Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were a year and a half into filming their provocative new documentary, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, when, in mid-2002, they showed some early footage to singer-guitarist James Hetfield. "We had a meeting -- it's in the movie -- when James first came back from rehab," Berlinger recalls. "We heard he was uptight about the film. We showed him some footage, pretty personal stuff. His response was, 'I thought this was going to be more intense. You can go deeper. Don't worry.'"

Due for theatrical release next year, Some Kind of Monster follows Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist Kirk Hammett to the brink of disaster as they fought, often among themselves, to make their latest album, St. Anger. Berlinger and Sinofsky -- who made the acclaimed documentaries Brother's Keeper (1992) and Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) -- shot 1,200 hours of footage in two years of the band members in the studio, in creative and business meetings, and in intensive group-therapy sessions with therapist Phil Towle.

Among the subjects covered with heated candor: bassist Jason Newsted's exit in January 2001; Hetfield's battle for sobriety and his eleven months in treatment; and the near breakdown of the bond between Hetfield and Ulrich. In a poignant therapy sequence, Ulrich meets with original Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine, who opens up about the lifelong repercussions of his firing from the band in 1983 for substance abuse.

"This is not a film about Metallica -- it's a film about relationships," says Ulrich. He believes that the almost daily presence of cameras was integral in keeping the band from breaking up. "We could not lie. If we did, the cameras would capture it. They were like a truth serum."

There are plenty of lighter moments in the film, including Fan Appreciation Day -- a fan-club party hosted by the band in San Rafael, California, in July 2002, shortly after Hetfield's return from rehab. But Berlinger says he was heartened by the reaction to the frank nature of Monster at a recent New York screening for fan-club members: "When it was over, this guy who looked like he could have been James' brother immediately had to talk. He said, 'The fact that James is going through this and putting it out for people like me -- it makes me love him even more.'"

[From Issue 938/939 — December 25, 2003]