The thing is, I'm not polish, but I feel like I still need to polish some of the facts you stated about his life, mainly his name. "Prima" isn't his actual name, it's a nickname from his childhood days, because he was known in his family to always wake up the earliest. He even stated it annoyed his parents LIKE hell. Also, about the surname, I'm afraid he didn't use his actual one here either. It's Dapriliczewszki, but you can imagine how weird that would've been to market in case his books rose to fame so he had to choose a different route and make it easier to pronounce. Other than that, great video with interesting facts about the life of an author so underrated, it's quite sad.
I haven't felt this betrayed since my older brother had to inform me there wasn't an unabridged version of the Princess Bride that had pages and pages of boring worldbuilding and descriptions of Buttercups outfits.
This video actually inspired me to check out the original novel. The thing that kind of surprised me was that the book also explained the whole "how is your sex life?" thing. It's actually something of a running gag and inside joke between Johnny and Mark. Apparently, that's just a thing they do when there's an awkward silence between the two. One of them says "Anyway, how's your sex life?" and the other would launch into some obviously made-up sex story. In fact, it's actually a big plot point when it comes up in the coffee shop scene: the fact that Mark gets defensive instead of continuing the joke is the reason Johnny begins to suspect he's hiding something from him. Unfortunately, the movie cuts out every prior reference to the joke, robbing the line of its significance and... you know, sensicality.
Also, I'm surprised no one's brought up the subtle connection between Peter's plot thread and the final twist. Basically, in addition to his work with the main cast, he is also shown working with a couple of other patients, the husband and sister of a woman who disappeared a week before the events of the main plot. The sister in particular seems very disturbed, especially after halfway through the story, when she spontaneously develops an obsessive-compulsive need to eat garlic and carry crucifixes. Later, she admits to having found her sister's body in an alley not far from Johnny's apartment complex, dead from a slit throat. Peter is able to help her overcome the trauma and gets the authorities involved, but the details of the death are never resolved. This really fed into the speculation that the book was planned to have a sequel, since it's heavily implied that the murderer was a vampire.
oh my god these comments make me want to write this book. like. genuinely. i was already halfway there from the video but these additions just push it over the edge lol
You took a terrible movie, turned it into an actually interesting book, and then convinced us all that it was real the whole time. And you never once broke character. I applaud you, my good sir.
Oh my gosh, I am DYING 😂😂😂 I totally believed him, the only thing I was confused about wad that the vampire thing was an alternate ending and I had thought that was common knowledge and wondered how he had missed it. 😂😂
Well if you could speak polish, you would have noticed that the polish title of "The Room I Died In" isn't actually "The Room I Died In". In english it says "I'm Lying To You".
The sad part, is just how freaking believable this is. I actually fell for it hook line and sinker at first, because it's entirely plausible that Tommy Wiseau could have stolen some foreign nameless person's work and adapted it into a narcissistic self-insert. And the ending you came up with for this actually warps the rest of the story into something FASCINATING and intriguing, even in its bizarreness. Happy belated April Fool's Day, and may this level of cleverness continue to serve you well for years to come!
ah see, that's the beauty of it, with Tommy Wiseaus mysterious past I would have thought that Wiseau faked his own death and adapted his own book in a worse fashion to film
I believed the ending was real at first because I heard from someone a long time ago that Tommy tried to slip in a vampire plot line and was talked out of it
Seriously, not the weirdest or worst use of vampires as a twist ending I've seen, even. For a complex avant garde-ish novel like this, it does feel like a real twist and way that twist would be framed.
@@commander950 Greg mentioned in 'disaster artist' Tommy saying 'maybe Johnny is a vampire' at one point but I took it to be just another of his nonsensical ramblings and nothing that went any further.
My friend and I have a running joke about "The Room" that is apparently more accurate than we thought. From what I remember, Tommy Wiseau wanted a scene that showed Johnny's car flying off into the distance. When asked why, Tommy said "Maybe he vampire." as an explanation. So whenever a random weird thing happens to a protagonist in a book/movie/game we always say "Maybe he vampire." I can't believe Johnny is actually vampire.
@@Tareltonlives Its in the book. I just put it down to random nonsense Wiseau mentioned one day given he's rambling nature rather than a serious idea [I love the book but Sestero does like to play up the meme's and weirdness as he's been involved in the midnight screenings].
As a Polish reader I can say for sure, that "To nie jest prawdziwa książka" was actually written as a hidden political commentary. Thank you for talking about this author, he deserves the recognition ❤
@@SorowFame But he didn't ....OH, we're keeping the facade. Yeah, shame he died so early. That drowning was terrible, heard they couldn't find the body until days later...all bloated and nearly unrecognizable.
@@nobledamask Was that in the original? The fingers getting severed was part of the Spanish trasnlation like 4 chapters in, with a sentence that I figured the author ignored until the epilogue. But I don't recall any gondola propellers.
@@SorowFame It does look like this was a good idea executed in an unsatisfactory way, as if the author hadn't fully matured as a writer before his early death. It's sad to think what might have been had he lived longer.
Having found an English translation of the book online, Lisa was a much more developed character in the book. She was so focused on Johnny providing for her because she grew up in a working class Polish neighborhood. Her mother’s diagnosis tied into this too, because the woman didn’t have enough financial resources to pay for chemo
Most Polish people were very poor in the 1970s and this does come across as a rich jerk exploiting the financial desperation of others. Though the ending does indicate that this was a false reading.
The part with "paying for chemo" was actually localized for American readers as well. The translator said in one of the interviews that she thought the readers in the US might have a hard time believing that hospital treatments in Europe are free. I think it was the right choice as it helped everyone connect deeper to the character and understand her actions better.
Interesting cause the one during back when I was in High School and reading the book as well watching the movie for an essay about it some of this stuff regarding Lisa was there albeit slightly localised as the version we were doing was the Australian and British translation of the book
The amount of work put into this. Noble made up how the book was better, came up with the most absurd twist ever. Left Easter eggs in the cover of the book that it’s a joke. Recorded a full length episode, in its usual format with no clues in the delivery or structured that it’s a joke. Had it edited, commissioned an ending song for it. Uploaded in Patreon a few days early, before uploading it to the channel. This is commitment and work I’ve seen for no other aprils fools joke.
I mean, the Author's name is a dead giveaway. EDIT: Though I was entirely convinced until the comparison started. I was about to post the link to a discord I'm in until I remembered the date and only THEN did the author name hit me, not before.
The funny part is, the vampire thing might be a behind the scenes reference to the room, at one point tommy wanted a flying ghost car to show up, and when asked about it his only explanation was "maybe johnny is a vampire" I am dead serious
@@antaresmaelstrom5365 god damn it. i didnt even think of that. i used my phone camera to translate the title. a little garbled but it basically said this book is not the truth.
Funny story: my husband saw this video and despite now knowing it was a prank, he now considers this his headcanon for the Room cuz it’s the only way it makes sense in his head xD
I suspected the joke going in, but the fact that Prima Aprilis litterally means First of April was what confirmed it for me. 🤣 But honestly, I'd like to see more of that, a Bizarro Lost in Adaptation where a better source material is invented for a bad movie.
I got halfway through this and messaged my brother like "dude did you know the room was based on a book!?" And needless to say he's never letting me live this one down so thank you for that🤦♀️
Thank you for mentioning the more sympathetic way Lisa was written in the book, because it's my favourite part of it. She was young, unemployed and possibly uneducated, with no hobbies or things to do other than cleaning and having guests. Johnny is likely her first partner and has an insane amount of control over her - she doesn't even get to spend any of his money, HE buys her a dress that HE chose for her. The actress actually did a very good job of playing a character trapped in a cage, despite Wiseau's obvious directorial attempts to antagonize her.
I once saw it on a library page. Good to hear that someone actually read it :) I always wanted to, but it was not translated into Danish. Oh, it sucks, but I'm glad the Dom is now telling me about it
I'm kinda grieving the fact that I will never get to read a version of the Room where Johnny ends up being a vampire, is the inspiration for Dracula, and flies off into the sunset after refusing to turn Mark and Lisa into vampires. It is the book I didn't know I needed.
"Peace out... suckers." Johnny said, putting his sunglasses on. He faced the sunset and walked toward it, patiently waiting for the night to come; Only the Moon shall witness his bloody revenge.
Hey, this wasn't the first adaptation of 'The Room I Died In'! There was actually a Japanese OVA in 1984 by Shigatsu Baka that strays even further! Lisa is a cat girl for some reason and Johhny is a highschool student. I heard Tommy has a copy of it along with the only known physical copy of Saki Sanobashi.
