Best/Worst Making-Of Documentaries

[hedwig]

Name a few, and your reasons why, if you'd like.

Por ejemplo:

Best:
Mysteries of Love (Blue Velvet)
I like it because of all the footage of Lynch, I find the interviews fairly insightful, I learned a lot about the film and about Lynch, his personality, his interests, "obsessions," etc. And there's some great stuff about cutting up a chicken and taking polaroid photos of its blood and guts.

Whether You Like It Or Not (Hedwig and the Angry Inch)
Everything I could ask for in a behind-the-scenes documentary. First of all, it is long as hell. It's very well-produced. It's not just a bunch of people sitting around TALKING about the Origin of Hedwig, but instead, we get to SEE it. We SEE footage of Mitchell workshopping his story at the drag club, Squeezebox, in New York. We watch the evolution of the movie from a chance meeting on an airplane to a little show to an off-Broadway phenomenon to an award-winning film. Good stuff.

With The Filmmaker: Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums)
I don't know, it's just a great documentary that, like the Hedwig one, shows more than tells. There are interviews here and there but mostly we get to watch Wes Anderson directing his movie, filming his vision. And we see everything -- from the set-building and pre-production right on up to the filming and then into the editing room. Plus, Wes wears cool glass.

The Obvious One (The Obvious Film)
The obvious reasons.

Worst:
The Making of Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Kill Bill Vol. 1)
I hate watching Quentin Tarantino talk and there is basically no behind-the-scenes footage and it's really short, AND it's poorly put-together.

The Making of Vol. 2 (Kill Bill Vol. 2)
See above. PLUS: the movie was so damn good, I would have appreciated a little insight....

[Pedro]

the obvious choice is the magnolia making-of doc:  that moment.

[Ghostboy]

No doc has approached the levels of artistry that Hearts Of Darkness has. However, its unavailability outside of eBay is a big problem.

Magnolia, of course, and the LOTR docs. And I'd forgotten about how good that Hedwig one was (I got tears in my eyes at the end with his dad).

I like the fly-on-the-wall stuff that shows up on Arronofsky's DVDs (the Wes Anderson docs are a bit like this also, although a little better, given Albert Maysles involvement). I also really like the silent super8 footage from the Stranger Than Paradise DVD. It's kind of boring, but simultaneously really fascinating.

[meatball]

..

[Pubrick]

underrated:

Portrait of a Lady -
A Filmmaker's Journey: The Making of Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady
way better than the movie itself. sum of the best behind-the-scenes footage of actors losing their shit. shelly winters being the biggest bitch was quite memorable. basically all about the on-set hysterics that everyone goes through, from director to grip.

better still:

Eye of the Beholder -
Killing Priscilla
stephan elliot getting his balls busted beyond human endurance. once again, much better than the movie.

[Ghostboy]

Portrait of a Lady -
A Filmmaker's Journey: The Making of Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady
way better than the movie itself. sum of the best behind-the-scenes footage of actors losing their shit. shelly winters being the biggest bitch was quite memorable. basically all about the on-set hysterics that everyone goes through, from director to grip.

YES. I felt like I understood how to work with actors so much better after I saw this.

[MacGuffin]

No doc has approached the levels of artistry that Hearts Of Darkness has. However, its unavailability outside of eBay is a big problem.

Agreed, and Long Live Laserdisc!!!

Best:
The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys
Better than "Lost In La Mancha," which feels more of a production diary, "Hamster" plays more like a documentary about Terry Gilliam's continuous struggles to get his visions on screen.

Spotlight on Location - The Making of Jaws
The full 2 hour version (only available on laserdisc) is the one one to watch. A fascinating doc from adapting the novel, the tortures of shooting on water and all the delays, the frustrations of the mechanical shark not working and how that played into the editing of the film, and the release that leads it to blockbuster status.

The Battle Over Citizen Kane
See everything that wonderboy Orson Welles was up against in trying to get his first film shot.

Worst:
The Making of Alien³
Only because it was cut down...

