Will to star in I am legend

[Ale]

I Am Legend - TV Spot Bilingual

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcJcIhiHfAM

I Am Legend - TV Spot 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfjvvFh5RJ4

I Am Legend - TV Spot 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rPj-1Ub1fo

I am Legend - TV Spot 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-rMfB6tVd8

I am Legend - TV Spot 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwKhmmHRND4

I am Legend - TV Spot 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObqjDk8P5W4

I am Legend - TV Spot 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1OIxWg7DJ0

[Ale]

I Am Legend Worldwide Banners

http://moviesoonhk.com/wp-content/gallery/ial/IAL_Tokyo.jpg

The new Will Smith film, I Am Legend debuts here in the States on Dec. 14th. I was unsure about seeing this movie, until I saw the latest trailer, which looks rather cool. And now Filmonic shows us the I Am Legend Global Banners for the film. Each banner shows a different city in the aftermath of the virus that destroys humanity. You can see the city of Tokyo in the banner at the top of this post. Filmonic has a few more, as does MoviesOnHK, with Seoul and Taipei here.

I don't know about you, but I really like these images. I think WB has done a great job here promoting the movie, while still being interesting. I am no actually thinking I'll see this movie in the theater sometime over the Christmas holiday.

Source!

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

Reel Time: How Will Smith became the singular sensation in I Am Legend

Posted: November 30, 2007, 3:28 PM by Brad Frenette

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/1069/willzv5.jpg

I am relieved for I Am legend. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s deal to make I Am Legend fell through 10 years ago. Instead we have Will Smith defining the last man standing after a bizarre pandemic in director
Francis Lawrence’s remake. And that’s why I am relieved. It’s worth the decade wait minus Arnie and plus Smith.
Four previous movie versions of the classic 1954 Richard Matheson novel have made their way to the silver screen. The more memorable films include one with Vincent Price doing his thing in the 1964 picture which almost gets it right mainly because Matheson wrote the script. The Omega Man, seven years later, starred Charlton Heston, and eliminates Matheson’s vampire business but still has a cult following enamored with its atmospherics.
Now make way for Mr. Smith Goes To Flesh Eater Town. In the latest rendition, I Am Legend is a hybrid monster mash mixed with sci-fi cautionary tale. In the feature opening theatrically Dec. 14, Smith plays virologist Robert Neville trying to survive in New York City after a man-made virus wipes out its population and maybe most of the inhabitants of the globe.
Naturally immune, the scientist is running out of time to reverse thedisaster as cannibalistic mutant humans close in on him - especially whennight falls. Scary and spooky and haunting at the same time.
The fact that cast and crew had to film the movie in bustling Manhattan made for some interesting logistical problems, lots of snarled traffic jams and angry New Yorkers, which the actor admitted was not always met with understanding. “I was starting to think that F. U. was my name, said Smith, 39, at a Beverly Hills hotel press conference on Friday.

On the other hand, he agreed that shooting in the isolated streets of what was usually a busy city helped him get into the role of the last man standing. “It was chilling to walk down the middle of Fifth Ave.,” he said. “It created such an eerie icky feeling.”

But it also gave Smith a sense of accomplished to finally be in the middle of movie he had wanted to do for the last five years. And he said the impetus was not define another heroic character or to make some statement about an Afro-American making sacrifices. In fact, he didn’t think of it in those terms, but rather as a warning sign for over ambitious pursuits as indicated by scientists discovering a cure for cancer that ends up as the root of the infection.

In the original book and previous films a nuclear war aftermath was the scene setter. But Smith pushed for the generalized pandemic approach to make a broader statement about man versus nature conflict. And as he said, little did he know he was about to embark on a journey of self-awareness as an actor and as a person, since most of his scenes are by himself or with his German Shepherd which accompanies his character on forays into the empty Manhattan streets.

“You learn things about yourself,” said Smith of acting alone. He also said he talked to ex-prisoners who had suffered through solitary confinement, learning from them that “their mental space” was their only truth. “And I think I’m a better actor for having created that,” he said.