*Here are the ACTUAL names of the characters from the newly released proper translation.* 1. Janusz 2. Marek 3. Lena 4. Barbara 5. Daniel (The only one who's name didn't change.) 6. Pyotr
But Kakao Decomorreno is so well loved you can buy his books everywhere. Even when you're just going grocery shopping. It restores faith in the fact that people actually love literature
Let's not forget about the one and only Margaryna Palma. She is such a gem indeed, her books speak about some very crucial problems regarding Polish society in 90s
From the moment I heard the supposedly "Polish" author is named Prima Aprilis I knew I was in it for the ride. As a Polish person I laughed at the book titles (It's not a real book, a fake book...). I applaud the level of dedication
Dom: “As weird as The Room is, The Room I Died In is arguably weirder!” Me: * sitting on the edge of my seat * Dom: “And we will get into it, right after a quick word about our sponsor.” Me: “...you absolute tease!”
Oh my, how could you NOT find the explanation for the spoon thing, this is such an important detail in the book and most students have it discussed if the teacher decides to include it as a mandatory reading 🙄 Those are so obviously a symbolic representation of the Aprilis's protesting the Warsaw Pact's intervention in Czechoslovakia, that he couldn't portrait straightforward so he settled on references to popular stainless steel cutlery because those were produced in Czechoslovakia and imported to People Republic of Poland as better quality than our own. First edition even had a spoon on the cover, but AFAIK it was removed from later editions altogether and changed after the martial law in the early 80's by Prima himself because he didn't want the censorship beuro to fiddle with his junk as he famously said. Since you've shown one of those horrendously ugly and cheap modern editions maybe the publisher didn't disclose in the foreword? But it's pretty easy to find! Very dissapointing...
Actually in the video, it's stated that Aprillis died in 1978, so if this book were to actually exist, it would either be his publisher or his estate that would handle newer editions. But other than that, this was hilarious.
Even the title sounds real. "The Room I Died In" sounds like an underrated indie novel written in the '90s and only sold in limited fashion in America. It wasn't a hit at first, though, so it faded into obscurity. But years later, people realized that it didn't deserve to fade and only now is it gaining traction Very nice, Dom
If it would be titled that, on the cover there should be the name "Pokój w którym zmarłem" or "Pokój w którym umarłem". Irl "To nie jest prawdziwa książka" means "this is not real book". :v
Oh my God, I was so confused when I saw a Polish thumbnail??? I was like "did the pierogis take over Dom?". Also! The book cover translates to "This is not a real book"
Prima Aprilis is also well known and quite beloved in my native Venice. We actually have a statue dedicated to him near the place of his untimely death. Thank you Dom, Prima Aprilis deserves to be celebrated properly.
This is the best April fools video I’ve ever seen because you didn’t let up on the joke even for a second. I fucking believed this start to finish dude, holy hell. Dropped my spoon when you dropped the Johnny-is-a-vampire plot twist. Gotta admire all of the work you put into this, it’s absolutely amazing, phenomenal job
I’m actually mad that this whole thing is fake. I started looking up the book and was wondering why I was getting the Wikipedia page for April Fools when I put in the author’s name.
With that ending of the book, a story from the set of The Room makes much more sense. Tommy wanted to put a scene of a flying car in the movie and when asked why, his only answer was: "Maybe Johnny is vampire"
Fun fact by the way Wiseau actually did want to include the Vampire twist that was in the book. Sadly at the time there was no English version of the book so Wiseau had to translate it from polish to his language then into English while writing the script. Most of the plot remained (though this might explain the aging up of Danny) however as there is no word for vampire in Wiseau's native tongue he was unable to properly explain the final twist. As the film was close to going overbudget and they were already over schedule Wiseau reluctantly decided to cut it out all together.
My husband is from Poland and ALWAYS complains how no one talks about the original book! It’s his favorite thing to talk about any time the subject of the movie comes up. Thank you Dom for finally bringing more light to it 😘
I actually met Tommy Wiseau at a midnight screening of The Room once. He was doing a Q&A there and I actually asked him if he was an ageless immortal vampire. He neither confirmed nor denied. Also, he smelled really weird. Like, really weird. The only way I can describe it is that he smelled like an old fridge that's been imbued with the smell of all the things have rotted in there over the years, combined with some unidentifiable cologne or perfume smell.
I love that even though this was a joke, it recontextualized the story in a way that actually makes sense and sounds genuinely interesting. This was so great
I cannot put into words how sad I am to live in this reality. Where this is just an april fools gag and not an actual book that I would for sure learn polish just to read.
...Actually Wiseau has said that he originally intended for Johnny to get into his car and he and the car fly away at the end of the movie. When asked why, his response was "Maybe he is vampire?". So... Dominic is correctly portraying the twist ending.
@@Zahaqiel I hate that by googling this, several threads and websites actually mention this as fact because it sounds so silly but apparently Wiseau didn't think so-
@@jordang7479 same. Then I saw Prima Aprilis written in the pinned comment and it slowly dawned on me. Dang it Dom, you present so honestly and often have such bonkers stories to tell about books/ films that this was just WAY too believable!!!
Thing is, I watched this 2 weeks after April 1st. I thought the danger was over. I suspected nothing. Everything seemed normal. I feel so betrayed. I hate that I was fooled, but I respect the dedication behind this video.
Aprilis is indeed a great author, but the English translation doesn't even come close to the godly quality of the Polish original. I think you can only understand the true significance of playing football in tuxedos when you take in the implied context of the original, it's really a subtle subtext-level play with the reader. I'll explain as best as I can: the characters long for freedom, available to them only on the other side of the Iron Curtain, merely a few hundred kilometers away. Since they can't cross to that better, highly desirable reality, they are perpetually stuck striving for the opportunity, basically daydreaming, and in the meantime playing the roleplay of what they imagine is like to live this better, rich, Western, free and democratic lifestyle. Playing this very Western game in inappropriate attire shows how strange and unrealistic their imagination is, but it is understandable, as they were born under heavy Stalinist regime, and grew up in complete isolation from the rest of the world. I mean it: they've been *completely* estranged from things that seem normal to anyone from the outside! It also explains the framed pictures of spoons, as this is how they imagined Western avant-garde art, so very different from what they knew in Warsaw. Of course Janusz (Johnny) knew better, as [well, here I should mention the plot twist, but for the ones who haven't finished the video yet, I will not] - but that's actually why Wiseau's character laughs, seemingly inappropriately, during random conversations or even out of the blue, when everyone around him is silent. He isn't who everyone thinks he is, he knows better, but he has to play along, which is of course very funny to him. That's why I think the relocation of the movie takes away quite a lot and makes this a rather bad adaptation. It was a personal story, of course, but the intricate political and social commentary veiled under highly individualistic approach is how Polish authors had to manage during the Soviet times if they wanted to write something serious and influential. I'm so glad that books by Aprilis are compulsory school readings in Polish high schools!
Thank you, thank you everyone, feel free to drop by to my house on Disappointment Island, Auckland Archipelago to get an autograph and a selfie with me and touch my paperback first edition books by Prima Aprilis.
Yes, I remember the vampire thing. In real life, Wiseau genuinely wanted a scene in the movie that revealed Johnny to be a vampire, featuring a flying car.
Oh my gosh, as a Pole I felt weirdly privileged for getting more jokes then non-Polish speakers.... the covers, the Prima Aprilis... Loved the execution
I'm English and I got it immediately. 'Prima' is like 'prime': an English word often used to mean 'first' or 'original', then 'Aprilis' is basically just 'April' with more letters. Very cleverly done.
you tube didn't tell me about this until today and I didn't notice the date, so I was not expecting a joke. I did cock my head at Aprilis, but I'm still on my ADHD brain, so it didn't stay in my head long enough to think about it, dunno if I would've figured it out if I had.
