DVD Features showing director "directing"
 

Recently purchased the new "Bram Stoker's Dracula" 2 disc special edition and watching the bonus features was, once again, fascinated by the footage showing director Coppola at work directing live on the set. What other DVDs do you know of that have extensive footage showing this with other directors. Off the top of my head, I could think of:

-Fight Club (Fincher)
-Planet of the Apes (Burton)
-The Shining (Kubrick)

Thanks a lot!

Wow, this could turn into a huge list. Many DVDs feature behind-the-scenes footage of directors doing their thing.

Most recently I'd have to say Knocked Up, which has some very extensive extras and feature Apatow directing and making decisions behind the camera.

Edit to add Jackson's King Kong diaries, which are quite extensive and showcase the man directing very well.

Peter Jackson 'The Lord of The Rings' trilogy.

The Sin City Extended DVD has an extra feature called The Long Take which is a piece of footage about 17 minutes long with Quentin Tarantino directing his scene of the film. It's the scene with Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro in the car on the way to the mud pits. It's a rare opportunity to see QT at work.

I think it's a little bit of a gimmick to show someone behind the camera. That's only one part of what goes into film directing, because a lot of it is what a director decides even before he/she gets behind the camera, and then afterwards in editing. Although maybe I'm being too picky. I guess it depends on who directed the documentary and how well it's done, and it is a bonus to have it. A good documentary about Coppola, or filmmaking in general, is "Hearts of Darkness," about the making of "Apocalypse Now." It is something you have to buy or rent separately, though.

Full Tilt Boogie, the making of From Dusk Till Dawn

Absolutely fascinating is the brief footage of Orson Welles directing in the supplements to the Criterion release of "Mr. Arkadin". He is giving the actors minutely detailed instructions on how to deliver their lines, to the point that I'd be inclined to slug him. I think most actors enjoyed working with him, so something about his methods must have agreed with them.

I'm sure Orson Welles would be very interesting to see behind the camera, especially directing the actors. Google "Orson Welles Frozen Peas" for an example of Orson's extreme perfectionism. He was doing a commercial for frozen peas in England back in the '70s, telling the guys doing the commercials what they're doing wrong. I'm sure even these British radio commercial guys wanted to slug him. He was an extreme perfectionist, even later in his career.

there's some stuff on the excellent documentary for the Magnolia DVD with Paul Thomas Anderson.