The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys

This documentary does a good job of showing the true face of the movie industry. It takes away all of the glamour and ease that many of general public attach to movie making.

It is also put together exceptionally well. There are lots of shots that the existence of seems almost impossible.

For those interested in what the film industry is really like - this is a very insightful documentary.

Rarely do you get to view the real behind the scenes of movie making. Most of the times these films are just lengthy pitches for the movie. The Hamster Factor tells its own story about the struggles of the director,producer, crew and less importantly the actors in bringing a finished product to the audience that will please everyone including the director who often has a separate and lofter vision than the producer.The balance is a delicate one, for if the audience isn't pleased then there will be no money for the next film.The only other memorable documentary of a movie that I can remember was the one by Mrs. Francis Ford Coppola documenting the making of Apocalypse Now. Wow! I considered it more dramatic than the movie.

This documentary is included in full on the DVD of Twelve Monkeys that I have.

It documents the difficulties encountered in trying to make a relatively un-Hollywood movie inside of the Hollywood system. It tells the story of how Twelve Monkeys got to be made under exceptional circumstances, and is very effective at conveying the frustrations and problems encountered in dealing with the various collaborators.

Nevertheless, it remains light-hearted and candid, and is presented in the true off-beat style of Terry Gilliam. It also gives us a fascinating look at Terry Gilliam's unique style of filmmaking.

Very interesting.

This is a documentary on the "making of" of Twelve Monkeys, found on the Collector's Edition DVD. It consists of interviews, behind the scenes footage, clips of the movie and a little bit of marvelous, Gilliam-esquire animation(!). Coming in at almost 90 minutes, this is thorough, going over every aspect of the process of putting the film together, as of Terry joining the production, thus, the script-writing isn't dealt with much. You get a lot of insight into how he approaches the craft, the issues that arise with him in the director's chair(him being something of an uncompromising perfectionist), and how he manages to inject such a massive amount of surrealism and food for thought into one single motion picture. This also goes into the marketing, the preview screenings, and the casting of Willis and Pitt. It's all well-edited, sharp and not wasting any time. Well-paced, as well, you're never bored during this. It's pretty funny, too, maybe especially if you're into the ex-Python, and if you're considering watching this, chances are that you are a fan. There is strong language in this, if not in copious amounts. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about the subject. 8/10

Most "making of" documentaries are little more than puff pieces in which the director and lead actors bs about what a wonderful experience it was to make the film and why you should go see it. The Hamster Factor is quite a bit different. Fulton and Pepe were brought on as "witnesses" rather than promoters. The documentary is refreshingly honest about the process including the moments of doubt, the temporary loss of vision, the angst following test screenings and the eventual success of the movie. The Hamster Factor also does a better job at describing the technical details of how the film gets made from pre-production debates in bare-walled offices with distressed office furniture, to on-location production to editing in bare-walled offices with distressed office furniture.