Wow, this video absolutely got me - I had no idea it wasn’t real, didn’t notice the author’s name, was completely taken in… until on a whim I decided to scroll through the comments… and now I’m in awe. What impresses me so much is how you conceived of this brilliant idea and then took it absolutely seriously - It’s like you constructed it to be as believable as possible and then “forgot” it was fake and followed your usual thorough process of critical analysis. The effect of this is to render it the most captivating April Fools video I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been so delighted to have been duped. And God, the movie made SO much more sense in your version! For a moment I thought all the mysteries of the universe were finally explained… but no, it was just Dom being clever 😉
I'm particularly tickled by this (having indeed fallen for it for the entire video, and only being enlightened by the comments) because I accidentally pulled a similar thing on my mom once -- inventing a twist ending for the third Pirates of the Caribbean film. Our family has a longstanding history of spinning out yarns about the movie we just saw while walking out of theaters -- basically, like spoiling a movie for those about to watch it, but with fake, over-the-top spoilers. However -- and I didn't realize this until the day this happened -- my mom has seen far fewer movies in the theater, so she hadn't really gotten the memo about this being a thing we did. I saw PotC 3 with her, and then spent about an hour shopping for clothes, all the while going on and on about how surprising the ending was... the ending I was spinning out to the best of my ability, thinking she was going along with the joke. I wound up with the following core: When the cast was looking for the human form of the goddess Calypso, they got fixated on finding a *female* character, and thus overlooked the more obvious answer: Cap'n Jack Sparrow himself. The more details I spun out about this, the more it made sense; heck, if I didn't have a full plate for my fic-writing, I'd likely turn it into a fic myself (hmm, maybe I should make a Notfic version). But basically, Jack's weird behavior from the very start of the series makes more sense if he's not actually human, but a goddess who's been forced into mortal flesh. It explains why he's fixated on Freedom, why that freedom equates to the ocean, why he can't seem to stick by any mortal lover for very long, why he's so erratic, all these little details that add up to a very interesting headcanon. And it was only after an hour of this that my mom made some little comment that hit me over the head with the realization that she was taking me 100% seriously. And wondering how the heck she had missed all this detail in the movie she just watched. Basically, that day, for an entire hour, I unintentionally *gaslighted my own mother*
@@Arkylie Gods, this twist would make the third _Pirates of Carribean_ at least somewhat bearable instead of the trainwreck it actually was even if you would obviously have to change a few things even with the second movie. The second movie being a retroactive victim of the third movie's spectacular incompetence due to having to end on a cliffhanger is what I think still annoys me most about that the particular trilogy.
Whoah... that was convincing! The way you described "book Lisa" and "book Danny" really did sound like something someone would have written only for it to be lost in the adaptation... Maybe you should go ahead and write that book, Dom...
From what I heard, Tommy Wiseau originally wrote The Room as a stage production before converting the story into a screenplay. So technically, The Room is an adaptation of something.
@@rpgaholic8202 Yeah. Something that probably connects to this is that most of the scenes set outside the apartment (Chris-R, tuxedo football, the rooftop, that coffeeshop scene) were likely added by Wiseau to pad out the story after the unmade play was converted into a screenplay. However, I've been unable to confirm this.
My wife said "it feels like I found out santa claus doesn't exist. Finding out The Room isn't just Tommy's fever dream, but a book he stole that he *Turned* into a fever dream" Edit: she's so glad Santa Claus is real again
I think the best bit from “The Room I Died In” comes on pages 297-298 (in the Brimstone Publishing edition, others may vary): Johnny turned to the window, a morose sensation running up his entire body that could only be compared to drowning. How could Lisa do this…? To him? After he’d bought her flowers, given her everything she’d ever needed… This couldn’t be reality. _But the tape._ His fist had collided with the painting of the framed spoon before he’d even realize he’d done it. A bloody spiderweb of shattered glass ran across the frame. Small bits of it flaked out onto the carpet. He’d need to run the vacuum now. His knuckles had begun to bleed. His lips were parched. He needed a drink. He needed… to get away. But he couldn’t see Mark, not without recreating with his face what he’d done to the mirror. He slipped his dark shirt and coat on as he floated numbly down the stairs, his sunglasses sliding onto his face in the familiar, chilling sensation. _I need some football._ The door shut behind him with a somber fury, and the apartment became more silent than it had ever been. In a way no one could truly see, it had become nothing more than an empty tomb, crowded by the chaos of living.
You had me for about the first ten minutes, not going to lie. This is the best April Fools joke ever. It's not mean spirited and no-one gets hurt. You clearly put so much work into this.
Petition for Dom to make Prima Aprilis his pen name and actually start a series of books doing this for bad films. I want one for Troll 2 as well! 😁 (edit: typo)
I deadass watched this entire review thinking it was legitimate only to discover it was a prank from the comments. Goddamn it, I was invested in Jonny actually being a vampire. Well played, Dominic.
A lot of these April Fool's 'not-what-it-looks-like' videos have been ticking me off with the misdirection. Mr. Dom, sir, YOU are doing it right! This is hilarious and brilliant, not just a lazy way to pretend clickbait is witty. Well done!
When this video came out, I had completely forgotten April Fools Day and took it as real. I went on about it to people for days until I slowly realized (several days later) that the authors name was April First.
Thank you so much for setting the record straight! I'm Polish and I've been telling people about this for years, I actually can't believe Wiseau got away with this obvious plagiarism. As for Prima Aprilis, my favourite of his novels is a lesser known one titled "Wyborny żart królu". I'm not sure if there's an English translation available (I couldn't find any information about it) but if you ever stumble upon it, definitely check it out!
@@KaitieKudara It did feel like a vanity performance for James Franco [hence losing Tommy's misogyny etc] given he looked like he would get an Oscar nomination [as award seasons love biopics] until his fall from grace prevented that.
I watched this whole review from start to finish last week, told my “The Room” loving friends about it, and upon rewatching decided to read the comments… Dom. Dominic Noble. You have betrayed me like no other. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY BELIEVED this was a real thing. You bloody bastard 😂
I’m the worst at detecting April 1st jokes. I always forget the day and am yearly blown away by content I come across. But this is by far the BEST fools ever played on me. At first I was thinking, no way. But your delivery and commitment to the bit had me convinced that the book was real. Hell, I want it to be real! That’s how good this episode is. Thank you Dom, you never disappoint ♥️
I was with you riiiiight up until the word "vampire". And then when I actually looked at the comments and saw how the supposed author's name was spelled? Well done sir, very well constructed, an excellent prank.
You know what, I kind of wish this was real. You came up with some ideas that would have been made the story really good. Also, Tommy Wiseau being a vampire makes a lot of sense and now you can't convince me he isn't.
fun fact, this may or may not be actual canon to the story. i don't know how credible this is, but apparently there was a deleted scene to the movie where johnny would fly away in his car. and when they asked him how the hell that would work, tommy just looked at them and went "maybe he's a vampire". so yes, johnny being a vampire might have actual been the intent all along.
Coming back to this after the “The Disaster Artist” I love the fact that “the Author” who is Blue in glasses and a Beard, died in Venice, because as a piece of OSP merch says “I want someone to love me the way Blue loves Venice”
Dang...to somehow turn the plot of the Room into a story that actually makes sense right down to all the nonsensical moments AND include the bizarre vampire ending Wisseau was going to use before running out of budget for the film and making that tie in to the theme as well makes me actually want to see someone remake The Room based on Dominic's fake book. Talk about skill.
you got me dom… until i went to the comments😅😅 happy april, this is a great episode, keep up the amazing work ! i hope that one day you’re doing a lost in adaptation about my own novel ❤️
Great April Fool's joke! The amount of detail and straight-faced seriousness with which you delivered this prank is commendable. Keep the videos and literary analysis coming, Dom!
I watched the whole thing knowing about Prima Aprilis already but man, I loved everything you pointed out. I kind of disagree with you though. While it's true Johnny's plot twist is forshadowed in the book, I understand why it was removed as it makes little sense in a standalone movie. From what I understand of the notes that were recovered after Aprilis's death, the rest of the trilogy was going to focus a lot more on that aspect, with scenes taking place over many time periods that both explained what led to the events of "The Room Where I Died" and what followed, at least for Johnny, the rest of the cast of the first book not returning, apart from an older Danny. When turning this into a single movie, it makes a lot of sense to remove that twist, although Wiseau should have removed the foreshadowing too. Basically I feel about it like with the breast cancer thread: if it wasn't going to be explored, why leave bits of the thread in? I recommend reading the original if you can, it makes the movie so much better. It's a shame it's so hard to find! EDIT: Yes, I'm on the "the notes were for future books in that trilogy and not first drafts of the book" team, if you hadn't guessed.
It's a film about a love triangle where one of the characters likes wearing sunglasses, plays a weird variation of a popular sport between him and close circle of friends and family, is rich for no reason, intentionally hides his real age, speaks like he's from a different time & may or may not be vampire. So naturally, The Room is based on the hit YA novel Twilight.
I was like "I am pretty sure this is an April Fool's, but this writing is genius! It actually sounds like it could be a thing and make soooo much more sense for almost everything. LIKE I LEGIT WANT TO READ THE "GOOD VERSION" OF WHAT THIS COULD HAVE BEEN NOW.
I cannot believe I fell for this. You literally let me know in my own native language that "it isn't a real book" on the cover in the first minutes of the video. Oh my god, Dominic.
I really think it's a shame to let out the subplot of the shop owner. I thought that Johnny slowly helping her with her speak therapy was a beautiful moment. The whole reason why the "Hello doggy" scene was there was because of the shop owner's heavy speak impediment and dyslexia.
The Room is a gift that keeps on giving. If you approach the movie in the same mindset you have going to your middle school nephew's school presentation of Macbeth it works. Also very clever on the name of the author.
