Test footage of the unmade 2003 Watchmen movie surfaces.

Test footage of the unmade 2003 Watchmen movie surfaces.

Before Snyder's movie adaption, there was an attempt to adapt Watchmen graphic novel to the big screen in 2003. Take a peek at a test footage with Ray Stevenson as Rorschach and Iain Glen as Night Owl II.

By Odin - Nov 26, 2019 02:11 PM EST
Filed Under: Watchmen
Source: cbr.com

 

With Watchmen being back at the top with HBO's new series, an interesting footage from movie adaption that never happened has also appeared.  Before Zack Snyder's 2009 adaptions of Alan Moore's acclaimed graphic novel, there was an attempt back in 2003 to make a Watchmen movie.

While obviously just a clumsy test footage, it still gives some idea of what sort of character portrayals we could've gotten, if this version had ever actually been made.

With comic book movie alumnus Ray Stevenson and Iain Glen in the roles of Rorschach and Nigh Owl II, we see their first encounter from the story, after Comedian's death. It seems that while this version tries to be faithful to the source material as well, it would've been somewhat different of the Zack Snyder's version that we ultimately ended up getting.


 



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Himura
Himura - 11/26/2019, 4:38 PM
This looks like a show from the CW / WB
dracula
dracula - 11/26/2019, 7:11 PM
@Himura - Well it was test footage, probably would have looked more professional if this version had made it past this
JacobKarr
JacobKarr - 11/26/2019, 11:30 PM
@dracula - in 2003? No, it would have looked exactly like this
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon - 11/26/2019, 4:54 PM
Makes Zack Snyder's film look like 'heckn Citizen Kane!
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 11/26/2019, 6:53 PM
Nite Owl is Batman!!

Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 11/26/2019, 6:56 PM
And the Punisher is Rorschach. Holy shit.

WilliamHMacy
WilliamHMacy - 12/1/2019, 6:36 PM
@Darkknight2149 - LOL. That movie...
WaffeX
WaffeX - 11/26/2019, 6:56 PM
Last week I preordered the Ultimate Cut, german release date is 5. december (10 years later)

Is the ultimate cut better than the theatrical cut? I know that the animated short is part of the UC

Watchmen is a masterpiece, can't wait for the ultimate cut
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 11/26/2019, 7:01 PM
@IcemanX -
Definitely. The theatrical cut suffered from Spider-Man 3-syndrom where it tried to fit too much into its screentime. The Ultimate Edition is a more fleshed out complete story.
WaffeX
WaffeX - 11/27/2019, 9:43 AM
@Darkknight2149 - thank you for the answer
OptionFour
OptionFour - 11/28/2019, 4:26 PM
@IcemanX - To give you another opinion, the Ultimate can be long to watch and if you put it on then you're basically settling in for the night. But its really good. If you like the movie then its definitely the best way to view it. Much, much better than the theatrical cut.
WaffeX
WaffeX - 11/29/2019, 9:52 AM
@OptionFour - thx
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 11/26/2019, 6:59 PM
All in all, love the casting but hate the direction. It looks like a CW superhero show from 2003, even more so than Batwoman does.

Still, it's just test footage. Hard to judge.
dracula
dracula - 11/26/2019, 7:13 PM
@Darkknight2149 - Probably would have looked better if it had gone past just the test footage and actually had a budget
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 11/26/2019, 7:29 PM
@dracula -
Hard to say. On one hand, you are probably 100% correct. On the other hand, this would have been a comic book movie developed in 2003, so it could have easily ended up being on the same level as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Daredevil, Man-Thing, ETC.
LadiesmanBumble
LadiesmanBumble - 11/27/2019, 12:26 AM
God, I am so glad that Ray Stevenson was not Rorschach. Or Iain Glen as Daniel Dreiberg/Nite Owl. Who the squid-loving frack directed this screen test? Because this man should have his SAG card revoked!
LadiesmanBumble
LadiesmanBumble - 11/27/2019, 12:28 AM
@LadiesmanBumble - Or his Director’s Union Card revoked. I really don’t what union directors have, but I hope he’s out of the business and having a hard time trying to find work directing commercials.
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