The Disaster Artist: See James Franco Next to The Room's Real Tommy Wiseau

Updated on 1/6/2018 at 1:22 PM

In The Disaster Artist, James Franco goes for double duty as the film's director and lead actor, which itself was an additional challenge, given that he's playing a real-life person he actually looks nothing like in real life. The film — which already picked up a Golden Globe nomination and a nod from the SAG Awards — is an adaptation of the book of the same name, written by actor Greg Sestero, who starred in the "best worst movie ever made," 2003's The Room; The Disaster Artist tells the story of the making of that film and its enigmatic, ambitious star: Tommy Wiseau. James and Dave Franco play Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero, respectively, and to really appreciate James Franco's commitment, you have to see what the real Tommy Wiseau looks like. Here, side by sides of both Francos and their real-life counterparts.

Dave Franco as Greg Sestero and James Franco as Tommy Wiseau

The Franco brothers play the actor friends who make the iconically bad film The Room. Dave plays good-looking "pretty boy" Greg Sestero (Mark in The Room), while Franco takes on the more physically divergent role of Tommy Wiseau (Johnny in The Room).

James Franco as Tommy Wiseau and Tommy Wiseau as Johnny

Here's James Franco in character as Tommy Wiseau (who's in character as Johnny in The Room) in The Disaster Artist poster, next to the real Tommy as Johnny on The Room's original poster.

Tommy Wiseau and James Franco

To see Wiseau and Franco together in real life is to be able to appreciate the physical transformation Franco goes through to play Wiseau. Franco is practically unrecognizable with Tommy's signature long hair and prosthetics to mimic his facial features.

Dave Franco and Greg Sestero

No prosthetics were necessary for Dave Franco to play Greg Sestero — the two actors actually look a lot alike.