Big Shark
Official release poster
Directed byTommy Wiseau
Written byTommy Wiseau
Produced byTommy Wiseau
Starring
  • Tommy Wiseau
  • Isaiah LaBorde
  • Mark Valeriano
CinematographyMatt S. Bell
Production
company
Wiseau-Films
Distributed by
  • Wiseau-Films
  • Bubble Chamber Ltd (UK)[1]
Release date
Running time
105 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Big Shark is a 2023 American comedy-horror film written, directed and produced by Tommy Wiseau,[2][3][4] and starring Wiseau, Isaiah LaBorde and Mark Valeriano[5][6] as three firefighters who must save New Orleans from a killer shark.[7]

The film had its world premiere on April 2, 2023, at Cinema 21[8] in Portland, Oregon, and was taken on a limited US roadshow to New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York City, and internationally to London, UK.

Plot

Patrick (Wiseau), Tim (LaBorde), and Georgie (Valeriano) are three firefighters who live and work together. After saving two children from a fire, they are hailed as heroes of New Orleans.

While on a fishing trip with his girlfriend Sophia (Ashton Leigh), Patrick claims to witness a 35-foot long shark. Although he repeatedly tries to warn his friends, they do not believe him and insist there are no sharks in the Mississippi.

Eventually, Patrick is vindicated when shark attacks are reported on the local news. The shark roams the streets abreast of flood waters, eating people it comes into contact with. Patrick and Tim set out across New Orleans to save the city from the shark, during which, scenes in which they search for the shark are interspersed with scenes in which they flee from the shark, argue with their girlfriends, or get drinks in a bar together.

During this sequence, their boss, Captain Joe (Wayne Douglas Morgan), procures for them SCUBA gear and implores them to help save the city, and Tim receives a treasure map from an old man in the bar marking where the shark sleeps--though Patrick expresses some confusion over whether or not sharks sleep.

While playing pool, Patrick and Tim conceive a plan to place a tracking device on the shark using the SCUBA gear, follow the shark, and feed it dynamite hidden inside a pig carcass. They acquire live pigs with difficulty from a pig farmer, but are eventually given a carcass and blood by a butcher to use instead.

After they spear the shark with the tracking device, the shark retaliates by eating Georgie. Tim and Patrick visit a shrine erected in Georgie's honor on the beach, and together mourn their friend's passing by composing a song extolling each other not to cry.

With the tracking device in place, they pursue the shark into the bayou and kill it by baiting it into eating the bomb concealed inside the pig carcass. While it initially seems that Tim perished in the explosion, he was in fact just flung high into the air and survives. They celebrate by dancing in the streets of New Orleans with a marching band.

Cast

Wiseau's frequent collaborator Greg Sestero, known for starring alongside Wiseau in The Room and Best F(r)iends, was originally slated to appear as one of the leads in the film alongside LaBorde and Wiseau.[13][14] In the 2019 teaser trailer, he appears as Georgie. However, by 2023 the role was recast, with Valeriano appearing in new promotional material[15] and Sestero does not appear in the final film.

Production

Tommy Wiseau, who used to live in Louisiana, related he was inspired to create Big Shark following the flooding of New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.[16]

The first trailer for the film was produced over two weeks in February under director of photography Matt S. Bell, from a total of two days of filming in Lafayette, Louisiana,[12] and screened in February 2019. Wiseau reportedly said he intended to film and release Big Shark that year[17] and Bell said he "looked forward to the feature-length project and bringing more work to the Louisiana film community."[12]

It was unclear how serious production was at the time, with reporter Germain Lussier claiming at the time that the trailer was "mostly a joke"[17] and in a 2020 interview, Greg Sestero, who had appeared in the teaser as Georgie, indicated the film was not under development and they had just filmed the trailer for fun.[18]

The project had been revived by late 2021, with Wiseau announcing on Twitter that filming was ongoing in New Orleans on November 16, 2021.[19] In an interview for York Vision later in 2021, Wiseau also indicated his intention to shoot for the film in London, UK.[20] The following year, on July 28, 2022, Wiseau said filming was "in progress and working towards completion".[21]

Release

Originally announced and slated to premiere in 2019, the release of Big Shark was subject to a number of delays before it was released in 2023.

The film was originally teased at the Prince Charles Cinema, London during a screening of The Room in 2019 with Wiseau aiming to film it that year[22][23] and premiere it at the Prince Charles that September.[24][25]

However, the release was delayed.[26][27] On July 21, 2020, Wiseau said that the film would be released "soon",[28][29] before scheduling its release for 2021.[30] By November 8, 2021, the film was set for a theatrical release in 2022,[20] but this too was delayed.

