Film director calls for cabbage variety (8)
I believe the answer is:
broccoli
'cabbage variety' is the definition.
'broccoli' can be an answer for 'cabbage' (broccoli is a plant of the cabbage family). I'm not sure about the 'variety' bit.
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for broccoli that I've seen before include "Calabrese" , "A hardy variety of cauliflower" , "Sort of green cauli" , "Cubby --------, co-founder of the James Bond film franchise" , "Vegetable with tight green flower heads" .)