I FELL FOR THIS. I AM SO GUILLIBLE. I was excitedly telling my girlfriend all the twists and turns of this video like "omg you won't believe this" then scrolled down to the comments after the video was done. I'm a fool. I AM THE FOOL.
I only got halfway through this and was a bit distracted because I was trying to watch at work, which is my excuse for sending it to my sister before I realized what it really was. She’s fluent in Polish and laughed until she cried when she saw the book titles, then realized I wasn’t in on it, and I WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN.
I also just wanted to add a quick Tommy theory : Tommy has always been really shady about where he gets funding for his projects, so people have theorised that he's either from a rich family or he's a drug kingpin.
I theorise that he's an alien. Think about it. He has an unknown accent, speaks as if he's not fluent in his mother tongue, acts as if he's unsure how a human acts, and owns a fortune that nobody can explain where it came from.
So, with the perspective that most vampire-based media I've seen includes that vampires are supposed to be evil, the portrayal of one who is looking for there to be some good left in the world and leaving his story companions with the message that humans should love each other more comes across as...amazingly creative. I love this twist ending.
Dominic noble you just stepped into a huge fight by describing the ending as literally happening. Aprilis had entertained the idea that the ending was in Lisa, Mark's, Johnny's, the Flower shop Owner, or even the Police Man briefly mentioned in chapter 9s mind. Not to mention whether you whole vampire thing is a metaphor for relationships in general, Communism, capitalism, or toxic masculinity.
I love how this definitely started as an absurd, probably a bit drunken headcanon about The Room and then someone said "They explain it in the book", leading Dom down a rabbit hole, at the bottom of which lay one of the best April fool's videos. Period.
I saw your video, believed every second of it until now, 2 months later, when you mentioned in another video that it was an April fools prank. I’m so gullible it hurts. Didn’t even question it once
aw man, you completely had me. Had scroll down to the comments to get any of the hints - and the best (worst?) thing is, you'd managed to get me actually interested in this story... (Also I should've guessed there was something fishy when the book supposedly is only available in print in its native language, but also there's a full english translation available.....)
Same. I was looking up the author’s name and wondering why I was getting the Wikipedia entry for April fools... what’s more infuriating is that google was AUTO COMPLETING THE TITLE OF THE BOOK!! Gah!
For those of you curious enough to go translate the book titles from polish, it's really interesting to see how the translators made the titles so different, likely to appeal more to American audiences. Goes to show how careful they were!
I’m not gonna lie, I was convinced this was real for weeks. I told other people this existed. This was by far the best April fools day joke that has ever been played on me
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
If any Polish beautiful watchers know some stories from Prima Aprilis' crazy life, feel free to share them here.
He was well known for pointing at a person’s tied shoes and yelling, “Your shoe laces are untied!” then, “Made you look!”
@@AuthorCertifiedGoof And boots
The thing is, I'm not polish, but I feel like I still need to polish some of the facts you stated about his life, mainly his name. "Prima" isn't his actual name, it's a nickname from his childhood days, because he was known in his family to always wake up the earliest. He even stated it annoyed his parents LIKE hell. Also, about the surname, I'm afraid he didn't use his actual one here either. It's Dapriliczewszki, but you can imagine how weird that would've been to market in case his books rose to fame so he had to choose a different route and make it easier to pronounce.
Other than that, great video with interesting facts about the life of an author so underrated, it's quite sad.
Pfft, 'great author'--that guy was a total joke.
I'm just here to appreciate the fact that you decided to talk about writer who's alias literally means april's 1th fool's day, on the april's 1th
That author guy sure would look a lot more handsome if he shaved the beard. Shame about his drowning in Venice.
-B
wait a minute is this BLUE?!
@@or_gluzman561Peace_IL_PS no, it’s april fools, so that’s actually Red
wow youtube does not know how to format that tag, at least on mobile
@@Pablo360able HA HA HA good one
Omg, I had to go back. I thought he looked familiar but I wasn't watching super closely XD HI BLUE
I haven't felt this betrayed since my older brother had to inform me there wasn't an unabridged version of the Princess Bride that had pages and pages of boring worldbuilding and descriptions of Buttercups outfits.
😭😭
Now I'm sad because there wasn't one
Me too, honey. Only I was twenty-three and had to find out from Wikipedia.
... I actually ditched my copy thinking it wasn't the real thing.
Ssssh, it exists. There's twenty pages of Indigo and Fezzik doing fetch quests somewhere
This video actually inspired me to check out the original novel. The thing that kind of surprised me was that the book also explained the whole "how is your sex life?" thing. It's actually something of a running gag and inside joke between Johnny and Mark. Apparently, that's just a thing they do when there's an awkward silence between the two. One of them says "Anyway, how's your sex life?" and the other would launch into some obviously made-up sex story. In fact, it's actually a big plot point when it comes up in the coffee shop scene: the fact that Mark gets defensive instead of continuing the joke is the reason Johnny begins to suspect he's hiding something from him. Unfortunately, the movie cuts out every prior reference to the joke, robbing the line of its significance and... you know, sensicality.
Also, I'm surprised no one's brought up the subtle connection between Peter's plot thread and the final twist. Basically, in addition to his work with the main cast, he is also shown working with a couple of other patients, the husband and sister of a woman who disappeared a week before the events of the main plot. The sister in particular seems very disturbed, especially after halfway through the story, when she spontaneously develops an obsessive-compulsive need to eat garlic and carry crucifixes. Later, she admits to having found her sister's body in an alley not far from Johnny's apartment complex, dead from a slit throat. Peter is able to help her overcome the trauma and gets the authorities involved, but the details of the death are never resolved. This really fed into the speculation that the book was planned to have a sequel, since it's heavily implied that the murderer was a vampire.
oh my god these comments make me want to write this book. like. genuinely. i was already halfway there from the video but these additions just push it over the edge lol
@@sarahbonder731 How's the progress on writing this masterpiece, and were can I pre-order it?
You took a terrible movie, turned it into an actually interesting book, and then convinced us all that it was real the whole time. And you never once broke character. I applaud you, my good sir.
I was about to write a comment on how nuts the book was, then I saw this comment. What a great April fools joke. It totally got me.
@@gracekelley2907 same
He had me going for over a week.
Oh my gosh, I am DYING 😂😂😂 I totally believed him, the only thing I was confused about wad that the vampire thing was an alternate ending and I had thought that was common knowledge and wondered how he had missed it. 😂😂
Well if you could speak polish, you would have noticed that the polish title of "The Room I Died In" isn't actually "The Room I Died In". In english it says "I'm Lying To You".
The sad part, is just how freaking believable this is. I actually fell for it hook line and sinker at first, because it's entirely plausible that Tommy Wiseau could have stolen some foreign nameless person's work and adapted it into a narcissistic self-insert. And the ending you came up with for this actually warps the rest of the story into something FASCINATING and intriguing, even in its bizarreness.
Happy belated April Fool's Day, and may this level of cleverness continue to serve you well for years to come!
ah see, that's the beauty of it, with Tommy Wiseaus mysterious past I would have thought that Wiseau faked his own death and adapted his own book in a worse fashion to film
I believed the ending was real at first because I heard from someone a long time ago that Tommy tried to slip in a vampire plot line and was talked out of it
Seriously, not the weirdest or worst use of vampires as a twist ending I've seen, even. For a complex avant garde-ish novel like this, it does feel like a real twist and way that twist would be framed.
@@commander950 Greg mentioned in 'disaster artist' Tommy saying 'maybe Johnny is a vampire' at one point but I took it to be just another of his nonsensical ramblings and nothing that went any further.
It is kinda believable except for the point of the authors name being first of april
My friend and I have a running joke about "The Room" that is apparently more accurate than we thought. From what I remember, Tommy Wiseau wanted a scene that showed Johnny's car flying off into the distance. When asked why, Tommy said "Maybe he vampire." as an explanation. So whenever a random weird thing happens to a protagonist in a book/movie/game we always say "Maybe he vampire."
I can't believe Johnny is actually vampire.
Okay, someone else heard that stuff....was wondering if it was a weird thing I thought of myself and it got locked in there.
I'm pretty sure it's in Sestero's book...so it's probably true
Gonna say that sometime soon! 💕🐝💕
@@Tareltonlives Its in the book. I just put it down to random nonsense Wiseau mentioned one day given he's rambling nature rather than a serious idea [I love the book but Sestero does like to play up the meme's and weirdness as he's been involved in the midnight screenings].
@@jamesatkinsonja True: I doubt Tommy actually was seriously considering it, his mind just went there
As a Polish reader I can say for sure, that "To nie jest prawdziwa książka" was actually written as a hidden political commentary. Thank you for talking about this author, he deserves the recognition ❤
"As weird as The Room is, The Room I Died In is arguably weirder. Yeah."
