by Alex Billington
May 29, 2026
Source: YouTube
“Was I mad?” Tribeca has debuted the first official trailer for a documentary film titled Humpty Dumpty X, premiering at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival coming up in June this summer in New York City. The film is an autobiographical look back at filmmaker Tony Kaye’s experiences and troubles making the iconic 90s film American History X. 23 years in the making, Tony Kaye’s deeply personal doc returns to the era of American History X through his own footage: phone calls, confessions and creative rants from a singular artist navigating one of Hollywood’s most legendary chapters. The story is stuff of Hollywood folklore: he tried to remove his name from the film and replace it with “Humpty Dumpty” rather than compromise his vision. Tribeca adds: “The result is a fascinating self-portrait of one of cinema’s true originals, a filmmaker who has always insisted on doing things his own way and has the scars to prove it. Kaye understands his footage as a meditation on art and Hollywood, and the film offers something rare: unmediated access to a major director in the middle of making a major film. For anyone interested in the realities of creative life inside the studio system, this long-promised work is essential viewing.” Sounds good. Get a first look below.
Here’s the first official trailer for Tony Kaye’s documentary Humpty Dumpty X, direct from YouTube:
This looks like a good companion to the filmmaking doc Megadoc about making Coppola’s Megalopolis.
The story of Tony Kaye and the making his 1998 movie American History X is Hollywood folklore: a fiercely original debut filmmaker, a studio battle over final cut and a director who famously asked for the credit “Humpty Dumpty” rather than compromise his vision. What few people knew was that Kaye kept a camera running throughout. Twenty-three years later, he has finally assembled that footage into Humpty Dumpty X, a documentary built from phone calls with executives, candid conversations with friends, and the rantings, paintings, photographs & notebooks that filled his life during that singular period. Humpty Dumpty X is directed by British filmmaker Tony Kaye, director of the films American History X, Lake of Fire, Lobby Lobster, Black Water Transit, Detachment, The Trainer, and tons of other music videos & short films previously. Produced by Yan Kaye & Above the Sea Inc. This is premiering at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival this summer in NYC. No other release dates are set yet – stay tuned for more. Who wants to watch?
