That isn't a real movie title. But filmmaker Ric Burns, who created the PBS series "The Civil War" with his brother Ken, is shooting a documentary about the Wall Street firm. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is
paying for the film, has editorial control and is overseeing the
project through its marketing department, a Goldman spokesman said.

Mr. Burns, who didn't return phone calls seeking comment, was approached by Goldman in 2007 and has been tackling the documentary on and off since
then. The company's history goes all the way back to the day in 1869
when German immigrant Marcus Goldman opened a one-room office on Pine
Street in lower Manhattan, near the firm's new headquarters.

Already in the can are interviews with numerous past and present Goldman employees. Goldman's leading man, Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd C. Blankfein, is likely to appear in the film.

Given the company's starring role in the financial crisis, some filmmakers are skeptical about Mr. Burns's movie. "It is very unusual for a documentary maker of his stature to take on a project like this,
and especially one with strings attached," said Robert Greenwald, whose
2005 documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," cast an
unflattering look at the retailer. "It goes against everything we fight
for as documentary makers."

Barbara Kopple, whose films include a documentary about the Dixie Chicks, says the Goldman film could be a worthwhile project even though Goldman is bankrolling it. "How many
times do you get a view into the inner workings of Goldman Sachs?" she
says. The film's cost and expected completion date couldn't be
determined.

Standard Oil Co. financed "Louisiana Story," the 1948 film by documentary legend Robert Flaherty that depicted a boy's idyllic life in oil-drilling country and is considered sympathetic to
the oil industry. It received an Oscar nomination.

Goldman was cast as a villain in Michael Moore's anti-Wall Street documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story," where the filmmaker confronted employees of the firm, demanding they give back money Goldman got
during the crisis. (The company later repaid its $10 billion in
taxpayer-funded capital.) Mr. Blankfein got less-than-rave reviews for
his testimony in an 11-hour Senate hearing shortly after the company
was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in April for fraud.

Now that Goldman has settled the suit with a $550 million payment, Mr. Burns could have a harder time coming up with memorable plot twists.
Will Fabrice Tourre, the Goldman employee on paid leave after being
accused of fraud in the SEC suit, go back to the trading floor? Will
the documentary actually include the tongue-twisting words Abacus
2007-AC1?

The documentary is for employees only, meaning YouTube might be the only chance that other people will have to see the film.