Metallica 's story was documented in the film Some Kind Of Monster , but the group chose to leave out an important part about the arrival of Jason Newsted .
The filming of scenes for the documentary coincided with the creation of the album St. Anger , released in 2003. That year, the band held auditions for the bassist position and invited Robert Trujillo to fill the role with an offer of US$1 million.
When the project was shown to Metallica, co-director Joe Berlinger was tense about the group's reaction. “It’s a three-hour screening. [There wasn’t] a single peep during the entire screening (…), just total silence,” he told the Greatest Music of All Time podcast (via Loudwire) . “ Lars [Ulrich] kind of looks at me, pats me on the back and shakes his head. James [Hetfield] kind of looks at me – stares at me – and walks away. The managers seemed nervous.”
After deliberation, the band had some restrictions. "You can't tell our fans that we paid Rob Trujillo a million dollars. They won't understand. We can't show it. We can't do this," was the group's initial reaction.
After much discussion, the members of Metallica changed their minds and accepted the directors' vision for the film without further creative interference.
The relevant excerpt is on YouTube (starting at 3:30), watch it below.
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