Hollywood hasn't been able to pull it off. So just as with last summer's amateur Green Lantern trailer, it was up to the fans to show the big guns how it was done.

We're talking about the movie adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's classic novel Rendezvous With Rama that looked for years as if it was actually going to happen—IMDB once had a posted release date of 2009—but now seems dead.

Actor Morgan Freeman hoped for years to produce the epic, and for a while it looked like David Fincher (Fight Club) was even going to direct. But back in 2008, Fincher admitted, "It looks like it's not going to happen. There's no script. ... We've been trying to do it, but it's probably not going to happen."

Enter Vancouver Film School student Philip Mahoney and visual artist Aaron Ross, who together took Clarke's novel about humans sent to explore a massive alien spaceship and created their own trailer for a movie that may never be made.

We're still hoping that someday someone will turn Rama into a full-length movie, but in the meantime, we'll take what we can get.

Rendezvous with Rama - Vancouver Film School (VFS) from Vancouver Film School on Vimeo.

So what did you think? Did Mahoney and Ross do Clarke proud?

UPDATE: Since posting this story, we were informed of the following by Aaron Ross:

Phil Mahoney and I have never met or collaborated together. In 2009 he wrote me a very nice letter asking to use the visuals from my film for his sound project which I allowed, and as you can see he did a fine job. However, the version you have posted was never my original or intended version. I never intended my film to use a voice over to explain the story. My film had an original sound design of its own by a talented fellow named Andrew Halasz which I have always intended to keep. I am very happy you have chosen to post my film on your site, however I would appreciate it if you respect the original version and give credit to the original filmmakers.

Read Philip Mahoney's clarification in our comments section below.

And here's the original Aaron Ross version of the film:

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