Does anyone recall the original Matrix film being leaked back in 1999? When I was in high school my buddy gave me a copy of the film while it was still playing in theaters, however this copy was some unfinished production version that still had the time code at the bottom, and only the scored music was mixed into this version. For instance, when Keanu Reeves goes to the club at the beginning of the movie, there wasn’t any dance music mixed in. Everyone was just pretending to dance to music playing. Anyhow, I’m wondering if anyone knows of this version of the film existing somewhere on the net?
I won’t speculate as to whether you might still find it anywhere, but what you saw is termed a “workprint” and would be labeled as such.
Workprints are still covered by copyright so I’m pretty sure it would be against Dope rules to provide a link in any case.
Ah okay. Yeah, I figured it wouldn’t be kosher providing links to such material. I was more interested in what type of copy that was is called.
-Thanks!
Movie question? Moved from GQ to Cafe Society.
samclem, Moderator
Heck, there are documentaries on the making of The Matrix that have all kinds of preliminary and test footage. Something I found interesting was that two stunt performers would spend weeks or months perfecting a complicated fight sequence, and train the actors in just the final version once it had been approved, so there’s footage of, say, the Dojo scene, except performed by two guys that are clearly not Reeves and Fishburne.
SwannyRiver, I know this is about 10 years ago but would you happen to have a copy?
That particular poster lasted posted here in 2012.
Oh I see. Is there a way I could privately message him?
If you go to the first post and right click on his/her/their name, you will know everything we do. This person only posted three times and hasn’t even visited the board since December 10, 2012, so even if a private message was sent the chances are near zero it would ever be seen.
Well, now that this is a decade old thread, I am deflated in answering. I don’t remember this, but I did see Hulk(the one with Eric Bana) on a Workprint. Somewhat unfinished effects, a different song when he hulked out in one seen, and just the smallest snippets of differences from the theatrical.
These prints are made all the time, though they rarely get out.
The day Revenge of the Sith came out in 2005, an entirely finished(all effects and music in) workprint with the timecode on the bottom and so forth leaked to the internet. I think the leaker got in massive trouble(prison?).