In an interview with IndieWire, Almost Famous star Patrick Fugit – who played teen rock journalist William Miller in the film – shared details of an alternate ending that director Cameron Crowe had envisioned.

Though Miller was undeniably infatuated with Kate Hudson's Penny Lane during the film, William would go on to be in a relationship with her another 'Band Aid' – Anna Paquin's Polexia.

“[Cameron Crowe’s] like, ‘What William will discover is Polexia a few years down the line, and they will have a relationship',” said Fugit.

“They will have this amazing chemistry that they didn’t really track [before] because, obviously William was infatuated with Penny Lane and Polexia was doing her own thing'," he added.

Polexia is involved in a relationship with fictional band Stillwater's lead singer Jeff Bebe during the film, but Fugit confirmed that William and Polexia get more screen time in the bootleg cut.

“I was like, ‘Now that he knows [Penny’s real name] Lady Goodman, do they ever do the things they say they’re going to do?’” revealed Fugit. “And Cameron is like, ‘Brother, no, they don’t.’

“The idea [with Penny] was like, ‘Nope, it’s just this thing that happened,'” Fugit added. “‘It’s this fond memory, and it’s the first love and all that sort of thing, but it’s never going to manifest’.”

The bootleg edition of Almost Famous has been included alongside the theatrical cut in a new 4K release of the film, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. The former includes almost 40 minutes of additional footage from the movie.

The film's fabled soundtrack has also been reissued in a huge box set, made up of 102 tracks. These include a cast version of Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer', several outtakes from Stillwater as well as the tracks that made it into the film, like 'Fever Dog' and 'Love Comes And Goes', and many of composer Nancy Wilson's original demos and instrumentals, including fan-favourite 'Cabin In The Air'. There is also a remix edit of The Who's 'Amazing Journey/Sparks', arranged by Crowe himself.

Listen to a digital version of the expanded soundtrack below.