But the workprint of A Different Man isn’t just a collector’s oddity. It is, in many ways, a more honest version of a film already obsessed with doubles, masks, and the performance of identity. For the uninitiated, A Different Man follows Edward (Sebastian Stan), an actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes a radical medical treatment to “fix” his face. After his transformation, he becomes obsessed with a stage play based on his former life—only to watch an unaltered man (Adam Pearson) steal the role he believes he was born to play.
The theatrical cut is a polished, claustrophobic fable. But sources close to the production describe the workprint as something rawer: a version that ran nearly 25 minutes longer, with extended scenes of Edward’s pre-surgery isolation, less of the jazzy synth score, and—most critically—a different ending. a different man workprint
That discrepancy has led many to call the workprint a hoax. But others argue that the inconsistency is intentional: a final prank from Schimberg, a director who has described his own career as “a series of masks worn so long they become skin.” Even if the A Different Man workprint never sees an official release, its legend serves a purpose. It reminds us that film is not a fixed artifact but a living process—and that sometimes, the most radical version of a story about identity is the one that admits it isn’t finished. But the workprint of A Different Man isn’t
Moreover, the workprint reportedly contained a subplot involving a documentary crew filming Edward’s transformation. That meta-layer—a film within a workprint of a film about acting—becomes a hall of mirrors. Schimberg allegedly cut it because it “broke the illusion too early,” but in the workprint, that broken illusion is the point. As of this writing, no legitimate copy of the A Different Man workprint has been released. A24, the studio behind the film, has neither confirmed nor denied its existence. However, a 4K bootleg surfaced briefly on private torrent trackers in late 2024, allegedly sourced from a post-production drive lost at a Brooklyn coffee shop. The file’s metadata suggested it was rendered on March 12, 2023—eight months before principal photography even wrapped. After his transformation, he becomes obsessed with a
In the workprint, Edward doesn’t get a catharsis. He doesn’t find peace. He just keeps acting, even when no one is watching. And in that unpolished, half-broken form, he becomes, ironically, more real than the man we saw in theaters.
In the workprint, the final act did not take place at the off-Broadway play’s afterparty. Instead, Edward confronted a mirror that didn’t reflect his new face, only a digital glitch. The sequence was reportedly scrapped because test audiences found it “too abstract.” What makes the A Different Man workprint so compelling is not just its missing scenes, but its texture . In the finished film, Schimberg uses slick, Kubrickian symmetry to emphasize Edward’s alienation. The workprint, by contrast, is shaky, poorly lit in spots, and features boom mics dipping into frame. It is, unintentionally, a perfect metaphor for the film’s central tension: the gap between who we are and who we perform.