Director’s Commentary…

Much like cilantro, I feel like watching a film with director’s commentary is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of endeavor. A college roommate introduced me to director’s commentary in 2005 with, of all things:

Yes, The Princess Bride.

It was fantastic, by the way (the commentary). Totally worth the watch.

Now, I’m a film major, and thus LOVE anything to do with learning obscure, behind-the-scenes trivia of a film. In fact, I regularly look up the ‘trivia’ section on IMDB after watching a film just to get that feeling like I was somehow a part of the making of the film, like I’m in  “the know.”

Anyway, one of my largest laments is that there has never been director’s commentary for the Harry Potter franchise.

Yes, because I looove that world so much. I mean, for Halloween, last year, I went as a HP fan (not a character, just a fan), and I wore maybe 30% of the gear I have related to the fandom. Update 2020: Much less interested in the merch after She-Who-Is-A-TERF.

Anyway, so far I think I’ve enjoyed animated film director commentaries the most, i.e. Shrek, Monster’s, Inc., Toy Story, etc. Some action films (i.e. the new Total Recall, Jurassic World, Underworld, and Terminator) have been interesting, but then there are some that are so pointless to listen to that I’ve not yet finished them (I won’t name them here). Oh, you should watch Pirate’s of the Caribbean film, the first one, because it’s fantastic, as I recall. Not all director commentaries with lead actors are good, as actors tend to focus on the story, rather than what they were doing in the scene, but some are worth it.

I dream of doing a track of commentary on a film about my books, even if it will never happen.

I just wanted to write a quick post about how watching films with director’s commentary is something you should try out some time–especially if you’re a writer (because we ALL imagine what our stories would be like on the big screen), as it is often a quick introduction into what translates well on the screen vs the page. In that case, you should definitely look for commentaries on films which were adaptations.

Until then, enjoy this Firefly gif.