Director Lawrence who made a name for himself at the helm of the gothic hitConstantine, said Smith was a delight to work with because of that sort of commitment. “He never lost his enthusiasm or his energy,” he said of the actor.

And yes Willow Smith, Smith’s daughter, makes her film debut as Marley, his character’s daughter daughter seen in flashbacks. Last year, Smith’s son Jaden made his debut in last year’s ThePursuit Of Happiness, which earned dad his second Oscar nomination afterAli. It seems it was Willow’s turn.

Comparing the two kids would be a risky proposition for anybody but Smith, but jumps right into it. “You don’t work with Willow,” he said smiling. “You work for her.”

In non- I Am Legend news, Smith confirmed that he was planning to revive his Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff group next July when he promotes his super hero comedy Hancock, due out in July as well.

He was also honest about his recent Scientology association, saying that he studied it like he has other religions. “I love my God but I create my own connections,” he said.

- Bob Thompson

[Will Smith stars as Robert Neville in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi action adventure "I Am Legend." Courtesy Barry Wetcher/SMPSP]

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/t...-am-legend.aspx

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[Jazzy Julie]

wow looks like there isnt an i am legend tour but a hancock tour.

"In non- I Am Legend news, Smith confirmed that he was planning to revive his Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff group next July when he promotes his super hero comedy Hancock, due out in July as well."

[Hero1]

good news!

[Ale]

I AM LEGEND: 7 Film Clips, 2 Featurettes and Behind the Scenes Footage!

Written by Stephanie Sanchez

Saturday, 01 December 2007

The IESB has your first look at seven new film clips, two featurettes and behind the scenes footage from Warner Bros. I AM LEGEND. Directed by Francis Lawrence, starring Will Smith and is due out December 14th!

This film is tracking incredibly as tons of Will Smith fans are dying to see it!

Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable... and manmade. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City... and maybe the world. But he is not alone.

He is surrounded by "the Infected"—victims of the plague who have mutated into carnivorous beings who can only exist in the dark and who will devour or infect anyone or anything in their path. For three years, Neville has spent his days scavenging for food and supplies and faithfully sending out radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there.

All the while, the Infected lurk in the shadows, watching Neville's every move, waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But his blood is also what The Infected hunt, and Neville knows he is outnumbered and quickly running out of time.

Watch IESB’s I AM LEGEND film clips, featurettes and behind the scenes footage by clicking on the links below.

http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_c...5&Itemid=99

[Jazzy Julie]

Those clips are so cool, Will is going insane lol. Why is no1 watching these, they're really good.

[Ale]

I AM LEGEND

Director Francis Lawrence and star Will Smith wipe out New York City and the world as they finally bring the long-gestating 'I am Legend' to theaters

By Jake Rossen
Posted December 2, 2007 11:00 AM

As helicopters slice through the air, Coast Guard boats patrol the waters. On shore, NYPD officers and National Guardsmen stand watch. Loitering near the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge, 1,500 people wait for a command. When it comes, they flee in panic, screaming, pushing each other, and generally making an unholy dash for greener pastures.

A mad scramble for Hannah Montana tickets? Not quite. It’s an evacuation scene director Francis Lawrence (“Constantine”) is coordinating for “I Am Legend,” a post-apocalyptic epic Warner Bros. will unspool in theaters on December 14. And despite rumors the flashback sequence cost over five million dollars to shoot, Lawrence isn’t letting anyone see him sweat.

“Logistically, it was not the hardest thing for me to oversee,” he reveals. “I think dealing with something very small, like if you’re trying to hit very precise marks emotionally, can be a lot tougher than something that feels massive. It will all fall into place if you plan it properly.”

Those plans have been nothing if not carefully considered; for over a decade, the studio has been trying to ignite an adaptation of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel about a virus that wipes out nearly all of mankind. While the book has been filmed twice before (1964’s “The Last Man on Earth” and 1971’s “The Omega Man”), execs were uneasy about committing to the massive budgets demanded by talent like Ridley Scott (“Blade Runner”) and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“There have been story issues,” admits Lawrence, whose interest was piqued after reading both an early draft and the novel. “They hadn’t cracked what the creatures were. It’s been a tough one. Different people have tried to tackle it in different ways.”

