The Sydney Underground Film Festival Had To Cancel Its First Screenings Due To Tommy Wiseau

The director of The Room issued legal threats to stop the festival screening a documentary about him.

The Sydney Underground Film Festival kicks off this week, but before they do, they've been forced to cancel screenings of the documentary Room Full of Spoons after the subject of the film, Tommy Wiseau, threatened legal action.

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You might know Wiseau as the mind behind one of the greatest cult films of all time, The Room.

According to its website, Room Full of Spoons is "an in depth documentary about the cult film that is widely accepted as the worst film ever made: The Room".

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The documentary vows to answer every unanswered question about The Room, and the mysterious background of the writer, director, producer, and star of the film: Tommy Wiseau. Wiseau is famous for being incredibly secretive about his background, and often tries to keep said information under wraps.

In the 10-year history of the SUFF, this is the first time they have had to cancel screenings.

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In a statement released on Facebook, the filmmakers claim other screenings have also been challenged by Wiseau.

Speaking to BuzzFeed, SUFF's director, Stefan Popescu said the festival "prides itself on screening the worst, most contentious films". When the first legal letters came through, they weren't entirely taken seriously.

Sydney Underground Film Festival / Via suff.com.au

"I was messing with the lawyers for about a week and a half to work out if it was serious or not. I was trying to engage them to write letters, I was requesting things because I knew every single time I would engage them it would cost Tommy something. I wanted to see what his budget was up to."

In lieu of Room Full of Spoons, the Underground Film Festival is hosting screenings of Wiseau's The Room - at the request of the director.

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"He [Wiseau] actually offered to replace it with that, we didn't ask for it, he offered to replace the documentary with the film and we just thought it was so ridiculous we're going to do it," Popescu said.

As far as now being part of The Room's mythology, Popescu couldn't be happier.

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"I just think it's hilarious that this is the first time we've ever had to ban a film, but when I think about it, I wouldn't have it any other way. To have a film banned, or pulled, because of Tommy Wiseau."

The Sydney Underground Film Festival runs from the 15th until the 18th of September.