I Am Legend

[Borodog]

Saw the trailer for this last night. I am really excited about this film. If you don't know, I Am Legend is a classic science fiction novel from the 1950s about the last man on Earth, who has survived an apocalyptic biological catastrophe (the fallout from a biological war between China and the Soviet Union) because he is somehow uniquely immune to the terrible plague. More unfortunate than being the last man on Earth is being the last survivor amongst hordes of vampiric non-survivors. Yes, that's right; I Am Legend presages the entire zombie genre, only they weren't zombies, they were vampires.

The novel has been adapted before, most famously with Charlton Heston playing the lone survivor in the 1971 cult classic The Omega Man.

Pros: Will Smith plays the last man on Earth. I like Will Smith; I think he's a good actor.
Cons: Directed by Francis Lawrence (Constantine).

If well done this will be Men In Black meets Castaway meets The Lost Boys. If poorly done it will be suck meets suck meets suck.

What else is coming out that people are excited about? When I heard about Live Free or Die Hard, I was looking forward to it, but after seeing the trailer my disbelief has already crashed to the ground.

[diebitter]

Eh, just one thing, in the novel, they ARE vampires. Nothing to do with bioloigcal war. And it's a good read.

I liked Constantine, especially the bit where the Devil pops up at the end.



I'm looking forward to it too, but I don't see WS being the best choice if the character is anything like he is in the book. Ed Norton or anyone good at the 'self-doubting but driven fatalist' type would have been better.

[Blarg]

Wow, if there's one thing I don't want to see, it's this property treated as something like a cross between Men in Black and The Lost Boys. OMFG.

DB, I love the idea of Ed Norton here. Unfortunately, the temptation in the type of movie that would be made from this very downbeat book is to focus on the vampire/apocalyptic setting and force the cool sad ache of the book into the background or just minimize it. The choice of Will Smith makes me think it will have to go that way in this movie. Smith is an upbeat actor who does upbeat stories. Being lost in impotent despair isn't the schtick of virtually any star, but especially today's stars.

I've always loved I Am Legend, the Matheson book this came from. I hope we see a good modern version of it onscreen. FWIW, I liked the Vincent Price version, called The Last Man on Earth, quite a bit. I'd suggest people rent that one.

[Borodog]

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Eh, just one thing, in the novel, they ARE vampires. Nothing to do with bioloigcal war. And it's a good read.

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I guess I was mixing the novel and The Omega Man, then. Been a long time since I've read/seen either.

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I liked Constantine, especially the bit where the Devil pops up at the end.

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It wasn't terrible. He still wouldn't have been my first choice of director, though.

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I'm looking forward to it too, but I don't see WS being the best choice if the character is anything like he is in the book. Ed Norton or anyone good at the 'self-doubting but driven fatalist' type would have been better.

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I agree Ed Norton would have been good, but I think Will Smith will do fine.

[Borodog]

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Wow, if there's one thing I don't want to see, it's this property treated as something like a cross between Men in Black and The Lost Boys. OMFG.

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Lol. I see what you mean, but honestly I think we're thinking about different facets of those films being superposed onto the Legend production. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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FWIW, I liked the Vincent Price version, called The Last Man on Earth, quite a bit. I'd suggest people rent that one.

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Read about it, but have never seen it. I'll have to check it out.

[CharlieDontSurf]

As i recall...the script for I Am Legend kinda sucked in a generic hollywood summer flick way. So i wouldnt get yr hopes up

[Dominic]

This has been one of those "legendary" properties in hollywood for almost twenty years. It was attached to various big stars and many different scripts were written.

I actually took a meeting with Arnold Swarzenegger's company in the mid-90s to talk about me writing a draft. I gave them a ten page synopsis of my take on it - down, dirty and REAL. Like the book itself. Yes, I pitched that as an "ahnald" movie. Now you can see why I didn't make it in Hollywood. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I'm looking forward to the movie - but after the fiasco that was I, Robot I'm not expecting greatness.

[diebitter]

It's been in development forever. I remember reading about it in the 1990s as an Arnie vehicle, FFS. And all sorts associated with it, such as Ridley Scott (that would have been really something).

[diebitter]

Blarg

You dead right about the downbeat-ness of the book. It would have made a fantastic episode of outer limits (a two-parter anyway) given their style, panache and lack of fearing the downbeat, no?

[almostbusto]

i was very excited about this movie (hadn't heard of it until this post) until i saw the name Will Smith.


i'll still watch it, but i absolutely hate will smith, what has he ever done well in? (and my reply to answers regarding independence day and men in black is no)