The Disaster Artist: 10 Biggest Book Omissions
9. The Other Mark (And Michelle)
While Tommy Wiseau had his heart set on Greg Sestero playing the character of Mark in The Room since he started writing it, that wasn't always going to be the case.
In fact, Sestero wasn't officially given the role of Mark until a week before filming began. At first, he didn't even want to be in the film, but after Wiseau made him an offer of an undisclosed sum of money (and just generally pestered him), Sestero relented.
The problem, however, was that the role of Mark had already been given to an actor named Don (which Sestero had used as part of his argument.) What's more is that Don's girlfriend, Brianna, was cast as the character of Michelle. To include Sestero in the film without having to fire Don, Wiseau hatched an "ingenious" plan which involved Don shooting his scenes as Mark, then Sestero shooting the exact same scenes because "the producers want to see him on camera."
Since The Room was filmed in both 35mm and HD video, Wiseau's plan was to film Don in HD, Greg in 35mm, then delete Don's footage. Sestero himself pointed out that this wouldn't work, but Wiseau was having nothing of it.
Suffice to say, Don caught on to what was happening almost immediately, then left the project, and took Brianna with him. Sestero then fully assumed the role of Mark and Robyn Paris was brought in as the replacement for Michelle.