It wasn’t until Lawrence and screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldsman (“A Beautiful Mind”) took a pass that the studio finally flipped open their checkbook. Helping matters along was a commitment from Will Smith, whose film presence has generated nearly two billion dollars in box office.

“We went to Will because he had been involved with it before,” Lawrence says. “Akiva had a relationship with him because of ‘I, Robot’ and I knew him from the old music video days. He liked our take, but he also liked some of the stuff that [screenwriter] Mark Protosevich had written. So the three of us—Akiva, Will, and I—just sort of sat in a room for hours at a time and days on end, and hashed out our version of the story.”
“We’ve designed something completely aggressive and new and different and we’re sneaking a small character drama into the middle of a big blockbuster,” Smith told IGN.com. “So we’ll see how it works out.”
What the trio came up with was a riff on “Cast Away,” where, like Tom Hanks’ stranded FedEx employee, Smith’s virologist is forced to battle his own personal demons in isolation while simultaneously opposing the violence of the environment.

Hanks never had to worry about nocturnal flesh-eaters, though.

“They have vampire-like qualities,” Lawrence says of the undead immune to the plague. “They are infected people that are living with a chronic disease. There are a percentage of people who get sick and can live with it. But the virus has changed their metabolism. Their heart rate is different, their breathing is different, and their appetite is different. They’re sensitive to light.

“And aggressive.”

When he’s not defending his life, Smith’s activities in a barren New York are catch-as-catch-can. “He’s hitting golf balls off the back of stealth fighters on the aircraft carrier Intrepid,” Lawrence says of his rec time. “Or he’s hunting deer in Manhattan. That was the challenge, really. How do you make that engaging, how do you make people feel the isolation and the loneliness without putting them to sleep? I’m proud of the fact that I think we did it, and did it very well.”

While Smith may (or may not) meet up with other survivors, he’s guaranteed at least one companion: a German Shepherd named Abbie. “She was a fantastic dog. There was a very specific rule that nobody was to interact with her or engage her in any way on set.

What you get is a real strong bond with Will.”

While Lawrence waits for the public reception to his latest work, he’s mulling over a reboot of the Snow White mythology (“Snow and the Seven”) and the further adventures of John Constantine. “We’ve talked about it a lot. There’s nothing more personal than a guy dying of cancer. I think everyone would love to do it if the right idea and story came around.”

And if the worst happens, and Lawrence finds himself the last man standing? “Man, I’d find a boat and go to Bora Bora. I’d spend my life fishing and swimming in the lagoon.”

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/wizard/006532479.cfm

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[MaxFly]

Those clips are great. This is going to be an excellent movie. Wow!

[Ale]

Will Smith goes it alone

Actor turned to POWs and inmates to grasp sense of loneliness faced by last human being on Earth

Dec 03, 2007 04:30 AM
Peter Howell
Movie Critic

HOLLYWOOD–Genial actor Will Smith has saved the world with a smile many times, in sci-fi movies like Independence Day, Men in Black and I, Robot.

He's trying to rescue Earth again in I Am Legend, the blockbuster opening Dec. 14. But this time he's much more serious and utterly alone in the role of scientist Robert Neville, the last known human survivor of a cancer treatment that mutates into a global killer virus.

Neville fights off rampaging zombies while searching for a cure.

Smith also felt highly estranged offscreen while filming in New York City. The production forced many temporary road closures in Manhattan, causing massive traffic tie-ups and raised digits pointed in Smith's direction.

"I would say percentage-wise it's the most amount of middle fingers I've ever received in my career," the rapper-turned-actor said over the weekend at the start of a press junket for I Am Legend.

"I'm used to people liking me. When I come to town, it's like fun. I was starting to think F.U. was my name."

I Am Legend, directed by Francis Lawrence (Constantine) is the fourth and biggest screen adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel. Previous incarnations have included Charlton Heston (The Omega Man) and Vincent Price (The Last Man on Earth) playing Neville.

