'Friedkin Uncut' Trailer: William Friedkin's Career Comes Into Focus In This New Documentary

Legendary filmmaker William Friedkin – you know, the guy who directed Jade! – gets the documentary treatment with Friedkin Uncut. A cavalcade of talented folks, including Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Willem Dafoe, Wes Anderson, Matthew McConaughey, and more, are all on hand to talk about what makes Friedkin so special. Watch the Friedkin Uncut trailer below.

William Friedkin has made some phenomenal films: The Exorcist, The French Connection, Sorcerer, To Live and Die in LA, Killer Joe and more. Friedkin's career has been heavily documented by the man himself in his highly entertaining autobiography The Friedkin Connection. But for those of you who don't feel like reading, here comes Friedkin Uncut, a new documentary from director Francesco Zippel.

Friedkin Uncut "offers insight into the life and artistic journey of the Oscar-winning director, an extraordinary and offbeat director of cult films such as The French Connection, The Exorcist, Cruising, To Live and Die in LA and Killer Joe. For the first time, Friedkin opens up, guiding the audience on a fascinating journey through the themes and stories that have influenced his life and career. A legendary group of friends and collaborators participate in the documentary (including Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Willem Dafoe, Wes Anderson, Matthew McConaughey, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Shannon, and Juno Temple), and we discover never before heard stories and anecdotes celebrating the acclaimed director."

This looks interesting overall, but I'd rather the whole film was just Friedkin on his own – similar to Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow's fantastic documentary De Palma, in which Brian De Palma sat and talked about all of his films for almost two hours. Friedkin is a good storyteller, as his memoir proves, so I have no doubt he could've held viewers for the entire runtime on his own.

Friedkin Uncut opens in limited theatrical release in New York on August 23 (Village East/NY) and in Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica) on August 30 via Ambi Distribution. The film will roll out through other cities following that.