Documentaries about filmmaking often capture more drama than the movies themselves. These works document everything from tropical disasters and sci-fi failures to the personal toll of high-stakes creative pursuits.
20. Document of the Dead (1985): This specialized look at George A. Romero’s 1979 classic Dawn of the Dead tracks the production from inception through to its final distribution, serving as a vital record for horror aficionados. Which follows the 1979 satirical zombie horror all the way through to distribution, behind-the-scenes footage from Dawn of the Dead is the highlight of this aficionados-only affair. Makeup maestro Tom Savini and the occasional zombie actor shoot the breeze in the deserted shopping mall that provides the movie with its incongruous central location, director George A Romero. The footage ended up impounded by the Iranian revolutionary government, after all that. All the men on the crew, Coppola included, shave off their beards to look more presentable for any hippy-hating officials they might encounter along the way, contains one choice detail: in preparation for driving across the country shooting this road movie.
19. The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? (2015): Director Jon Schnepp explores the ill-fated production of Tim Burton’s abandoned superhero epic, often referred to as one of the most infamous unrealized projects in Hollywood history. Documentary maker Jon Schnepp cosies up on screen with his interviewees and insinuates himself unforgivably into the story, imagining what might have been if Tim Burton’s Superman Lives had got off the ground. Plus interviews with Burton, original screenwriter Kevin Smith and producer Jon Peters, who was adamant that Superman should fight polar bears and a giant spider, the material is almost good enough to transcend his vanity: there is test footage of lead actor Nicolas Cage in his Man of Steel duds.
18. Becoming Bulletproof (2014): Featuring an inclusive cast from the Zeno Mountain Farm arts project, this film follows the creation of a short western in the California desert, highlighting the contributions of actors with disabilities. Crucially, Bulletproof itself isn’t about disability, but rather an attempt to highlight the lack of on-screen representation – and plug the gap.
17. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (2018): Presented by Alan Cumming, this documentary assembles archive footage and new interviews to chart the chaotic, five-year struggle of Orson Welles to complete his final film, The Other Side of the Wind. Along with this scattershot documentary, presented by Alan Cumming, which strings together archive footage, new interviews and typically Wellesian stories of on-set bluffs, tomfoolery and procrastination, a version eventually premiered in 2018 and is now on Netflix.
16. Filmmaker: A Diary by George Lucas (1968): A intimate half-hour snapshot of Francis Ford Coppola during the making of his fourth film, The Rain People, providing an early look at his professional intensity.
15. Boorman and the Devil (2025): Director John Boorman offers a candid, humorous perspective on his decision to helm the challenging Exorcist II: The Heretic.
14. Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four (2015): This film chronicles the rushed, low-budget production of an unreleased superhero movie created in a rat-infested studio using recycled sets.
13. Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013): This documentary details the ambitious yet ultimately unsuccessful attempt by Alejandro Jodorowsky to adapt Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel in the 1970s.
12. Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr Moreau (2014): A look at the chaotic production where director Richard Stanley was pushed out of his own adaptation of HG Wells’ work, leading to bizarre behind-the-scenes occurrences.
11. No Frank in Lumberton (1988) / Blue Velvet Revisited (2016): Peter Braatz captures the authentic atmosphere on David Lynch’s set, offering two distinct perspectives on the creation of a cult classic.
10. The Sweatbox (2002): An account of the significant creative struggles Disney faced while attempting to produce the animated musical Kingdom of the Sun.
9. From Darkness to Light (2024): This film investigates the production of Jerry Lewis’s 1972 Holocaust drama The Day The Clown Cried, a project that was famously left unfinished.
8. Poultry in Motion: Truth Is Stranger Than Chicken (2008): Follows unpaid horror fans living in a Buffalo church while they worked on the low-budget production of Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.
7. Shirkers (2018): Sandi Tan’s documentary unearths a lost film project, exploring the influence of an enigmatic mentor and the parallels to other notoriously difficult productions like Apocalypse Now.
6. The Peddler (2010): A profile of Daniel Burmeister, a dedicated amateur filmmaker who finds joy in the process of crafting movies on his own terms.
5. Lost in La Mancha (2002): Documentarians Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe capture the spectacular collapse of Terry Gilliam’s initial attempts to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
4. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno (2009): A deep dive into the 1960s production that fell apart, contributing to a subgenre that includes earlier investigations into unfinished projects like I, Claudius.
3. Burden of Dreams (1982): A legendary look at Werner Herzog’s grueling, mud-soaked filming of Fitzcarraldo in the Amazon rainforest, documenting the intense conflict between the director and star Klaus Kinski.
2. American Movie (1999): A portrait of aspiring filmmaker Mark Borchardt, whose relentless pursuit of his cinematic vision highlights the raw passion often required to complete independent projects.
1. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991): Co-directed by Eleanor Coppola, this definitive documentary utilizes 60 hours of footage and 40 hours of audio to reveal the volatile, 238-day shoot of Apocalypse Now, including Marlon Brando’s refusal to learn lines and the physical exhaustion of the crew.
