After shutting down a Manhattan street and dealing with reshoots just weeks before release, "I Am
Legend" went from a hopeless production stuck in development hell to a global box office smash.
Though many may now associate the title "I Am Legend" with Will Smith being the last
man on Earth, this story far predates its 2007 release or even Will Smith's
1990s ascent to movie star status. "I Am Legend" is based on the 1954 Richard
Matheson novel of the same name, and is the third and most recent adaptation of the book.
Following the release of "The Omega Man'' in 1971, Hollywood spent years trying to
develop a new adaptation of Matheson's novel — and they got close to doing so
in the 1990s. According to Variety, this '90s version of "I Am Legend'' was set to
feature Arnold Schwarzenegger navigating a post-apocalyptic landscape. Ridley Scott was
brought on to direct, in what would have been an epic first collaboration between the two.
The project progressed quite far along, to the point that makeup tests were done for the
film's vampire creatures. Sadly, the production eventually fell apart due to an assortment of
issues, the most prominent of which were budgetary concerns. Scott was struggling to achieve box
office hits in the mid-1990s, and "I Am Legend" is a dark, depressing story that's anything but
a sure thing for a film studio looking to earn back profits. Warner Brothers halted the project,
so this version of "I Am Legend" went cold. Though disappointing for all involved in this
incarnation of the film, it did pave the way for a different "I Am Legend" to get launched
into the stratosphere a decade later. Once Francis Lawrence's film debuted in 2007, the long journey
to produce a new adaptation of Matheson's classic finally came to a satisfying end.
By the time 2005 rolled around, "I Am Legend" had been through the wringer. Not only had
Ridley Scott's version of the film failed to come to fruition, but another incarnation had
also fizzled out. The 2002 version was supposed to be directed by Michael Bay,
produced by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and star Will Smith. After a while,
it just seemed like "I Am Legend" was doomed to be a cursed unmade blockbuster.
"Dammit!"
But Warner Bros. was determined to get this production off the ground,
and not let a potential star vehicle for Smith go to waste. So, the studio pressed on,
and Francis Lawrence became the latest filmmaker to take a swing at the property in September 2005.
Before his work on "The Hunger Games," Lawrence didn't have a lengthy feature film track record
as did the other directors previously attached to "I Am Legend." But earlier that same year,
he'd helmed "Constantine" for Warner Bros. Needless to say,
the studio was very excited about his prospects as an artist. The plan was to start filming in 2006,
but given all the false starts that "I Am Legend" had faced up to this point, it would have been
understandable to greet this news with skepticism. Amazingly, though, Lawrence did end up directing
the feature — and for this once-tormented film, that was something of a miracle.
Although post-apocalyptic movies have been made since the invention of cinema,
the subjects of these films often change with the times to reflect
the political and social climate of the era. The 2000s saw a resurgence
of apocalyptic films about viruses that turn humans into terrifying creatures,
with the release of movies like "Resident Evil" in 2002 and the "Dawn of the Dead" remake in 2004.
"I Am Legend" rode that wave of interest to massive box office profits — but
while it may have been one of the most successful post-apocalyptic movies ever,
it still faced some competition from other 2000s films. In fact,
"I Am Legend" screenwriter Akiva Goldsman has discussed how Danny Boyle's 2002 zombie flick
"28 Days Later" proved influential on how he would navigate the approach to a post-apocalyptic world.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Goldsman notes how he wanted to take on the script
for "I Am Legend," but it seemed like the existence of "28 Days Later" would stop
"I Am Legend" from happening since it would tread too much familiar ground. That's why he
and Lawrence set out to differentiate "I Am Legend" from Boyle's beloved feature.
They decided to make something that was more about characters and emotions than monsters,
and changed the setting from LA to New York City. In the end, in this
moment of 2000s global cinema, there was plenty of room for two post-apocalyptic thrillers.
Will Smith has built his career and iconic persona through his natural rapport with
seemingly every actor that he's shared the screen with. Whether it's Tommy Lee Jones
in the "Men in Black" movies, Kevin James in "Hitch," or Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys," Smith
can be compelling with anyone and everyone, including dogs, as we see in "I Am Legend."
"If you're planning a party or somethin', just tell me now.
Okay, because you know I don't like surprises. And I'll swear I'll act surprised."
This gift meant that "I Am Legend" was a unique challenge for Smith, who plays the last man on
Earth, unable to lean on that entertaining chemistry he often sparks up with others.
Talking to Collider, Smith noted that part of how he prepared to play this character so outside
of his comfort zone was by talking to people who've experienced extreme cases of isolation,
like former prisoners of war and people who have been in solitary confinement. Talking
to them revealed very specific details of the psychology of isolated people.
Smith embraced the absence of dialogue for much of the film,
which allowed him to subtly communicate a sense of one man doing his best to defend himself both
physically and psychologically. By accepting such brutal qualities tied to this character,
Smith was able to deliver a performance unlike any other in his filmography.
While "I Am Legend" used its share of green-screen and practically-built sets, the majority of
the movie was shot where the story of this film adaptation takes place: New York City.
"You can't fake New York. Uh, Montreal, Toronto, I don't care where you go.
New York is the best backdrop in the world, bar none."
The general hustle and bustle of America's most populous city make it a logistical nightmare
for any movie to shoot there — let alone one where there's only supposed to be a single
human being left alive. This required sections of the city to be closed down,
so the "I Am Legend" crew could film in this location and make it look appropriately sparse.