Well, what do you expect from Prima Aprilis? Brilliant writer, though.
Always sad when a great writer dies too soon
@@SorowFame But he didn't ....OH, we're keeping the facade. Yeah, shame he died so early. That drowning was terrible, heard they couldn't find the body until days later...all bloated and nearly unrecognizable.
Don't forget all the postmortem damage. All his teeth and fingers had been knocked out and chopped off by gondola propellers.
@@nobledamask Was that in the original? The fingers getting severed was part of the Spanish trasnlation like 4 chapters in, with a sentence that I figured the author ignored until the epilogue. But I don't recall any gondola propellers.
@@SorowFame
It does look like this was a good idea executed in an unsatisfactory way, as if the author hadn't fully matured as a writer before his early death.
It's sad to think what might have been had he lived longer.
I love how all the "differences" in the fake original novel basically fix/explain all the weirdness of the movie.
Having found an English translation of the book online, Lisa was a much more developed character in the book.
She was so focused on Johnny providing for her because she grew up in a working class Polish neighborhood. Her mother’s diagnosis tied into this too, because the woman didn’t have enough financial resources to pay for chemo
Most Polish people were very poor in the 1970s and this does come across as a rich jerk exploiting the financial desperation of others.
Though the ending does indicate that this was a false reading.
The part with "paying for chemo" was actually localized for American readers as well. The translator said in one of the interviews that she thought the readers in the US might have a hard time believing that hospital treatments in Europe are free. I think it was the right choice as it helped everyone connect deeper to the character and understand her actions better.
@@Nadine944 I figured it might have been something to do with American localization
Interesting cause the one during back when I was in High School and reading the book as well watching the movie for an essay about it some of this stuff regarding Lisa was there albeit slightly localised as the version we were doing was the Australian and British translation of the book
Along with the Room I Died In we also did an essay for Simple Jack
The amount of work put into this. Noble made up how the book was better, came up with the most absurd twist ever. Left Easter eggs in the cover of the book that it’s a joke. Recorded a full length episode, in its usual format with no clues in the delivery or structured that it’s a joke. Had it edited, commissioned an ending song for it. Uploaded in Patreon a few days early, before uploading it to the channel. This is commitment and work I’ve seen for no other aprils fools joke.
I mean, the Author's name is a dead giveaway.
EDIT: Though I was entirely convinced until the comparison started. I was about to post the link to a discord I'm in until I remembered the date and only THEN did the author name hit me, not before.
Prima Aprilis ? Wait which day is today ?
The funny part is, the vampire thing might be a behind the scenes reference to the room, at one point tommy wanted a flying ghost car to show up, and when asked about it his only explanation was "maybe johnny is a vampire" I am dead serious
Didn't pay attention to the author's name. I'd never known -_-
@@antaresmaelstrom5365 god damn it. i didnt even think of that. i used my phone camera to translate the title. a little garbled but it basically said this book is not the truth.
Is it weird that I'm SAD that this is an April Fool's Joke?
I want this book to be real, and I want this to be a real adaptation thing...
Funny story: my husband saw this video and despite now knowing it was a prank, he now considers this his headcanon for the Room cuz it’s the only way it makes sense in his head xD
Well the movie was actually original supposed to be a book
@@MarshFogBand I remember that now!
Well I’m betting that somewhere in an alternate universe, this book is a real freaking (albeit very strange) phenomenon.
I suspected the joke going in, but the fact that Prima Aprilis litterally means First of April was what confirmed it for me. 🤣
But honestly, I'd like to see more of that, a Bizarro Lost in Adaptation where a better source material is invented for a bad movie.
I suspected a joke but my foreign language is bad and I just did not notice, so he got me for a second anyway.
It took me an embarrassingly long time until I saw his name in the comments. It just didn’t register until I got a better look at it.
Damn it, How did I not notice that! Oh well easily a pretty solid April Fools gag, I love how believable he makes it
You mean the Princess Bride?
Oh my goddd..... UUUuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUGUGGHNHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! xD FFS, my colleagues got me with _two_ separate ones, and now this. xD Motherfffff.....
I got halfway through this and messaged my brother like "dude did you know the room was based on a book!?" And needless to say he's never letting me live this one down so thank you for that🤦♀️
Yeah, I did the same thing to my friends. 😅
@@mackenziegivens6061 Someone does this every year. 🥴
Thank you for mentioning the more sympathetic way Lisa was written in the book, because it's my favourite part of it. She was young, unemployed and possibly uneducated, with no hobbies or things to do other than cleaning and having guests. Johnny is likely her first partner and has an insane amount of control over her - she doesn't even get to spend any of his money, HE buys her a dress that HE chose for her. The actress actually did a very good job of playing a character trapped in a cage, despite Wiseau's obvious directorial attempts to antagonize her.
I'm Polish, I have read the book many years ago. I love that someone is finally making a video on it
I once saw it on a library page. Good to hear that someone actually read it :) I always wanted to, but it was not translated into Danish.
Oh, it sucks, but I'm glad the Dom is now telling me about it
I thought the author's name was Pierwszy Kwietnia, though.
@@captainufo4587 I've read somewhere in a interview with him that he latinized it because he was afraid of prosecution by communists.
Fun fact, the swedish translation of the title was "my friend the vampire", so the whole plot twist was spoiled from the beginning.
@@captainufo4587 It was, Prima Aprilis was just his pen name.
The joke about the twist ending gets even funnier if you know Wiseau ACTUALLY wanted to end the movie with Johnny being revealed as a vampire
I'm kinda grieving the fact that I will never get to read a version of the Room where Johnny ends up being a vampire, is the inspiration for Dracula, and flies off into the sunset after refusing to turn Mark and Lisa into vampires. It is the book I didn't know I needed.
RIGHT?? I would 10,000% devour the shit out of that book - someone please write this!
Maybe Johnny is vampire
"Peace out... suckers." Johnny said, putting his sunglasses on. He faced the sunset and walked toward it, patiently waiting for the night to come; Only the Moon shall witness his bloody revenge.
SAME! I just WANT to read that book SO badly now
I feel the same way about the unabridged version of The Princess Bride.
Hey, this wasn't the first adaptation of 'The Room I Died In'! There was actually a Japanese OVA in 1984 by Shigatsu Baka that strays even further! Lisa is a cat girl for some reason and Johhny is a highschool student. I heard Tommy has a copy of it along with the only known physical copy of Saki Sanobashi.
I remember watching the sub and the English dub was rather..... interesting
*Here are the ACTUAL names of the characters from the newly released proper translation.*
1. Janusz
2. Marek
3. Lena
4. Barbara
5. Daniel (The only one who's name didn't change.)
6. Pyotr
Thank you for this. I must admit Prima Aprilis is one of the most underrated and eccentric Polish authors. right after Kakao Decomorreno
But Kakao Decomorreno is so well loved you can buy his books everywhere. Even when you're just going grocery shopping. It restores faith in the fact that people actually love literature
I personally think that Olej Kujawski was a better example of żartowanie.
Let's not forget about the one and only Margaryna Palma. She is such a gem indeed, her books speak about some very crucial problems regarding Polish society in 90s
While he’s not polish, Kerkylas of Andros is in the same vein with his work.
@@dylantennant6594 had to google him. What a masculine men! But, I dare to say, he could be a real dick sometimes 😮
From the moment I heard the supposedly "Polish" author is named Prima Aprilis I knew I was in it for the ride.
As a Polish person I laughed at the book titles (It's not a real book, a fake book...). I applaud the level of dedication
Judging by you finding it funny, I have a feeling it doesn’t mean The Room I Died In. What does it mean?
@@Arthus850 I think she's implying the video is an extremely elaborate April Fool's Day joke.
@@Arthus850 The title of the book translates to "This is Not a Real Book". 😆😆
@@pszczolka80 GDI
@@biancabrooks280 Fuck, I didn't realize this was an April Fools Day prank until i saw this thread. Took me until around the 17th minute mark
Dom: “As weird as The Room is, The Room I Died In is arguably weirder!”
Me: * sitting on the edge of my seat *
Dom: “And we will get into it, right after a quick word about our sponsor.”
Me: “...you absolute tease!”
He is the Dom
@@catherinetheegreat8742 he’s actually the TH-camr Formerly Known as The Dom
Oh my, how could you NOT find the explanation for the spoon thing, this is such an important detail in the book and most students have it discussed if the teacher decides to include it as a mandatory reading 🙄
Those are so obviously a symbolic representation of the Aprilis's protesting the Warsaw Pact's intervention in Czechoslovakia, that he couldn't portrait straightforward so he settled on references to popular stainless steel cutlery because those were produced in Czechoslovakia and imported to People Republic of Poland as better quality than our own.