Big Shark had its world premiere on April 2, 2023 at Cinema 21 in Portland, Oregon,[11] before it started a limited roadshow release at Prytania Theatres at Canal Place in New Orleans on April 28 and 29, the Balboa Theatre in San Francisco on May 5 and 6, and August 5, the Landmark Westwood in Los Angeles on June 2 and 3 and July 29, the Reading Cinemas Grossmont in San Diego on July 7 and 8, and the Village East by Angelika in New York City on August 10, 11, 12, and 13.[7]

After three years of delays from its original planned release, Big Shark would finally receive its UK premiere and a limited three day run at the Prince Charles Cinema in September 2023.[31]

Reception

Critical consensus was generally poor, with criticism levied at the acting, editing, and production values, but with recognition that it was as a conscious attempt to produce a "so bad it's good" cult movie. There was debate over whether Big Shark managed to recapture the cult success of Wiseau's earlier 2003 movie, The Room.

Casey Epstein-Gross dismissed Big Shark as lacking the authenticity of The Room, writing for The New York Observer, "compared to Big Shark, The Room isn't the Citizen Kane of bad movies. It's straight-up Citizen Kane... despite being even more incoherent and baffling than its predecessor, it seems obvious that Big Shark has no reach beyond Wiseau's already devoted fanbase. It lacks the very thing that made The Room resonate: Wiseau's sincere belief in himself and his intentions."[32]

Jonathan Sim, writing for ComingSoon.net, described Big Shark as "a movie that is just as funny as The Room, if not more so". While he gave the film a 1/10 rating, criticising the editing errors as "too big to be accidental", the acting, and the writing, he characterised it as a self-aware "bad movie"[33] and overall he was positive about the film being entertaining, saying:

You'll break out into applause whenever the heroes vow to save New Orleans. You'll break out into song every time they sing their dumb national anthem. You'll laugh harmoniously with your fellow audience members... You need to watch this movie with as many friends as possible.[33]

Ariana Bindman writing for SFGATE related, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the audacity of Big Shark." noting "Big Shark was practically made for live audience interaction, piggybacking off the arthouse longevity of The Room screenings."[16]

Referring to Wiseau's previous cult film characterised as one of the worst films ever made, Sim said, "if The Room was Tommy Wiseau trying to make an Oscar-worthy drama about love, betrayal, and the futility of friendship, Big Shark is Tommy Wiseau trying to make a bad B-movie."[33]

Writing for The Quest, Sabrina Blasik also considered Big Shark as in conversation with The Room, writing:[34]

After the screening Wiseau held a Q&A, and I asked him what his creative vision was with Big Shark. He replied: "To make something different." Indeed, many of Big Shark's creative choices come off as direct reactions to criticism of The Room. The Room was shot on fake-looking sets, so Big Shark was shot on location. "It's not set [sic], ha ha", Wiseau remarked during the Q&A. "I'm laughing on media [sic]. I love media [sic], they're very nice people, but sometimes they're wrong". So in Big Shark, Wiseau sets out to prove the media wrong. The Room is a boring drama with no plot, so Big Shark aims for high-stakes action/horror. The Room has corny music and bad ADR, so Big Shark has no score and uses only live sound. Critics said The Room has a terrible, wooden script? Then most of the dialogue in Big Shark is improvised.[34]