"Folks! Come on over here folks, please, thank you!"
As one can imagine, this did not go off without a hitch,
with Will Smith recounting to The Los Angeles Times that he encountered plenty
of frustrated New Yorkers whilst he was filming this blockbuster. He joked —
"People were not happy. That's the most middle fingers I've ever
gotten in my career." [cred. Will Smith]
Though the process encountered its fair share of criticism and hurdles,
Francis Lawrence remained committed to filming "I Am Legend" on location — including the Brooklyn
Bridge, where he managed to capture a lengthy and complicated set-piece.
The result is that the world of "I Am Legend" has a tangible quality to it. Rather than coming off
as otherworldly, there is a haunting relatability to the environments that the surviving characters
navigate. All of the challenges presented in filming a story as sparse as "I Am Legend" in
New York City paid off handsomely with this kind of quality ingrained into the movie.
Reshoots are common on films of any size, but they're especially prevalent in blockbusters.
Sometimes, you just don't know how a movie is coming together until you see it in the editing
room. Usually, such reshoots are done a few months before release to allow enough time for the
post-production team to work on these sequences. It's rarer, though not unprecedented, for a film
of "I Am Legend's" stature to commence reshoots just weeks away from its theatrical release.
And that's just what this costly production did, with outlets like SlashFilm reporting
in mid-November 2007 that Warner Bros. had just wrapped up reshoots on "I Am Legend,"
which was set for a December release. At the time, rumors spread that the studio
didn't like the initial gloomy ending to the movie and asked for reshoots of the finale.
The original ending of "I Am Legend" forced both Smith's protagonist Richard as well as
the audience to question who the real monster is in this story, but this got swapped out for
a more generic showdown between good and evil. This newer, more Hollywood ending robbed "I Am
Legend" of a compelling moral ambiguity, while the way it feels so shoehorned into the story can also
be attributed to the fact that it was executed during these incredibly last-minute reshoots.
"I Am Legend" was an undisputed hit at the box office, but critically,
the results were more mixed. There was universal praise for Will Smith's performance and how well
he carried so much of the film on his own, in addition to the well-realized sparseness
of a haunting post-apocalyptic New York City landscape. However,
there were equally rampant critiques over the conventional nature of the finale and
the heavy reliance on CGI to create the Night Seeker monsters. The latter complaint was even
shared by the director, who discussed his feelings in an interview while looking back on the film.
Talking to Den of Geek in 2011, Lawrence noted that he initially tried to portray the Night
Seekers with humans in prosthetics, but that approach didn't translate to screen, so he
went the CGI route instead. But, the CGI used to realize these characters never looked quite right,
which was a result of a compressed post-production schedule. Lawrence did feel that with more time
dedicated to fine-tuning the CGI, these visual effects would have looked satisfactory. But in
the final cut, they never looked quite right, and Lawrence noted to Den of Geek that —
"One of the big downfalls for me, with ['I Am Legend'],
personally, was with the visual effects."
He also observed that the scariest scenes in "I Am Legend" were those that took cues from the
likes of "Alien" and kept everything shrouded in shadows. Once the creatures were totally visible,
the suspense was lost. Even if "I Am Legend" didn't quite click together,
at least its director could be open about these shortcomings.
Believe it or not, "I Am Legend" wasn't just a box office hit in its initial theatrical run — it was
a record-breaking success. The film managed to open to $77 million in its first three days of
domestic play, cementing it as the biggest opening weekend ever for a December release at the time.
It was also the biggest opening weekend ever for a Will Smith title — an impressive feat given just
how many massive films he'd been associated with during his career up to that point.
"I'm gettin' good."
In the years since "I Am Legend" premiered,
it still stands as one of Smith's biggest North American openings. Only "Suicide Squad"
in 2016 and "Aladdin" in 2019 managed to score larger returns domestically.
"I Am Legend's" box office feats were all the more impressive given that this wasn't
a sequel in a successful franchise. In a year where "Shrek," "Pirates of the Caribbean," and
"Spider-Man" all delivered third installments, "I Am Legend" was a reminder that original films
could excel financially. Once the dust settled, "I Am Legend" scored $256.3 million in North America.
That was enough to make it the sixth-biggest title of 2007 at the domestic box office,
putting it ahead of big sequels like "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "National Treasure:
Book of Secrets." The film performed even better globally and took in $329.1 million worldwide,
which brought its total box office profits to a whopping $585.5 million. These accomplishments
all made "I Am Legend" truly legendary when it came to box office performance.
In October 2014, Deadline broke the news that Warner Bros. was now moving forward on a reboot
of "I Am Legend" — one based on an unrelated spec script entitled "A Garden At The End of
the World." The script — which was described as "The Searchers" told through a sci-fi lens — had
enough overlapping elements with "I Am Legend" to make it work as a reboot of the 2007 film.
The most interesting wrinkle here was the presence of Will Smith — or rather, the
lack thereof. This new reboot was being configured from the get-go to not include him. At the time,
Smith's reluctance to do sequels inspired the producers to opt for a new story with different
characters, rather than try and court him. The lack of Smith suggested that this reboot would
be going in wildly different directions compared to the original "I Am Legend" — though audiences
would never get to know what the plans were, as the project ended up fizzling out as well.
Even though we may have thought all hope was lost for an "I Am Legend" sequel,
the plucky one-film franchise refuses to die. An "I Am Legend" sequel was
announced in 2022 — starring Smith once again, alongside Michael B. Jordan.