Over the weekend, our jaws collided with the floor with the equally wonderful and horrific news that the two male starring leads of 2003’s cult cinematic abomination The Room would be reuniting in a new film titled Best F(r)einds.
In a bizarre twist, this misfit film is being directed by celebrity wedding photographer Gary Fong and will be shot entirely on Sony mirrorless cameras.
If you have ventured online in the last 15 years you have undoubtedly encountered The Room in some form, be it through meme, quote, or shared video. Written, directed, produced and starring the peculiar personage of one Tommy Wiseau; it is a film so bad, with a production history so storied, that it has claimed the title of ‘worst film ever made’ in the eyes of many.
And the Oscar goes to. . . /The Room
With this bizarre legacy in place, we were utterly baffled why Wiseau and his former co-star Greg Senestro would ever team back up for another jaunt, especially one without Wiseau’s brand of “directing” at the helm. It seems however that Wiseau and Sestero have found an eccentric soulmate in Fong.
Fong not only revolutionised wedding photography by adapting a movie-style storyboard structure to shoots, but more importantly, is the creator of the innovative Lightsphere diffusion system. He is clearly a photographer that thinks outside the box.
Indeed it is that out the box thinking that led Fong not only to take on this project but to reject Hollywood cinecams and shoot the entire movie with the photography equipment he was more familiar with.
Speaking with PetaPixel, Fong said “The Sony a6300 and a7S II were used for the shoot. We used the new G Master lenses, 50mm f/1. 4, 85mm f/1. 8, and 24-70 f/2. 8 mostly. ”
Gary Fong /Best F(r)einds /CoS
Apparently the compact kit inspired a very guerilla style of shooting. For example, a night shot of Wiseau at the coastline was lit with an iPhone, using a reflector to angle the light onto him.
This may all sound nuts but run and gun style shoots with minimal equipment are becoming all the more common. 2015 critical darling, Tangerine, for example, was shot entirely on an iPhone. Also you should really remember the minds we’re dealing with. Back while shooting The Room, Wiseau allegedly couldn’t choose between recording on film or digital and instead decided to sellotape one of each type of camera together and just shot on both simultaneously. As we said, him and Fong could be a match made in. . . well we’re not sure if heaven is the right word, but somewhere.
Gary Fong /Best F(r)einds /CoS
Still currently in production, Best F(r)einds follows Sestero as a man who teams up with a mortician played by Wiseau for some dark and strange adventures. Fong is currently courting distributors for a cinematic release. We’ll just have to wait and see if lightning can strike twice.
. digitalrev.com2016-10-17 03:00