MovieChat Forums > Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) Discussion > The Best Making Ofs...

The Best Making Ofs...

posted 18 years ago by sr2ugs
30 replies | jump to latest

This movie is one of the most intense, exciting 'Makings of' of a movie that I can think of. Whatever is stopping it getting a DVD release needs to be sorted out. Eleanor Coppola's book is worth reading though. I've got a VHS and a DVD-R of the movie, and you can still pick up copies of the video on ebay fairly regularly I think.

Meanwhile, for no reason other than my own amusement, here's my other favourite 'making ofs':

Magnolia ( lenthy making of on the 2 disc set )
The Shining ( there's an updated edition with a director commentary on what was already a great look behind the scenes )
The Matrix Revisited ( the first one. The sequels 'makings of' are as bad as the films )
The Hamster Factor ( the making of 12 Monkeys )
The Making of The X-Men ( the 2 hour doc on the special edition X-Men 1.5 DVD )
I can't remember the name, but the making of the original Dawn Of The Dead got a seperate video release. I lent mine to someone who NEVER GAVE IT BACK! Its worth watching though.

Forgiveness for all those I forgot...

[–] jp_eiderdown 18 years ago

Agreed to the shining, magnolia, and the hamster factor, try these too:

Lost in Translation making of by Spike Jonze.
Royal Tenenbaums making of.
Rushmore making of.
Lost in La Moncha, the Terry Gilliam disaster film set
War of the Worlds - Spielberg says very insightful things about film making.

on that note, the Jaws making of is excellent.

Fargo
Shawshank

Wish there was one for alot of films.

[–] Yinky 11 years ago

What are the actual names of the Wes Anderson making ofs? My daughter is obsessed with him.

[–] tha_ej 18 years ago

A Dream Within in a Dream: The making of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'
The Lord of the Rings: Special Edition extras

[–] tornhill-1 18 years ago

The documentary on the making of Akira Kurosawa's RAN.

[–] El-Padre 18 years ago

Shaking the Cage is a brilliant "making of" (Easy Rider), well worth a watch.

[–] locke325 17 years ago

No ones mentioned "Burden of Dreams" a making of so great, its got its own Criterion Collection release and is even considered better by some than the actual movie its documenting, Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. The insight provided by the film and how they actually moved the boat over a peruvian mountain is enough to make it worht watching, but the making of dvd also has the hilarious special feature "Herzog eats his shoe" in which he does exactly that after loosing a bet with american documentarian Errol Morris (Fog of War).

[–] Elder_Yautija 17 years ago

I haven't had a chance to watch Burden Of Dreams yet, but I will as soon as possible cause I really loved Fitzcarraldo and I also heard of the shoe-eating scene>. It sounds hilarious!!!

My favourites making ofs are, in no particular order:

The making of "The Fly" ("Fear Of The Flesh")
The making of "Jaws"
The making of "Taxi Driver"
The Making of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
The making of "Predator" ("If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It!")

And obviously Hearts Of Darkness

[–] lukertron 17 years ago

peter jacksons doc for bad taste - 'good taste made bad taste' is a great insight into amature independent film making.

[–] jlecat 17 years ago

What do you think about the making of A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT ? :-)

[–] bd1187 17 years ago

My favorite has always been "The Frighteners".

[–] noilie 17 years ago

Although it's not a well-regarded film, the behind the scenes documentary attached to the DVD edition of Coppola's "One From the Heart" again shows how megalomaniacal the man was (he attempted to establish his own 30's-style backlot and production system, no less) before his reputation was irreversibly blown to smithereens. It makes an interesting companion piece to "Hearts of Darkness," especially since "Apocalypse Now," despite all the troubles, was a success and "One From the Heart" was not and bankrupted him and his studio.

[–] pgw20 17 years ago

This "Making of Doc" is not about a great film as much as it is great to watch:

"American Movie"

Fascinating and unbelievably hilarious.

[–] DanLaRusso 17 years ago

"30 Days In Hell" - Devil's Rejects

"A Cut Above The Rest" and "25 Years Of Terror" - Halloween

"Full Tilt Boogie" - From Dusk Till Dawn

"The Shocking Truth" - Texas Chainsaw Massacre

http://www.myspace.com/kinickity_mick

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Luke_Sysiak 17 years ago

I don't know why, but I find the documentaries of Ridley Scott's movies very informative.

I honestly recommend:

Making of:

Matchstick men
Blade Runner
The Gladiator
Hannibal
Thelma & Louise
Kingdom of Heaven
American Gangster (I love the movie but the documentary is boring)

and the others like:

Raging bull
The Godfather
Day Dog afternoon
Indiana Jones
Star Wars trilogy
Alien/Aliens/Alien3
Platoon
Wall Street
Jaws (one of my favorites)
Taxi Driver
The Matrix
Natural Born killers
Goldfinger

I really appreciate that Peter Jackson cares about the documentaries, I have them all (inc. King Kong full diary), but IMO those are a little bit boring, I don't know, maybe it is too much, or maybe I just don't like watching the making of CGI stuff.

I hope you'll find this helpful

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Luke_Sysiak 17 years ago

No, I have not. I've seen all LOTR documentaries and King Kong diary

[–] jonnyheckman 16 years ago

that's hardly "all".

"I wrapped his ding-dong in seaweed and he's been smiling ever since!"

[–] ald46412 17 years ago

While it actually covers multiple films the film "Spielberg on Speilberg" is fantastic

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] quirkyrecords 15 years ago

not quite in the same vein but i have to through it out there:

the audio commentary by sam mendes is one of the best insights into a filmmakers process i have ever seen.

anyone who wants to make films needs to watch that film and listen to the director letting you in on the secret of making a great film.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3136037

[–] donstuie 14 years ago

The Alien box set

Also, not a doc, but the Making of Star Wars by JW Rinzler is as comprehensive a 'making of' as you're likely to ever find.
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Star-Wars-TM-Definitive/dp/0345477618/ref =sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1285949763&sr=8-2

[–] the dude-30 14 years ago

Good grief, I can't believe no one has yet mentioned UNDER PRESSURE: Making The Abyss. I saw this and HEARTS the same year and both had the exact same impact on me! I will forever be haunted by the stories of Ed Harris' near-drowning and Mary Mastrantonio's breakdown. Both documentaries actually made watching the films even better.

[–] Cube_Brick1138 13 years ago

I agree with The Dude, 'Under Pressure' is a really great making of. Very intense. Mary Mastrantonio's scene where the camera jams is heart stopping.

Some of my favourites are:

'Good Taste made Bad Taste': Peter Jackson shows you how he made a low budget cult film with home made equipment and a lot of enthusiasm.

'American Zoetrope - A Filmmakers Legacy': on the 2nd disc of THX Special Edition. A great insight into the birth and successful years of American Zoetrope; the company set up by Coppola and Lucas (among others). If you're thinking about starting your own film company, this would be required viewing.

'Empire of Dreams' A behind the scenes on the making of the Star Wars films and it's legacy.

'Hush Hush' A 30 min look at the making of L.A. Confidential. Great to see how they used locations on the cheap and the inspiration behind Curtis Hanson's pitch to the studio.

All of the docos on the Alien Quadrilogy.

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness"

[–] daftspunk 10 years ago

Which Mendes movie are you talking about?

[–] quirkyrecords 10 years ago

Road to Perdition.