Alison Brie Recalls James Franco Being Naked While Shooting ‘The Disaster Artist’

Alison Brie got her first chance to work with her husband, Dave Franco, this year on The Disaster Artist. The film tells the story of two would-be filmmakers defying Hollywood to realize their creative vision, and Brie says that her brother-in-law was almost as unrelenting as the film’s subjects in his commitment to authenticity. She told PEOPLE about her first day on set in a recent interview.

“I was there for a fitting and James [Franco] was totally nude filming a scene,” she said, laughing. The actress told reporters that when she first arrived on set, the elder Franco was wearing nothing but “this long black wig, crazy facial prosthetics and a sock on his penis. I was like, ‘OK this is going to be an interesting project.’ “

Brie said that with or without clothes, Franco was a lot to handle during the making of The Disaster Artist. As the star and director, Franco chose to stay in character the entire time — even when cameras weren’t rolling. It was a risky choice, considering he was playing Tommy Wiseau, the eccentric director of 2003’s The Room. Wiseau’s masterpiece is often referred to as “The Citizen Kane of Bad Movies.”

“It actually made a lot of sense for him to be directing in character,” Brie told reporters. “The whole movie is so meta in a lot of ways, and so it just sort of felt right to look at James and have him essentially BE Tommy directing us in this ode to Tommy Wiseau.”

The Franco brothers co-star in The Disaster Artist, with Dave playing Wiseau’s best friend and collaborator, Greg Sestero. Brie plays Sestero’s girlfriend, Amber.

The Disaster Artist is in theaters now.