The documentary on Disc Six, now simply titled The Making of Alien³, was originally called Wreckage and Rape: The Making of Alien³. Several of the featurettes that make up the documentary (for example Production: Parts I, II and III) were also renamed (they were originally The Color of Blood: Pinewood Studios, 1991, Where the Sun Burns Cold: Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1992 and The Downward Spiral: Fincher vs. Fox). Eleventh hour changes weren't just made to the names... more than thirty minutes of material that was produced for this documentary was cut at the last minute. You might be wondering what difference thirty minutes could make in a three hour documentary. A big difference. Gone now is much of the honesty and truth about the hell director David Fincher went through on the production. Among the footage lost were actual moments with Fincher on the set, where you saw his frustration and anger. You saw his struggles with producers. You heard from Sigourney and the other cast and crew members talking about the problems, and what a raw deal Fincher got. You even heard from the film's producers and Fox executives talking about what went wrong. Simply put, this disc was about as good a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Alien³ as you could ever hope to get, short of Fincher returning to address the production himself (and he WAS asked to do so, but declined). Unfortunately, what you get now, while it still does contain some of the above (including material that you've never seen before), sort of teases the stuff you really want to know, then glosses by it.

[mogwai]

best:

the battle of brazil, dogville confessions, vivian kubrick's the shining doc, fear of god: the making of the exorcist, full tilt boogie (from dusk till dawn doc), mein liebster feind: klaus kinski

worst:

document of the dead (dawn of the dead doc)

sorely missing:

boogie nights and hard eight

[Alethia]

Spotlight on Location - The Making of Jaws
The full 2 hour version (only available on laserdisc) is the one one to watch. A fascinating doc from adapting the novel, the tortures of shooting on water and all the delays, the frustrations of the mechanical shark not working and how that played into the editing of the film, and the release that leads it to blockbuster status.

it's not the full 2 hour version on the dvd?

[Just Withnail]

Spotlight on Location - The Making of Jaws
The full 2 hour version (only available on laserdisc) is the one one to watch. A fascinating doc from adapting the novel, the tortures of shooting on water and all the delays, the frustrations of the mechanical shark not working and how that played into the editing of the film, and the release that leads it to blockbuster status.

it's not the full 2 hour version on the dvd?

Nope. It's a shame, as Laurent Bouzereau's docs are usually pretty good. Never earthshattering, but then again, never bad.

My favorites that haven't been mentioned:
Star Wars: The Beginning
Ingmar Bergman makes a movie

[Gamblour.]

How I Made the Office and the Video Diary on Office Series 2 were both good, mostly because I liked seeing the original short and Ricky Gervais be a goofy bastard.

The doc on Bringing Out the Dead was horrible, because it's just a short little thing, but I remember the one on Taxi Driver being ok, just not as in depth as it could've been.

And the LOTR docs kick my ass of course.

[Ravi]

I think the Bouzereau doc on the ET DVD is also abridged.  If Spielberg would have gotten rid of the version with walkie-talkies that nobody wants and put the full doc there it would have been a better package.

[Just Withnail]

Ahh, but if you, like me, bought the cost-me-way-too-much package, with the book, you got the whole deal (At least I think I remember something like that...)

[Alethia]

yes, me too.

[NEON MERCURY]

best:[not mentioned]

"the essence of combat: making black hawk down"
-from the 3 disc set

"titus"
-from titus

and i agree with all the ones mentioned and the star wars episode 1 and 2

"the snowball effect"
-from clerks 3 disc set
...i  have always admired smith for  giving his fans what they want. the good thing about smithis that sinces hes a geek jus tlike us he can deliver the goods.  and that guy [vincent pierra?]. you know th eguy that runs askiewnivers, i never knew how much of a lynch fan he was...cool stuff  


basically, i like the ones that goes from pre-to-post production and include thougths and opinions from the fans after viewing the movie in question in theaters.

as for the worst:

this is just being picky but i hate how on spielberghs dvds of late, he breaks down eveything into featurettes   , why not lump it all together

but i havent seen anything yet that i would call "bad" b/c i get  something out of it- even if its a 15min EPK. its something