First edition even had a spoon on the cover, but AFAIK it was removed from later editions altogether and changed after the martial law in the early 80's by Prima himself because he didn't want the censorship beuro to fiddle with his junk as he famously said.
Since you've shown one of those horrendously ugly and cheap modern editions maybe the publisher didn't disclose in the foreword? But it's pretty easy to find! Very dissapointing...
Actually in the video, it's stated that Aprillis died in 1978, so if this book were to actually exist, it would either be his publisher or his estate that would handle newer editions.
But other than that, this was hilarious.
Even the title sounds real. "The Room I Died In" sounds like an underrated indie novel written in the '90s and only sold in limited fashion in America. It wasn't a hit at first, though, so it faded into obscurity. But years later, people realized that it didn't deserve to fade and only now is it gaining traction
Very nice, Dom
If it would be titled that, on the cover there should be the name "Pokój w którym zmarłem" or "Pokój w którym umarłem". Irl "To nie jest prawdziwa książka" means "this is not real book". :v
Oh my God, I was so confused when I saw a Polish thumbnail??? I was like "did the pierogis take over Dom?".
Also! The book cover translates to "This is not a real book"
oh, that's an awesome touch! nice work, dom!
Now I want pierogis!!
@@Logitah Who doesn't...
Prima Aprilis is also well known and quite beloved in my native Venice. We actually have a statue dedicated to him near the place of his untimely death. Thank you Dom, Prima Aprilis deserves to be celebrated properly.
This is the best April fools video I’ve ever seen because you didn’t let up on the joke even for a second. I fucking believed this start to finish dude, holy hell. Dropped my spoon when you dropped the Johnny-is-a-vampire plot twist. Gotta admire all of the work you put into this, it’s absolutely amazing, phenomenal job
Jesus I was forwarding it to friends then realized it was April 1st. lol.
I’m actually mad that this whole thing is fake. I started looking up the book and was wondering why I was getting the Wikipedia page for April Fools when I put in the author’s name.
I feel less alone having believed it till the end. Thank you xD
I believed it until I read the comments and saw how the author's name was spelled out. Prima Aprilis. Brilliant.
This was a joke??? DUDE
With that ending of the book, a story from the set of The Room makes much more sense.
Tommy wanted to put a scene of a flying car in the movie and when asked why, his only answer was: "Maybe Johnny is vampire"
I laughed my ass off when the vampire twist was revealed in this video.
Fun fact by the way Wiseau actually did want to include the Vampire twist that was in the book. Sadly at the time there was no English version of the book so Wiseau had to translate it from polish to his language then into English while writing the script. Most of the plot remained (though this might explain the aging up of Danny) however as there is no word for vampire in Wiseau's native tongue he was unable to properly explain the final twist. As the film was close to going overbudget and they were already over schedule Wiseau reluctantly decided to cut it out all together.
My husband is from Poland and ALWAYS complains how no one talks about the original book! It’s his favorite thing to talk about any time the subject of the movie comes up. Thank you Dom for finally bringing more light to it 😘
This may be the most elaborate, involved and ambitious April fools I have EVER seen. My hat is off for you, sir
I'm so ready
You didn't even acknowledge it at the end! You absolute savage!
Before reading this comment i actually that it was true. He got me good!
@@nabilaiqbal6410 Don't worry, you're not the only one.
Source: me
@@eldysparrownest9164 other source: me as well
I actually met Tommy Wiseau at a midnight screening of The Room once. He was doing a Q&A there and I actually asked him if he was an ageless immortal vampire. He neither confirmed nor denied.
Also, he smelled really weird. Like, really weird. The only way I can describe it is that he smelled like an old fridge that's been imbued with the smell of all the things have rotted in there over the years, combined with some unidentifiable cologne or perfume smell.
I love that even though this was a joke, it recontextualized the story in a way that actually makes sense and sounds genuinely interesting. This was so great
I cannot put into words how sad I am to live in this reality. Where this is just an april fools gag and not an actual book that I would for sure learn polish just to read.
The moment Noble said the plot twist I literally started laughing out loud. Very well executed this, I honestly was believing it lmao
...Actually Wiseau has said that he originally intended for Johnny to get into his car and he and the car fly away at the end of the movie. When asked why, his response was "Maybe he is vampire?". So... Dominic is correctly portraying the twist ending.
@@Zahaqiel I hate that by googling this, several threads and websites actually mention this as fact because it sounds so silly but apparently Wiseau didn't think so-
@@Zahaqiel Yep, could have been a real twist
@@anau.u9827 The lesson here is that Wiseau is a complex and wise man of unimaginable talent and craft.
@@Zahaqiel Yet he is used and betrayed by everyone around him; if only more people loved each other
I fucking bought it for nearly half the video, that’s how well executed this was. And it’s a great episode regardless.
I bought it for the whole video until I read the comments lol😅
I got it at "Prima Aprilis". Well, the fourth time or so he said the name.
What's amazing is that the Polish names of the books are literally "its not a real book" "im lying to you"
@@jordang7479 same 😅😅😅
@@jordang7479 same. Then I saw Prima Aprilis written in the pinned comment and it slowly dawned on me.
Dang it Dom, you present so honestly and often have such bonkers stories to tell about books/ films that this was just WAY too believable!!!
Thing is, I watched this 2 weeks after April 1st. I thought the danger was over. I suspected nothing. Everything seemed normal. I feel so betrayed. I hate that I was fooled, but I respect the dedication behind this video.
As Polish person, I enjoyed every second of it. Thank you, for bringing up the forgotten Polish authors.
Aprilis is indeed a great author, but the English translation doesn't even come close to the godly quality of the Polish original. I think you can only understand the true significance of playing football in tuxedos when you take in the implied context of the original, it's really a subtle subtext-level play with the reader. I'll explain as best as I can: the characters long for freedom, available to them only on the other side of the Iron Curtain, merely a few hundred kilometers away. Since they can't cross to that better, highly desirable reality, they are perpetually stuck striving for the opportunity, basically daydreaming, and in the meantime playing the roleplay of what they imagine is like to live this better, rich, Western, free and democratic lifestyle. Playing this very Western game in inappropriate attire shows how strange and unrealistic their imagination is, but it is understandable, as they were born under heavy Stalinist regime, and grew up in complete isolation from the rest of the world. I mean it: they've been *completely* estranged from things that seem normal to anyone from the outside! It also explains the framed pictures of spoons, as this is how they imagined Western avant-garde art, so very different from what they knew in Warsaw. Of course Janusz (Johnny) knew better, as [well, here I should mention the plot twist, but for the ones who haven't finished the video yet, I will not] - but that's actually why Wiseau's character laughs, seemingly inappropriately, during random conversations or even out of the blue, when everyone around him is silent. He isn't who everyone thinks he is, he knows better, but he has to play along, which is of course very funny to him.
That's why I think the relocation of the movie takes away quite a lot and makes this a rather bad adaptation. It was a personal story, of course, but the intricate political and social commentary veiled under highly individualistic approach is how Polish authors had to manage during the Soviet times if they wanted to write something serious and influential. I'm so glad that books by Aprilis are compulsory school readings in Polish high schools!
The Finnish translation managed to keep most of the stuff intact, but it still lacked something. I wish I could read Polish!
This video made my day but your comment improved it even more ❤️ Brilliant analysis 😃
I love that.
This comment is a masterpiece.
Thank you, thank you everyone, feel free to drop by to my house on Disappointment Island, Auckland Archipelago to get an autograph and a selfie with me and touch my paperback first edition books by Prima Aprilis.
Yes, I remember the vampire thing.
In real life, Wiseau genuinely wanted a scene in the movie that revealed Johnny to be a vampire, featuring a flying car.
I usually detest, loathe and despise April Fool's jokes/pranks on principle, but this is a work of art! Well, done, good Sir! * appreciative nod *
Oh thank the gods. I'm not alone in this!
The best part about this is it actually makes The Room make more sense. Well played.
“maybe he vampire”
-tommy wiseau, when mark's actor questioned why he wanted a scene where johnny's Car flies.
Oh my gosh, as a Pole I felt weirdly privileged for getting more jokes then non-Polish speakers.... the covers, the Prima Aprilis... Loved the execution
I'm English and I got it immediately. 'Prima' is like 'prime': an English word often used to mean 'first' or 'original', then 'Aprilis' is basically just 'April' with more letters. Very cleverly done.
@@matthewvivian7235 I mean if you speak european language Latin be like that
@@ilian3199 Very true
Every year I forget April Fools' Day is a thing. And, honestly, nothing anyone could tell me about The Room would surprise me at this point.
Can't wait for people to find this video in like 2-5 years and take it 100% seriously. Great work!
