7 Movies With Famous Second-Unit Directors

Fans of the 1985 adventure film The Goonies recognize Richard Donner (Superman: The Movie, Lethal Weapon) as the director. But fewer realize that Steven Spielberg also sat in the director’s chair—technically, the second unit director’s chair. Spielberg, who executive-produced the movie, supervised shooting of a few scenes as part of the second unit, a supplementary filmmaking crew charged with capturing footage that may not require the main director’s presence. In this instance, he shot scenes involving two gorillas that escape from a zoo and steal a car, a subplot deemed too cartoonish for the finished movie.

Take a look at some other famous directors who did some low-key shooting on films for a variety of reasons.

1. Sin City (2005)
2. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
3. The Hunger Games (2012)
4. The Watchers (2024)
5. The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014)
6. The Nun (2018)
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Sin City (2005)

While Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Spy Kids) and Frank Miller co-helmed this torn-from-the-pages adaptation of Miller’s noir crime comic, there was actually a third director: Quentin Tarantino. The Pulp Fiction filmmaker directed a single scene in the final segment of the anthology film with actors Clive Owen, Benecio del Toro, and the late Brittany Murphy. While Tarantino and Rodriguez are personal friends as well as collaborators—Tarantino wrote and co-starred in 1995’s From Dusk ‘til Dawn, which Rodriguez directed, and both produced segments for 2007’s Grindhouse—Tarantino may have had at least one ulterior motive. According to Variety, Tarantino wanted a first-hand look at the digital effects being used by Rodriguez to bring the graphic novel to life. He was paid $1 for his efforts.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen directed this earnest riff on 1950s commerce, with hapless hero Norville Barnes stumbling into a top position at Hudsucker Industries. Co-writer Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead series) is billed as second-unit director, though he had a heavier hand than most second-unit helmers, including the film’s famous skyscraper plunge.

“[I directed] just some shots in it, like the point of view,” he told Rolling Stone. “And some of the montages. The stuff without the main characters, usually. Really, I was just the tool. They pointed my camera in certain directions and told me to do this and that, and I did.”

Technically, many Coen brothers films have one ghost director: Ethan. For years, the pair listed Joel as sole director despite both taking on the role.

The Hunger Games (2012)

The first adaptation of the bestselling sci-fi series by author Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games helped propel Jennifer Lawrence into superstardom. It also provided an opportunity for independent filmmaker Steven Soderbergh to try his hand at a big-budget spectacle. Soderbergh was invited to do some second-unit shooting by director Gary Ross, who was looking to cover two days of filming and preferred to have an experienced filmmaker in charge. As Soderbergh told Moviefone in 2011:

“Back in April, [Ross]—who is a close friend of mine [who] I’ve exchanged creative favors with non-stop over the last 15 years, when he got the boards for the shoot … [he] called me and said, ‘Hey, first week of August, I got these two days of second unit. Is there any way you can come down and help me out? Because I’d rather have you do it than hire somebody who I don’t know.”

Soderbergh attempted to duplicate Ross’s style rather than use his own. “[The job was to] duplicate exactly what Gary and [cinematographer] Tom Stern … are doing, to mimic as closely as I can to their aesthetic,” he said. “And that’s what I attempted to do. But if I’ve done my job properly … by design, you won’t be able to tell what I did because it’s supposed to cut seamlessly into what they’re doing.”

Soderbergh never specified what exactly he shot, but he recalled feeling nervous over Ross’s reaction. “If I’m shooting for me, I know when I’ve got what I want. But I’m shooting for Gary and I knew what he wanted and what the style of it was, but I was really nervous … I didn’t hear from him for two weeks so I’m like, ‘Sh*t!’ And then finally he calls me and goes ‘Oh, I’m so sorry I haven’t called. I’m so happy with the stuff.’ And I was really worried, like I blew it.”

The Watchers (2024)

There’s little reason for wildly successful director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) to pick up second unit duties on a film. The exception: When his daughter is the director. Shyamalan assisted on Ishana Night Shyamalan’s directorial debut, 2024’s The Watchers, shooting coverage for the story about a woman (Dakota Fanning) trapped in a single-window room in the middle of a forest while under observation by unknown voyeurs.

The younger Shyamalan told Total Film that her father’s presence on set was a source of focus and calm. The elder Shyamalan said that the experience was transformative for him. “[It’s] the same job I’ve done my whole life but with a different intention,” he said. “I have to deliver for [Ishana]. It’s not something I came up with; it’s something she came up with. That created a different engine for me, when I was directing those scenes for her. I almost became a student again from the beginning. Which is the dream—that you start to see it as new.”

The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014)

Peter Jackson returned to the world of J.R.R Tolkien after his Lord of the Rings trilogy, bringing along motion-capture performer Andy Serkis along with him for his Hobbit follow-ups. This time, Jackson permitted Serkis to direct second unit. “I think I understand Peter’s sensibility and we have a common history of understanding Middle Earth,” Serkis told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011. “A lot of the crew from The Lord of the Rings was returning to work on The Hobbit. There is really a sense of Peter wanting people around him who totally understand the material and the work ethic.” Serkis would later go on to direct Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), and the upcoming Animal Farm.

The Nun (2018)

This installment of The Conjuring cinematic universe took inspiration from earlier films—and took its director, too. Nun director Corin Hardy told Entertainment Weekly in 2018 that Conjuring director and producer James Wan came in to shoot footage. “James Wan was my second unit director in a little bit of additional photography,” Hardy said. “It is funny, but we did some additional photography, and you’re always pushing for double what you really can afford, time- or budget-wise. I said, ‘I want to do all of this, but if we’re going to do it, we really need to run two units.’ James is a full-on, hands-on guy and he was like, ‘Anything I can do of service!’ It was like, ‘I really want to take you up on that.’ So, there were nights when he was shooting a section in the forest and I was shooting interiors.”

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

While The Goonies demonstrated Steven Spielberg can lend a hand in another filmmaker’s production, Raiders of the Lost Ark proved that he’s not against receiving help. The first installment of the Indiana Jones franchise was borne out of idea from George Lucas (Star Wars), who also produced the film; he convinced Spielberg to direct it after Spielberg expressed interest in helming a James Bond movie. But Lucas’s involvement wasn’t limited to producing. After he arrived in Tunisia for filming, he picked up a second-unit camera to help ease Spielberg’s load. Among Lucas’s shots in the film: Indy grabbing his whip to clear the Wells of Souls, Indy’s mad dash through the camp, and the iconic shot of Indy’s silhouette against a sunset. Lucas also picked up a shot based on the recommendation of then-wife Marcia Lucas, who told the duo that there needed to be a final shot of Indy and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) after their harrowing experience with the Ark of the Covenant. Without it, Marion would have been last seen tied to a stake.

Spielberg told Empire in 2021 that Lucas got “bad sunburn” while shooting in the unforgiving climate—bad enough that his face swelled up. “I could have turned the camera around and shot a horror movie,” Spielberg said. But the experience didn’t discourage Lucas from repeating the practice: He also captured second unit footage of the Ewoks for 1983’s Return of the Jedi, directed by Richard Marquand.

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