Interview with The Room's Juliette Danielle

by Andie Ryan

The cult hit The Room is fast becoming the Rocky Horror of its generation. Originally released in 2003, the film quickly sank like a stone and seemed destined for obscurity…until it was discovered by a small but enthusiastic contingent of movie geeks and irony-loving hipsters. Since then, midnight screenings have been cropping up all over the country, attended by boisterous fans who dress up like the film's characters and act out scenes at the front of the theatre. Tommy Wiseau—the movie's writer, director, producer and star—has fully embraced the hype and even makes appearances at screenings to sign autographs and greet loyal “Roomies”, yet remains strangely tight-lipped about the film's production, script, and actors. So imagine our delight when Juliette Danielle— The Room 's leading lady—agreed to be interviewed for Praxis .

Editor's Ramblings

Like most writers, I'm familiar with rejection. I have countless form letters and emails that start by thanking me for my submission and finish by regretting to inform me that, basically, my work sucks. After receiving my seventy-sixth rejection letter (awesome!) for a piece I'd submitted to The Sun , it dawned on me that maybe I should actually take a look at some of these literary magazines before sending them humorous anecdotal essays on my stint as a phone sex operator.

So that's what I did. I studied Glimmer Train . I pored over The Paris Review . I combed through every literary rag from AGNI to ZYZZYVA. I read beautifully written stories dealing with universal themes like love and loss, hope and regret, death and redemption. It was quite illuminating.

I realized then that if I wanted to be published in one of these highly regarded journals, I couldn't just dash off stories about the time I faked telephonic orgasms for ten dollars an hour. Hell no. I had to decide on a theme, a heartbreakingly human, politically correct theme, one around which I would weave a tale fraught with truth and beauty, sensitivity and pathos. I would plumb the depths of my very soul, where I would discover a new voice for my writing, preferably a voice that speaks with a British accent. I would, like Dave Eggers before me, produce a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, one that would make an English Lit professor swoon and an MFA grad student positively chartreuse with envy.

Then I thought, screw it: why not just start my own damn literary magazine and publish whatever the hell I want? And with the help of some of my fellow writer friends, that is precisely what I did.

So here we are with volume one, issue one of Praxis Magazine . There will be more to come. In the meantime, read, write, think, submit, and enjoy.

Cheers,

Andie Ryan
Editor
1 February, 2010

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