This source, animator Steve Stanchfield, contacted me directly. And yes, not to get too excited, but it does look like there's going to be footage included that's never been seen before, in the workprint or any released version. Interestingly his copy of the workprint, he says, is poor quality, but only a generation or so down from Calvert's own copy - kind of amusing to be using a copy of what Calvert was using when he was trying to construct the film!
I've seen Casino Royale and Williams' work in it. It's not "animation like" enough for me to want to include though. He also did the titles to "What's New Pussycat?" and many other films.
You'll be pleasantly surprised by how much of this cut is finished animation.
If I actually wanted to, I could produce a decent cut of this film using little/no storyboard/unfinished material. And if Disney really wanted to, they could release a good cut of this film using no unfinished or low quality material, easily. Something theatrically releasable.
I won't do that because I don't want to cut out any of what the film was intended to be, but it's certainly possible.
The rumors about the film being unrestorable were largely because the animation houses in Korea junked a lot of material, which is a shame but not a crippling loss. The rumors also came about because Disney didn't really want to do it.
The film is easily restorable by anyone using the three commonly known cuts of the film, and there is great deal more material out there that wasn't included in those cuts but was done and is ready to go. (Calvert would had to have kept, at the very least, all the Thief scenes included in the end titles, which is a damn good start, and certainly Williams kept what he could.) It would be an easy job. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.
The thing is, does Disney really want to do it? Would they do it right? Would Williams cooperate?
-- This is insane. I can watch this movie a million times and still spot new things.
In the war machine sequence, the Thief is launched through the air and for a few frames you get a close glimpse of the flies that have been buzzing around his head the whole film.
All the flies are little Thief heads with wings, and big smiles on their faces. They're even wearing tiny Thief robes ....