Bob Odenkirk has certainly stretched his acting muscles over the years, from jumping into the action genre with Nobody, to, of course, exploring dramatic territory in movies like Little Women and playing Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. However, it’s safe to say that he’s still best known for his comedy chops, and now the Mr. Show alum is putting those skills to good use remaking one of the worst movies of all time. I’m talking about Tommy Wiseau’s cult favorite The Room, but to be clear up front, this project is being done for charity.
Taking to his Twitter account, Bob Odenkirk confirmed that he will star in a remake of The Room, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, as Tommy Wiseau’s character, Johnny. The existence of this remake and Odenkirk’s involvement was unveiled by podcaster Justin Decloux, who said in his own tweet that this The Room remake is “not being played as a joke.” Slashfilm has since learned that the remake will benefit a charity called amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and that Acting For a Cause is also involved, though it hasn’t been clarified if the organization will receive a cut of the donations or if it's simply backing the project.
Along with Bob Odenkirk playing Johnny, The Room remake is being directed by Acting For a Cause founder Brando Crawford, who will also appear on camera. The other actors include Cameron Kasky, Jarad Schwartz and Bella Heathcote, and various social media posts concerning this remake indicate it was largely shot in front of green screens. It hasn’t been announced when this new take on The Room will be released or through which platform, although Schwartz strongly implied that it will arrive sometime in the spring.
Released on June 27, 2003, it didn’t take long for The Room to build a cult following with its ‘so bad, it’s enjoyable’ quality. Tommy Wiseau, who also directed, wrote and produced in The Room, was joined on camera by people like Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero, the latter of whom wrote about his experience working on the movie in The Disaster Artist. That memoir was later adapted into the same-named movie starring James and Dave Franco as Wiseau and Sestero, respectively, and it earned numerous accolades, including James Franco earning a Golden Globe.
Assuming that spring window is accurate, then we won’t have to wait too long to see how Bob Odenkirk does leading this The Room remake. Meanwhile, we’re only 10 days away from seeing Odenkirk star in the new TV series Lucky Hank, which will air on AMC. Nobody director David Leitch has also said Odenkirk is among the people interested in making Nobody 2, but there’s no timetable yet on when the sequel will move out of the development phase.
Keep your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for more updates on Bob Odenkirk’s The Room remake, and be sure to look through the lineup of 2023 new movie releases if you’re itching to enjoy more cinematic content throughout the year.
