In our first proper look at the feature-length tribute to the worst film ever made, we see James Franco as the infamous Tommy Wiseau – a few dozen times, because of course he’s fluffing those lines. Oh hi Mark.

The Disaster Artist, directed by and starring Franco, traces the making of Wiseau’s The Room, which amassed a cult following for being hilariously bad. It’s based on the book written by Greg Sestero, who is played by Franco’s brother Dave. We also see Seth Rogen as the script supervisor. Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, Jacki Weaver and more are also on the cast list for Franco’s affectionate take on the cult classic.

The clip shows Wiseau struggling with an entrance and some lines as his character Johnny, and after more than 60 painful takes, the whole production team are feeding the words to him. When he finally – kind of – succeeds, they cheer. 

Another member of the film’s cast, Jason Mantzoukas, revealed some of the odd and funny on-set behaviour in a recent interview: namely, that Franco directed the whole thing using Wiseau’s voice. 

At a Q&A session following a recent screening of the film, Franco detailed working on his best Wiseau impression. “I studied the role of Tommy the same way I played James Dean, just sort of obsessively driving around in my car listening to the voice all the time,” he said. “It was basically the same thing, playing James Dean and Tommy Wiseau.”

You can also peep a poster for the film below, featuring that famous line.

The Disaster Artist will premiere in December 2017