The film was a real test for Smith, 39, a family man and social animal who doesn't naturally seek out solitude. To adjust to playing Neville, a role originally planned for Arnold Schwarzenegger, he sought out people who had been forced to survive alone.

"You learn things about yourself that you never would even imagine. So in order to prepare for that we sat with former POWs and we sat with people who had been in solitary confinement. They said the first thing is a schedule. You will not survive if you do not schedule everything."

The research included a meeting with convicted felon and ex-Black Panther Geronimo Pratt, who told Smith that he'd spent his time in solitary training roaches to bring him food, an exercise to stave off madness.

Smith's not sure if he believes the roach story, but it contains at least an allegorical truth about what loneliness can do to the human mind.

He put plenty of incessant scheduling and bizarre behaviour – including talking to mannequins – into his portrayal of Neville.

Despite his considerable experience playing action heroes, Smith isn't sure how he'd react in a real catastrophe. He's honest enough to admit he'd be as frightened and confused as the rest of us.

"Oh man, that's always a tough question. That's what interesting about playing characters like this," he said, his smile flashing as bright as his two gold earrings.

"Because you get to explore and wonder how you would react ... You want to be tested to know what you would do, but you really don't want to be tested."

The time when Smith most doubted his personal resolve was during the making of Ali, the 2001 biopic of boxing legend Muhammad Ali that netted Smith the first of his two Oscar nominations.

He didn't know if he'd be prepared to go to prison over a matter of principle, the way Ali did when the champ refused to answer his Vietnam War draft under his birth name, Cassius Clay.

"I just don't know if I would be enough man to give up everything I have right now the way Ali did it for that principle," Smith said.

"And when I look at Robert Neville, what was there to live for? ... I like to believe I'd put out my chest and stand forward and march on and continue to fight for the future of humanity, but I'd probably find a bridge (and jump off)."

At least he had family to keep him company during the arduous filming of I Am Legend. His 7-year-old daughter, Willow, one of two children Smith has with actor wife Jada Pinkett (Smith also has a son from a previous marriage), makes her feature debut playing Neville's daughter Marley in flashback scenes.

Willow wanted the job after she saw how well her older brother Jaden did playing opposite his father in last year's The Pursuit of Happyness, a drama that earned Smith his second Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Willow took to acting so naturally, Smith jokingly compared her to spotlight-seeking Paris Hilton, whereas Jaden is more work-driven, like Johnny Depp.

"You kind of don't work with Willow, you work for Willow."

Smith has other plans to get back into the fun side of life. He's hoping to reunite his hip-hop crew DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince for a concert tour next summer, with Toronto being a likely stop.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Movies/article/281904

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

Francis Lawrence on I Am Legend Re-shoots

Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
December 3, 2007

Speaking openly with ShockTillYouDrop.com over the weekend in Beverly Hills, I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence addressed the talk of re-shoots that recently went down. For good or for worse, re-shoots on productions do often occur - yet on high-profile projects such as the latest "Legend" adaptation, when word leaks out, arched, suspicious eyebrows are raised and Internet chatter kicks up.

In Lawrence's case, he confirms final shooting was completed less than a month ago. "I'm a huge fan of pick-ups and re-shoots," he tells us. "There's this misconception that it's always a bad thing and for me it's like saying a painter only has one shot at a brush stroke. That you can't erase and do it again." Due to this production's tremendous CGI grocery list of scenes in various stages of evolution (an estimated 800 shots, he says), "we weren't seeing fully-rendered shots until about a month ago. The movie starts to take on a whole other life. It's not only until later that you can judge a movie as a whole and go, 'Huh, maybe we should shoot this little piece in the middle, or tweak this a little bit.' It just so happened that our re-shoots revolved around the end of the movie."

