Before Zack Snyder put ‘Watchmen’ on the cinematic map with his 2009 film, there was an attempt to make a movie based on Alan Moore’s work in 2003. Screenwriter David Hayter (‘X-Men’,’X2′) had shot just over 4-minutes of test footage for the film which would star Iain Glen (‘Game of Thrones’) and Ray Stevenson (‘Dexter’) in two of the leading roles. Working with Hayter was Tony Pierce Roberts tackling the cinematography with a score by Joe Kraemer.
The film had Glen playing Nite Owl with Stevenson tackling Rorschach. It is easy to see that the style from the comics which Snyder would later use was already on display here. This scene is from when the masked vigilante pays a visit to his old friend Nite Owl to inform him of the Comedian being killed, which sets off the events for the tale.
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You can check out the footage, now on YouTube, right here:
Hayter originally shared the release in the tweet below:
For any curious #Watchmen fans,
Here is the final, color corrected clip of the Watchmen test I directed in 2003.
Iain Glen as Nite Owl, Ray Stevenson as Rorschach.
Score by the brilliant @joekraemer
@SupervoidC
https://t.co/MBziLQ6JKC— David Hayter (@DavidBHayter) November 26, 2019
He went on to respond to a few fans sharing the following fun fact about this scene:
“Iain nailed Dan. Ray stepped in when Daniel Craig bailed on us at the last minute. Ray would have made an amazing Comedian as well. The knife was for Dan’s defense, and Rorschach was going to use it in a later killing, drawing Dan in.”
You can’t tell if he is joking or not about Craig, but this would have made for some excellent casting choices, not that we can complain about who we’ve seen in these parts so far.
What did you think of David Hayter’s version of ‘Watchmen’? Would you have been interested in checking this out over Snyder’s? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
