Directors who stopped participating in Special Features

[evilswift]

I would have loved to had a Steve McQueen commentary on 12 Years a Slave.

Side: Jane Campion's commentary on In the Cut was shocking and hilarious. If PTA was accused of being too vulgar on his commentary --- clearly no one listened to Campion, lol.

[Show spoiler]
"I kept thinking we'd have to get a dildo or some kind of prosthetic and then Mark Ruffalo disrobed and... so then we didn't have to. *breaks into giggles* Either way, we all had so much fun looking at these huge dongs."

[dwk]

Mikchael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures was on the Rue Morgue podcast and he said that after viewing the DARKMAN epk footage of Raimi he got the impression that Raimi just isn't very comfortable doing interviews and that may be a major reason he doesn't take part in many special features.

[von_Levi]

As a viewer, I've pretty much lost all interest in commentary tracks and other special features.

Back in the LaserDisc era and early DVD days, there was something novel about having this direct access to directors. I remember being blow away by the Raging Bull commentary on Criterion LaserDisc as well as the one on Silence of the Lambs.

In the years since, filmmakers do so many more interviews to help promote their films that by the time the Blu-ray comes around, there's not much new to say (especially when they do a 45 minute interview on a show like Fresh Air). And I can appreciate the filmmakers being fatigued about recording commentary tracks and other special features after spending months saying all the same things on promotional tours.

And to some extent, the quality has slipped. The early Criterion commentaries were edited interviews. Nothing against any filmmaker, but just having them ramble for 2 hours doesn't produce great results.

[UFAlien]

I am so glad that Uwe Boll pretty much always does commentary tracks. They're usually more amusing than his films XD

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by UFAlien

I am so glad that Uwe Boll pretty much always does commentary tracks. They're usually more amusing than his films XD

His blunt manner of speech is hilarious, it's so out of the mainstream for most of these commentaries where everyone pretends to love everything.

The truth of the matter is that studios were paying for the commentaries when DVD sales were much better than they are today. Talent was regularly getting $25,000 to $100,000 to record a commentary for a major Hollywood feature. That is no longer true.

[solaris72]

Personally, I've wondered if perhaps some of these directors stop doing commentaries because of audience reaction. Once the commentary is out there, a filmmaker will probably be facing questions about those specific things s/he said about the movie for a long time to come. It could get irritating- we as viewers view a commentary as a static document, but a filmmaker's views and understanding of a film can change over time, as can what they remember about the film. I can see a filmmaker growing tired of having the same statements they made in a commentary 10 years ago brought up to them in interviews and public Q&A's again and again.