The director adds that re-shoots were called upon during the Keanu Reeves-starring Constantine and that he'd love to budget them into every film he tackles. "The studios just don't ever want to budget them in because it's like a contingency for them." More than happy to discuss the last-minute alterations Lawrence won't venture to say exactly what needed to change in the film's finale.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=3861

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

How to Build a True Urban Jungle

In I Am Legend, a virus hits in 2009, infecting everyone but Will Smith. By 2012, New York is rife with monsters at night yet empty during the day: a spookily beautiful dystopia. “Most apocalyptic movies are very dark, with burnt-out cities,” says director Francis Lawrence. “The truth is that if people left, nature would start reclaiming the city pretty quickly.” Creating the illusion of a verdant, depopulated Manhattan took $40 million of the film’s $150 million budget. And even with hundreds of assistants pushing pedestrians out of the frame, a visual-effects team still had to digitally remove each sign of life from shots, erasing people and darkening windows. Here’s how they constructed the opening scene, in which Smith hunts a deer in Times Square: Lasers mapped real buildings to within an inch, creating gray structures (1). Then the crew took thousands of digital photos, using them to add detail, while animators put in 3-D objects (2) that would eventually look like cars and billboards. The street itself, covered in grass, was practically the only thing built on a soundstage. The final result is what you see in (3). As for the TKTS booth (4), a hybrid of set design and CGI, it was based on plans for the unfinished renovation. And those billboards? “We had to decide which Broadway shows would still be open in 2009,” says visual-effects supervisor Janek Sirrs. And which Warner Bros. movies. “We’ve got an ad for Superman vs. Batman in there somewhere.”

http://nymag.com/movies/features/41551/

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

Legend Emptied New York

12:00 AM, 03-DECEMBER-07

Will Smith, who stars in the upcoming SF movie I Am Legend, told reporters that the film got permission to block off streets in Manhattan to shoot scenes of an abandoned, post-apocalyptic New York—to the dismay of commuters.

"Shooting in New York, especially something on this level, is difficult," Smith said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Nov. 30. "I would say that, percentage-wise, it's the most amount of middle fingers I've ever received in my career [laughs]. ... I was starting to think 'F you!' was my name."

In I Am Legend, based on Richard Matheson's classic SF novel of the same name, Smith plays Robert Neville, a virologist who is the last apparent survivor of a plague that has emptied the world's cities.

The movie shot in New York for several weeks. The locations the production used included New York's Grand Central Terminal, Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, TriBeCa, Columbus Circle, Chinatown and Fifth Avenue, each of which had to be closed, emptied of traffic and pedestrians and dressed to appear abandoned.

"We shut down six blocks of Fifth Avenue on a Monday morning," Smith said. "That was probably poor logistics, which was poor planning," he added, with tongue in cheek.

Smith said that the experience was eerie. "You realize that you have never actually seen an empty shot of New York," he said. "When we were doing it, it's chilling to walk down the middle of Fifth Avenue. There is never an opportunity to walk down the middle of Fifth Avenue. At 2 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, you can't walk down the middle of Fifth Avenue. What happened is that it just created such a creepy energy."

In one scene, Smith as Neville races down an empty Fifth Avenue in a cherry-red Shelby Cobra Mustang.

"There is a shot in the movie with the U.N.," Smith added. "There is Broadway, and it puts such an eerie, icky kind of feeling on the movie when you see those shots. Logistically, it was a nightmare, but it absolutely created something that you can't do with green screen, and you can't do shooting another city instead of New York."

I Am Legend opens Dec. 14.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?c...=3&id=45951

[Ale]

Monday Night Conversation with Will Smith - I Am Legend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0ggyjUX_kk

[Ale]

Oops, Will Smith gives away ending of latest film

Tue Dec 4, 2007 6:52am EST

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Hollywood star Will Smith had the producer of his latest film holding his head in anguish on Tuesday after the actor gave away the ending of "I Am Legend".

Speaking at a Tokyo news conference, Smith inadvertently revealed the plot, prompting co-producer and co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to shout: "Don't give away the ending!"

Goldsman then pretended to be surprised, but it was all too late, and press handlers asked all present to keep the ending a secret, so as not to spoil it for viewers.

Smith plays a virologist fighting a man-made virus in "I Am Legend", the film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same title.

The movie premieres simultaneously in the United States and Japan on December 14.

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMo...ST2066420071204

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale