Ahead of the release of The Grand Budapest Hotel earlier this year, we looked back at Wes Anderson‘s entire career and counted his 2001 feature The Royal Tenenbaums amongst our favorites, saying, “From its view of a disillusioned people to the rainy-day soundtrack, Tenenbaums is a work so overwhelmingly sad from any moment to the next that I almost can’t bear to watch it in 2014; the thought of sitting through this at the time of its release, during America’s worst days, is almost unthinkable.”

If you own the excellent Criterion release — or tuned into IFC in December of 2001 — then chances are you’ve already seen this 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, but Blue Cat have alerted our attention to a YouTube upload of the entire special and it’s a must-watch. Part of the series With the Filmmaker: Portraits by Albert Maysles (also including Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion, and Robert Duvall), it’s a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall approach only the master documentary filmmaker could pull off.

“Wes Anderson is kind of a fluke. We knew he had a special appeal to the younger generation and probably would be a little more difficult to get to because he is kind of shy. But that is a welcome challenge,” Maysles told LA Times back in 2001. “Because of his shyness that took a little more time. That was a little more challenging. He always wanted to do it, and then once it was over, I got this little note from him saying how much he respected me as a filmmaker. Isn’t that funny? We got along great with all of them, but he was the only one who went out of his way to thank us.”

Following the then-emerging filmmaker around the set, we are privy to his advisement on sketches, wrangling of birds and mice, using Luis Buñuel as inspiration, and watching his monitor during some of the film’s greatest scenes. In a few one-on-one interviews he also talks about how working with these experienced actors is unlike “anything he’s ever done” and jokily contradicts himself when it comes to the technical aspects of film. It’s a great watch and can be seen directly below in four parts, along with nearly two dozen photos from the set.

Is The Royal Tenenbaums amongst your favorite Wes Anderson films?