Especially the ones who see the joke comments that treat the book as real (I say, having written one, myself)
I took it seriously now! 🙈 It was literally only cos I saw the comments I realised
you tube didn't tell me about this until today and I didn't notice the date, so I was not expecting a joke.
I did cock my head at Aprilis, but I'm still on my ADHD brain, so it didn't stay in my head long enough to think about it, dunno if I would've figured it out if I had.
Yes this is an amazing video lol
Or days. Speaking for a friend. That is me.
Wow, the book explains so much.
The "Everyone Always Betray Me!"
Makes much more sense if he has existed for centuries
Wow, this video absolutely got me - I had no idea it wasn’t real, didn’t notice the author’s name, was completely taken in… until on a whim I decided to scroll through the comments… and now I’m in awe. What impresses me so much is how you conceived of this brilliant idea and then took it absolutely seriously - It’s like you constructed it to be as believable as possible and then “forgot” it was fake and followed your usual thorough process of critical analysis. The effect of this is to render it the most captivating April Fools video I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been so delighted to have been duped. And God, the movie made SO much more sense in your version! For a moment I thought all the mysteries of the universe were finally explained… but no, it was just Dom being clever 😉
I'm particularly tickled by this (having indeed fallen for it for the entire video, and only being enlightened by the comments) because I accidentally pulled a similar thing on my mom once -- inventing a twist ending for the third Pirates of the Caribbean film.
Our family has a longstanding history of spinning out yarns about the movie we just saw while walking out of theaters -- basically, like spoiling a movie for those about to watch it, but with fake, over-the-top spoilers. However -- and I didn't realize this until the day this happened -- my mom has seen far fewer movies in the theater, so she hadn't really gotten the memo about this being a thing we did.
I saw PotC 3 with her, and then spent about an hour shopping for clothes, all the while going on and on about how surprising the ending was... the ending I was spinning out to the best of my ability, thinking she was going along with the joke. I wound up with the following core: When the cast was looking for the human form of the goddess Calypso, they got fixated on finding a *female* character, and thus overlooked the more obvious answer: Cap'n Jack Sparrow himself.
The more details I spun out about this, the more it made sense; heck, if I didn't have a full plate for my fic-writing, I'd likely turn it into a fic myself (hmm, maybe I should make a Notfic version). But basically, Jack's weird behavior from the very start of the series makes more sense if he's not actually human, but a goddess who's been forced into mortal flesh. It explains why he's fixated on Freedom, why that freedom equates to the ocean, why he can't seem to stick by any mortal lover for very long, why he's so erratic, all these little details that add up to a very interesting headcanon.
And it was only after an hour of this that my mom made some little comment that hit me over the head with the realization that she was taking me 100% seriously. And wondering how the heck she had missed all this detail in the movie she just watched. Basically, that day, for an entire hour, I unintentionally *gaslighted my own mother*
@@Arkylie Gods, this twist would make the third _Pirates of Carribean_ at least somewhat bearable instead of the trainwreck it actually was even if you would obviously have to change a few things even with the second movie. The second movie being a retroactive victim of the third movie's spectacular incompetence due to having to end on a cliffhanger is what I think still annoys me most about that the particular trilogy.
Whoah... that was convincing! The way you described "book Lisa" and "book Danny" really did sound like something someone would have written only for it to be lost in the adaptation... Maybe you should go ahead and write that book, Dom...
I agree, that was really good writing!
I would love to read it
From what I heard, Tommy Wiseau originally wrote The Room as a stage production before converting the story into a screenplay. So technically, The Room is an adaptation of something.
When I saw the title I actually thought Dom got a copy of the screenplay
Yeah, and the stage play all takes place in one room so there was no need for scene changes, thus why it was called The Room.
@@rpgaholic8202 Yeah. Something that probably connects to this is that most of the scenes set outside the apartment (Chris-R, tuxedo football, the rooftop, that coffeeshop scene) were likely added by Wiseau to pad out the story after the unmade play was converted into a screenplay. However, I've been unable to confirm this.
My wife said "it feels like I found out santa claus doesn't exist. Finding out The Room isn't just Tommy's fever dream, but a book he stole that he *Turned* into a fever dream"
Edit: she's so glad Santa Claus is real again
A happy wife, a long life!
I think the best bit from “The Room I Died In” comes on pages 297-298 (in the Brimstone Publishing edition, others may vary):
Johnny turned to the window, a morose sensation running up his entire body that could only be compared to drowning. How could Lisa do this…? To him? After he’d bought her flowers, given her everything she’d ever needed… This couldn’t be reality.
_But the tape._
His fist had collided with the painting of the framed spoon before he’d even realize he’d done it. A bloody spiderweb of shattered glass ran across the frame. Small bits of it flaked out onto the carpet. He’d need to run the vacuum now.
His knuckles had begun to bleed. His lips were parched. He needed a drink. He needed… to get away. But he couldn’t see Mark, not without recreating with his face what he’d done to the mirror.
He slipped his dark shirt and coat on as he floated numbly down the stairs, his sunglasses sliding onto his face in the familiar, chilling sensation. _I need some football._
The door shut behind him with a somber fury, and the apartment became more silent than it had ever been. In a way no one could truly see, it had become nothing more than an empty tomb, crowded by the chaos of living.
Dom did a hell of a job with this, down to the author's name literally being April 1st.
You had me for about the first ten minutes, not going to lie. This is the best April Fools joke ever. It's not mean spirited and no-one gets hurt. You clearly put so much work into this.
I didn't even consider the day when I clicked, and I only clocked it at the twist.
Same. I noticed the date halfway through and was like damn, I really wish it were true.
@@LuxurioMusic Same, for it says it was posted on the 2nd so it didnt click til the twist
Petition for Dom to make Prima Aprilis his pen name and actually start a series of books doing this for bad films. I want one for Troll 2 as well! 😁
(edit: typo)
Second!
I loved how he basically pulled a Gobcharov before it was cool 😂
@@SiRenfield people have done stuff like this all the time lol (also, Gobchariv: the direct to video Goncharov sequel)
@@jasonellis4330 Blame my stupid autocorrect
I deadass watched this entire review thinking it was legitimate only to discover it was a prank from the comments. Goddamn it, I was invested in Jonny actually being a vampire. Well played, Dominic.
I know, me too!
Too, it makes too much sense, and that weird absurdist authors exist (murakami)
A lot of these April Fool's 'not-what-it-looks-like' videos have been ticking me off with the misdirection. Mr. Dom, sir, YOU are doing it right! This is hilarious and brilliant, not just a lazy way to pretend clickbait is witty. Well done!
>Reveals he is a vampire
>monologues about love
>Flies away
Now I want to read it.
Took me until you named the author to realize it was a prank.
You're wickedly creative, Dom.
I knew that this had to be an April Fools joke, but I didn't catch the name until I saw your comment.
Nice!
Idk, the preview did it for me.
I had an inkling but I wasn’t sure, but the name cemented it
I couldn’t believe there was a book that gave birth to that nonsensical of a movie and then I remembered it was April fools.
took me the whole fucking video 😭
The most elaborate way of explaining "mabey he's vampire" and I love it
To quote from the book: "Chciałbym, żeby książka była prawdziwa..."
When this video came out, I had completely forgotten April Fools Day and took it as real. I went on about it to people for days until I slowly realized (several days later) that the authors name was April First.
Fun fact! Wiseau not using the word 'fiance' is actually true to Prima Aprili's original book.
Wow, I never expected to find a Fool's Day prank that was actually good. I'm so sick of the whole fool's day thing, but this was wonderful. Well done.
Thank you so much for setting the record straight! I'm Polish and I've been telling people about this for years, I actually can't believe Wiseau got away with this obvious plagiarism. As for Prima Aprilis, my favourite of his novels is a lesser known one titled "Wyborny żart królu". I'm not sure if there's an English translation available (I couldn't find any information about it) but if you ever stumble upon it, definitely check it out!
I don't think there's an English translation. But the Spanish translation was a hoot and a half every time I picked it up.
Man, this just makes me want an episode on The Disaster Artist.
Its interesting how much was cut out and changed mostly because of deleted scenes
The whole Retro Puppet Master subplot is lost to time
It's on the patreon to do list.
Spoiler: They cut all the good parts that made Tommy look worse
the book was so much more interesting, the Tom Ripley-esque pschosexal relationship between Tommy and Greg is totally gone in the movie
@@KaitieKudara It did feel like a vanity performance for James Franco [hence losing Tommy's misogyny etc] given he looked like he would get an Oscar nomination [as award seasons love biopics] until his fall from grace prevented that.
