantly remarking how wonderful he is (even the florist says, Youre my favourite customer.) Cast and crew were constantly quitting or being fired, so characters are introduced only to disappear moments later, leaving gaping holes in the narrative.