References

  1. 1 2 "Big Shark". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  2. ↑ Russian, Ale (February 7, 2019). "The Room's Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero Are Back with a Shark-Attack Movie". People. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  3. ↑ Orange, B. Alan (July 31, 2019). "Marvel's The Room: Tommy Wiseau Joins the MCU in Avengers: Friend Game Spoof". MovieWeb. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  4. ↑ Dick, Jeremy (September 18, 2019). "Tommy Wiseau Throws Himself Into The Suicide Squad Cast List, Will We See Him?". MovieWeb. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  5. ↑ Von Arthur, A. (February 5, 2019). "'Big Shark': Neuer Film vom "The Room"-Macher Tommy Wiseau kommt!" ['Big Shark': The Room creator Tommy Wiseau is finally directing his second film!]. Filmfutter (in German). Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  6. ↑ Collis, Clark (February 12, 2019). "See the preposterous trailer for Tommy Wiseau's new project, Big Shark". Entertainment Weekly. Meredith Corporation. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 Humphrey, Julia (March 23, 2023). "Tommy Wiseau Takes on a 'Big Shark' in Trailer for 'The Room' Follow-Up". Collider. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  8. ↑ Dick, Jeremy (April 4, 2023). "The Room Stars Reunite at Big Shark Screening: 'We're Still Best Friends'". MovieWeb. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  9. ↑ Loughrey, Clarisse (February 13, 2019). "Tommy Wiseau releases trailer for Big Shark, follow-up to 'worst film ever' The Room". The Independent. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  10. ↑ Mollo, Drew (February 11, 2019). "Tommy Wiseau's Big Shark Trailer Brings His Unique Camp to Horror". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  11. 1 2 Murphy, J. Kim (March 23, 2023). "Tommy Wiseau Unveils His Follow-Up Film to 'The Room' With 'Big Shark' Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Wilusz, Ryan (March 11, 2019). "Tommy Wiseau: Director of 'worst movie ever' films shark flick at Wurst (of all places)". The Daily Advertiser. Gannett. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ Squires, John (February 5, 2019). "'The Room' Director Tommy Wiseau's Next Film is a Shark Attack Movie Titled 'Big Shark'!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Review: Tommy Wiseau's Big Shark". Reed Quest. April 21, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  15. ↑ Murphy, J. Kim (March 23, 2023). "Tommy Wiseau Unveils His Follow-Up Film to 'The Room' With 'Big Shark' Trailer". Variety. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  16. 1 2 Bindman, Ariana (May 9, 2023). "Tommy Wiseau, director of cult film 'The Room,' may have finally revealed how he makes money". SFGATE. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  17. 1 2 Harmon, Steph (February 12, 2019). "'Big Shark': Tommy Wiseau releases 'preposterous' trailer for follow-up to 'worst movie ever'". The Guardian. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  18. ↑ Gelmini, David. "Exclusive FrightFest Interview: Greg Sestero Talks CYST". DreadCentral. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  19. ↑ Wiseau, Tommy [@TommyWiseau] (November 16, 2021). "Filming Big Shark in New Orleans!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 8, 2022 – via Twitter.
  20. 1 2 Rowan, Will (November 8, 2021). "Interview: Tommy Wiseau's Vision". York Vision. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  21. ↑ Wiseau, Tommy [@TommyWiseau] (July 28, 2022). "Big Shark Filming is in Progress Working towards completion" (Tweet). Retrieved August 8, 2022 – via Twitter.
  22. ↑ Scott, Ryan (February 5, 2019). "Big Shark Teaser Leaks: Tommy Wiseau Battles a Great White". MovieWeb. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  23. ↑ Evangelista, Chris (February 6, 2019). "Is 'The Room' Director Tommy Wiseau Making a Big Shark Movie Called 'Big Shark'?". /Film. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  24. ↑ Collinson, Gary (February 10, 2019). "Oh, Hi Shark! Tommy Wiseau's 'Big Shark' gets a poster and teaser trailer". Flickering Myth. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  25. ↑ Jirak, Jaime (August 28, 2019). "Tommy Wiseau Reminds Fans What His Joker Could Have Been Like". ComicBook.com. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  26. ↑ Prince Charles Cinema [@ThePCCLondon] (September 11, 2019). "No release date yet. Tommy is still working on it" (Tweet). Retrieved September 11, 2019 – via Twitter.
  27. ↑ Chand, Neeraj (June 9, 2020). "Netflix Said No to Streaming Tommy Wiseau's 'The Room'". MovieWeb. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  28. ↑ Wiseau, Tommy [@TommyWiseau] (July 22, 2020). "BIG shark! SOON! BE GOOD" (Tweet). Retrieved July 21, 2020 – via Twitter.
  29. ↑ Wiseau, Tommy [@TommyWiseau] (August 12, 2020). "Look out for BIG SHARK!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 18, 2020 – via Twitter.
  30. ↑ Campbell, Scott (March 17, 2021). "Watch: Huge Shark Trailer Delivers Exactly What You'd Expect From The Title". Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  31. ↑ The Prince Charles Cinema. "THE ROOM + BIG SHARK with Tommy Wiseau LIVE IN PERSON – 14th - 16th September". Letterboxd. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  32. ↑ Epstein-Gross, Casey (August 22, 2023). "Forget Spielberg, Tommy Wiseau Influences Himself". Observer. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  33. 1 2 3 Sim, Jonathan (August 16, 2023). "Big Shark Review: Tommy Wiseau's Biggest Disaster". Coming Soon. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  34. 1 2 Blasik, Sabrina (April 21, 2023). "Wiseau's First Film in 20 Years Is Caught In The Wake Of The Room". The Quest. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
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