I watched this whole review from start to finish last week, told my “The Room” loving friends about it, and upon rewatching decided to read the comments…
Dom. Dominic Noble. You have betrayed me like no other. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY BELIEVED this was a real thing. You bloody bastard 😂
I’m the worst at detecting April 1st jokes. I always forget the day and am yearly blown away by content I come across. But this is by far the BEST fools ever played on me. At first I was thinking, no way. But your delivery and commitment to the bit had me convinced that the book was real. Hell, I want it to be real! That’s how good this episode is. Thank you Dom, you never disappoint ♥️
I was with you riiiiight up until the word "vampire". And then when I actually looked at the comments and saw how the supposed author's name was spelled?
Well done sir, very well constructed, an excellent prank.
This is extra hilarious considering the vampire twist wasn't made up
You know what, I kind of wish this was real. You came up with some ideas that would have been made the story really good. Also, Tommy Wiseau being a vampire makes a lot of sense and now you can't convince me he isn't.
fun fact, this may or may not be actual canon to the story. i don't know how credible this is, but apparently there was a deleted scene to the movie where johnny would fly away in his car. and when they asked him how the hell that would work, tommy just looked at them and went "maybe he's a vampire". so yes, johnny being a vampire might have actual been the intent all along.
it would explain so much
I know this is a bit but… I’d probably read “The Room I Died In”. Sounds pretty cool, twist ending and all.
Sorry, but... Prima (First). Aprilis (April).
@@ginsengaddict Yes, hon.
We got it.
Dom actually respects Tommy's wish for his background to remain private. That's the first time I've seen a youtuber do that. That's awesome.
Well, the nationality of the "author" here is a nod to what is pretty much accepted as Wiseau's country of birth now. But otherwise yes.
Coming back to this after the “The Disaster Artist” I love the fact that “the Author” who is Blue in glasses and a Beard, died in Venice, because as a piece of OSP merch says “I want someone to love me the way Blue loves Venice”
He died as he lived: looking at domes.
Dang...to somehow turn the plot of the Room into a story that actually makes sense right down to all the nonsensical moments AND include the bizarre vampire ending Wisseau was going to use before running out of budget for the film and making that tie in to the theme as well makes me actually want to see someone remake The Room based on Dominic's fake book. Talk about skill.
Lowkey, I'd love to see this remade into a graphic novel.
you got me dom… until i went to the comments😅😅 happy april, this is a great episode, keep up the amazing work ! i hope that one day you’re doing a lost in adaptation about my own novel ❤️
I was completely fooled and rethinking the last 10 years of my life until.the comments. I'm so naive lol!
I still dont get how u guys all realized >.
Me too, thought it was legit until I read the comments 😄
Had this in the background as I worked on a project. That’s my only excuse 😂
Great April Fool's joke! The amount of detail and straight-faced seriousness with which you delivered this prank is commendable. Keep the videos and literary analysis coming, Dom!
I knew this was going to be good when I heard the "oh hi, my beautiful watchers...". Well done.
I watched the whole thing knowing about Prima Aprilis already but man, I loved everything you pointed out. I kind of disagree with you though. While it's true Johnny's plot twist is forshadowed in the book, I understand why it was removed as it makes little sense in a standalone movie. From what I understand of the notes that were recovered after Aprilis's death, the rest of the trilogy was going to focus a lot more on that aspect, with scenes taking place over many time periods that both explained what led to the events of "The Room Where I Died" and what followed, at least for Johnny, the rest of the cast of the first book not returning, apart from an older Danny.
When turning this into a single movie, it makes a lot of sense to remove that twist, although Wiseau should have removed the foreshadowing too. Basically I feel about it like with the breast cancer thread: if it wasn't going to be explored, why leave bits of the thread in?
I recommend reading the original if you can, it makes the movie so much better. It's a shame it's so hard to find!
EDIT: Yes, I'm on the "the notes were for future books in that trilogy and not first drafts of the book" team, if you hadn't guessed.
It's a film about a love triangle where one of the characters likes wearing sunglasses, plays a weird variation of a popular sport between him and close circle of friends and family, is rich for no reason, intentionally hides his real age, speaks like he's from a different time & may or may not be vampire. So naturally, The Room is based on the hit YA novel Twilight.
Other way around. The Room came out in 2003, Twilight in 2005.
It's a Twilight fanfic, just like 50 Shades of Grey
@@Morbos1000 That is, in fact, the joke.
@@briankaslewicz6130 But would you not agree, the idea that Twilight is a "The Room" fanfic is far funnier?
@@parrot998 Nah, the timewarp of The Room being Twilight fanfiction before Twilight existed is better
As a Pole I appreciate how on the spot your take on the book is!
I was like "I am pretty sure this is an April Fool's, but this writing is genius! It actually sounds like it could be a thing and make soooo much more sense for almost everything.
LIKE I LEGIT WANT TO READ THE "GOOD VERSION" OF WHAT THIS COULD HAVE BEEN NOW.
Yes same oh my God
same lol
I knew it was a joke when I saw the author's name but I still am like...that sounds really cool tho
Yes! Dom could absolutely write a parody novel, and it would be 100x better than the movie.
I cannot believe I fell for this. You literally let me know in my own native language that "it isn't a real book" on the cover in the first minutes of the video. Oh my god, Dominic.
I really think it's a shame to let out the subplot of the shop owner. I thought that Johnny slowly helping her with her speak therapy was a beautiful moment. The whole reason why the "Hello doggy" scene was there was because of the shop owner's heavy speak impediment and dyslexia.
The Room is a gift that keeps on giving. If you approach the movie in the same mindset you have going to your middle school nephew's school presentation of Macbeth it works.
Also very clever on the name of the author.
Very good April Fool's Day joke! Prima Aprilis is a nice touch.
I'm so mad lmao. You got me Dom, I was so invested in this and then I went to the comments. Best plot twist hands down, you magnificent mastermind.
Yes me too! I absolutely believed it hook, line and sinker 😳
I FELL FOR THIS. I AM SO GUILLIBLE. I was excitedly telling my girlfriend all the twists and turns of this video like "omg you won't believe this" then scrolled down to the comments after the video was done. I'm a fool. I AM THE FOOL.
I only got halfway through this and was a bit distracted because I was trying to watch at work, which is my excuse for sending it to my sister before I realized what it really was.
She’s fluent in Polish and laughed until she cried when she saw the book titles, then realized I wasn’t in on it, and I WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN.
I also just wanted to add a quick Tommy theory : Tommy has always been really shady about where he gets funding for his projects, so people have theorised that he's either from a rich family or he's a drug kingpin.
I'm still convinced he's D.B. Cooper
Smuggler of offbrand sports shoes, i hope.
Greg Sestero actually goes into Tommy's backstory in The Disaster Artist. It's apparently from real estate.
@@enfercesttout I thought he was smuggling knock off higher-end leather jackets.
I theorise that he's an alien.
Think about it. He has an unknown accent, speaks as if he's not fluent in his mother tongue, acts as if he's unsure how a human acts, and owns a fortune that nobody can explain where it came from.
So, with the perspective that most vampire-based media I've seen includes that vampires are supposed to be evil, the portrayal of one who is looking for there to be some good left in the world and leaving his story companions with the message that humans should love each other more comes across as...amazingly creative. I love this twist ending.
Dominic noble you just stepped into a huge fight by describing the ending as literally happening.
Aprilis had entertained the idea that the ending was in Lisa, Mark's, Johnny's, the Flower shop Owner, or even the Police Man briefly mentioned in chapter 9s mind. Not to mention whether you whole vampire thing is a metaphor for relationships in general, Communism, capitalism, or toxic masculinity.
I love how this definitely started as an absurd, probably a bit drunken headcanon about The Room and then someone said "They explain it in the book", leading Dom down a rabbit hole, at the bottom of which lay one of the best April fool's videos. Period.
I saw your video, believed every second of it until now, 2 months later, when you mentioned in another video that it was an April fools prank. I’m so gullible it hurts. Didn’t even question it once
This is going to be a trip
I did not adapt it that's bullshit, I did not adapt the book I did nooot! Oh hi Dominic.
aw man, you completely had me. Had scroll down to the comments to get any of the hints - and the best (worst?) thing is, you'd managed to get me actually interested in this story... (Also I should've guessed there was something fishy when the book supposedly is only available in print in its native language, but also there's a full english translation available.....)
Same. I was looking up the author’s name and wondering why I was getting the Wikipedia entry for April fools... what’s more infuriating is that google was AUTO COMPLETING THE TITLE OF THE BOOK!! Gah!
For those of you curious enough to go translate the book titles from polish, it's really interesting to see how the translators made the titles so different, likely to appeal more to American audiences. Goes to show how careful they were!
I’m not gonna lie, I was convinced this was real for weeks. I told other people this existed. This was by far the best April fools day joke that has ever been played on me