Tommy Wiseau’s origins are shrouded in mystery. Very little is known about his life before the release of “The Room” in 2003. Wiseau wrote, directed, produced and starred in “The Room,” and he wants to keep it that way. He is 41 years old and speaks with a distinctive Eastern European accent, even as he adamantly professes that he is an American. His refusal to answer what he deems “personal questions” has led to wild speculation about past lives, connections to organized crime and using film production to launder money.

Despite his coyness, or perhaps because of it, Wiseau exudes an indescribable magnetism that alternative comedians like David Cross and Patton Oswalt are eager to parody. The ubiquitous consensus is “The Room” is so bad it’s good—a phrase Wiseau rejects though he enjoys when people laugh at screenings.

In many ways, the film rejects traditional criticism and can hardly even be called a film. Going to a screening is an event, like “Avatar” in IMAX 3-D. This is the next level in audience participation after “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Wiseau will be at the two screenings of “The Room” at the Music Box Theater on Feb. 12. The Chronicle spoke with him on the phone about the production, the origins of the midnight screenings and the differences between men and women.

The Chronicle: How did you first get started in the entertainment and movie industry?

Tommy Wiseau: I study acting for many years. My background is stage acting. I’ve been all over the workshop, I took the classes with famous people like Jean Shelton in San Francisco. So I study in film production, etc. I script in my head, actually, it’s supposed to be novel, then I wrote the novel and it’s supposed to be a play, actually. That’s the novel—the play first. And then I change because I study and I notice that I cannot reach enough people. So I decided to actually make a movie, and that’s what you have: the product.

The Chronicle: What was the budget for “The Room”? Wikipedia estimates it at $7 million.

TW: Well let me go back in the history. We used the two cameras, HD and 35mm. The reason because I want to compare these two forms. And, again, there is a lot of stuff that is misleading on some of these articles, because people don’t realize that seven years ago Hollywood was appalled about HD. No studio wanted to touch HD because that was the beginning. And now it is the biggest ever—I rest my case. I am still in the process of finishing my book about the difference between 35mm and HD. So imagine we are spending double, everything is double. We have double crew for HD and different crew as well for 35mm. And again people don’t realize what you see in the theater is 35mm film. It is not HD, we did [use] not any footage from HD.

Did you do any editing with the HD footage? Do you still have it?

TW: No I did not. We used the 35mm because, you see, with 35mm you have a better depth of field. However, you will see some of the footage … We have a daily signal directly recording to the VHS tape. So you can imagine you can get a signal directly from the camera at the time was a Panasonic 720 HD. Very expensive stuff.

The Chronicle: I read that you fired your crew three times when shooting, why was that?

TW: Your assumption is incorrect. The crew was replaced four times. It was conflict of my creation. My suggestion is that maybe these negative individuals should see “The Room” at least 10 times in theater environments to discover the symbolisms within “The Room.”

Who is right? Who is wrong? That’s the question. What do you do if your ship is sinking; do you abandon your ship? No, I will never abandon my ship with the life in it. Some people will, and some people did.

The fact is, after several years, people who abandon my ship, “The Room,” production, like deserters from the battlefield after the victory, they try to come back and want credit for two hours of work. They implied that they worked so hard for it and because of them we have a better project.

Some of them went to the extreme that that they are so happy for me that “The Room” is so popular and they would like to be part of it.

My answer for them and your negative critics is you should look in the mirror and ask yourself the question: “What did you do lately?” If you, such an expert, grab a camera and make your own movies, don’t ask for credit because you will never receive it. It is easy to criticize people, but it’s much harder to be nice and understand them.

If someone does something different and people have fun with it, why not give a credit when credit is due.

The Chronicle: I read that you lost some actors as well.

TW: People did not realize, the crew was hired after we prepared. We have rehearsal, I was preparing actors, and then again with actors we have the same situation. We have double actors, people quit, they get fired, etc., etc. It didn’t come out right. For example, Lisa was the understudy, Juliette [Danielle]. And she was very good in rehearsal etc. and then I changed my mind because she give me something very unique. I rest my case [laughs].

The Chronicle: You had more control than most filmmakers; does the finished film match your vision?

TW: Well yeah, I will say I am satisfied. But again, honestly, I always will say that you can have improve. But I am satisfied 99.9 percent. I can say that.

The Chronicle: What do you think about your film showing at midnight screenings?

TW: Again, people don’t realize how everything start. We release “The Room” [in] 2003 and we submit it to Academy Awards and we didn’t win anything. It’s in database I’m proud of it. And we got so many requests so decided to screen. We have one screen called Wilshire in Los Angeles. And we started a two-week screening because you have to screen for a minimum of two weeks to qualify for the Academy Awards. So, long story short, so many people show up that we got in trouble with the fire marshal [laughs]. People was actually sitting on the floor. So we cannot have that. So I call the theater and I say, “Well, since sometimes people late, what if we do midnight.” And that’s where everything start. And today sometimes we have five screening at the same time. In Chicago as you know sometimes we have two or one.

The Chronicle: What is the appeal of the midnight screenings?

TW: I wish I could attend all the screenings across the world, to be honest with you. But it’s almost impossible. The thing is connection—it’s a learning process, because we learn from each other. When I am there, people ask me questions, they are giggling and I think it’s great. I will say very openly, “The Room” eliminated indirectly crime. And actually when we do the testing on the prisoners in the prison, I’m trying to organize screening for them, and I want to get what they think about “The Room.” And, again, let me stress something else here which I think is essential for “The Room”: How cool is it to throw the spoon without being arrested? Only in America, and I travel a lot, Los Angeles San Franciso, Austin, Texas, New Orleans, whatever. We have the same situation, especially young people. The young people do not have place to express themselves. This is our human right. I don’t care how many laws you have. I don’t care if you are Democrat, Republican, gay, straight or purple, whatever you are, it doesn’t matter. You still will have urge to express yourself. You may express yourself by not talking. You may express yourself by being quiet. You don’t have to yell at the screen, but certain people like to do that.

The Chronicle: What do you think are some of the differences between men and women?

TW: If you ask me, man to man, my take on this would be that woman, a girl, mature girl, they have more power than we do. But one of the problem is they don’t know how to use it, general speaking. I think you can find a lot of successful women from the business point of view. Billionaires wherever they are, and they know what they are doing. They are very alert, they are doctors, lawyers … but general speaking they don’t know how to use it, and they are tripping because of all this emotional stuff with women. They don’t understand that they have power within themselves. So in “The Room” my objective was to present it. One of the problem with Lisa is she has the power, I don’t know if you’ve heard the expression: “If somebody give you power, you respect it.” And in “The Room” she does not respect it. She is pushing it. Because she say “Well, nothing bad is gonna happen to me,” and she gets hurt.

The Chronicle: Who is your favorite character in “The Room”?

TW: Chris-R. However, I love all the characters from my creation.

The Chronicle: What is your favorite scene in “The Room”? Why?

TW: Chris-R scene, and Dennis eating an apple scene. Why, because you have many symbolisms in them. My suggestion is to your readers and to you to see “The Room” at least five times, this way you can discover the symbolisms within “The Room.”

The Chronicle: Any final comments?

TW: You can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourself but please don’t hurt each love. I love you all.