Bob Odenkirk will noooott mock The Room in upcoming remake: 'I had a blast!'

Oh hai, Bob!

Better Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk says he will noooooottt be mocking Tommy Wiseau's infamous cult classic The Room when he steps into Wiseau's shoes to play the eccentric creator in an upcoming green-screen remake benefitting amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.

Confirming his part in the movie on Twitter this week, Odenkirk wrote, "This is real. This is true. And let me tell you, I tried my best to SELL every line as honestly as I could...and I had a BLAST."

The Emmy winner, who stars in AMC's new comedy-drama Lucky Hank, has now elaborated on the project, telling EW, "I'm not mocking Tommy's performance or even mocking the script. I'm going, 'This is your script. Bob Odenkirk, this is your part. How are you going to make it real and make it feel legit?'"

Jesse Grant/Getty Images; WISEAU FILMS Bob Odenkirk; Tommy Wiseau, original star of 'The Room'

Odenkirk says his decision to take the lead role in the remake was partly inspired by his desire to see if he could play it in a legitimately dramatic fashion. "We're doing green screen, and I think they're going to use the actual backdrops of the movie-still frames to put backdrops behind us," he explains. "I said, 'Can I just do it as though I, Bob Odenkirk, got the part — and my job is to try to sell you on it and do it as well as I can?'"

He adds that he hopes people notice that every line is the same — just his version of it. "I don't change the lines, but I do them my own way, in a way that hopefully feels legit and real. And I think I pulled it off some, and then there are scenes that I just couldn't. You just can't make them legitimate. I mean, they're insane. The things that people are saying are so insane!"

The cast of the project also includes Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan; Flanagan's wife and frequent collaborator, Kate Siegel; and filmmaker and podcaster Justin Decloux.

This new version of Wiseau's erotic melodrama was initially teased back in February by director Brando Crawford, who organizes charity-benefiting live reads of plays and screenplays under the umbrella name Acting for a Cause. He posted a series of set photos to Instagram that included several featuring Odenkirk and one in which Crawford held a slate indicating he was directing a movie titled The Room. Alongside the images, Crawford wrote, "The Room Returns (????) development unknown."

Originally released in a handful of cinemas in June 2003, The Room quickly earned a cult following for its inept technical work, bizarre script, and overwrought acting. Wiseau himself became a subject of fascination because of his mysterious background and oddball demeanor, which fans were able to witness up close when he began hosting midnight screenings of the film in Los Angeles. Its early devotees included several well-known comedians, including Odenkirk and his Mr. Show partner David Cross as well as another comedy duo, Eric Wareheim and Tim Heidecker, who developed their Adult Swim series Tom Goes to the Mayor with help from Odenkirk.

In 2013, Wiseau's costar Greg Sestero published a memoir, The Disaster Artist, recounting his experience making the movie. James Franco adapted the book into a 2017 comedy starring Franco as Wiseau and his brother Dave Franco as Sestero. Odenkirk also had a small role in the film as Wiseau's acting teacher.

"My dream is that you watch it, and even just for one or two scenes, you go, 'Wow, okay! That's a real movie, I'd watch that!'" Odenkirk says of his Room remake. "You just think for one second, 'Am I watching a genuine performance and am I actually a little bit touched by The Room?'"

He added, "So we'll see if I did it, but man, I had fun! We laughed our asses off... And for charity! I hope they raise a lot of money."

Lucky Hank premieres March 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC, AMC+, BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV.

Additional reporting by Dan Snierson.

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