Will to star in I am legend

[Ale]

I just found this interview when Will was promoting 'I am Legend' on Radio 1. It's pretty cool!

http://www.radio1movies.com/2007/12/meeting-will-sm.html

:2thumbs:

Edited July 5, 2008 by Ale

[Ale]

I Am Legend Comes Back in an Ultimate Collectors Edition on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 9th

You can bring home a new legend in a new three-disc set this December. I Am Legend will be released in an Ultimate Collectors Edition on December 9. This three-disc standard set will be priced at $49.92 SRP and the two-disc Blu-Ray set will be priced at $59.99 SRP. The film stars Will Smith and Alice Braga.

The last man on earth is not alone. Will Smith portrays that lone survivor in I Am Legend, the action epic fusing heart-pounding excitement with a mind-blowing vision of a desolated Manhattan.

Somehow immune to an unstoppable, incurable virus, military virologist Robert Neville (Smith) is now the last human survivor in New York City and maybe the world. But he is not alone. Mutant plague victims lurk in the shadows watching Neville's every move and waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find an antidote using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered and quickly running out of time.

Special Features
- Commentary by director Francis Lawrence and producer-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
- Theatrical trailer
- Digital Copy
- Cautionary Tale: The Science of I Am Legend - How life-threatening microbes have caused pandemic viral infections and the looming dangers of advanced strands to the human race.
- Creating I Am Legend
- The Joy Ride Jump - All alone with a hot car and an empty street; setting up the perfect scene
- Will in the Driver's Seat - A realistic balance between live action and the stunt world
- Robert Neville's Psychology - Will Smith, director Francis Lawrence and novelist Richard Matheson set up the character of Robert Neville, particularly his devotion to discipline in routine in order to keep his sanity.
- The Story - Will Smith, director Francis Lawrence, producer-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and novelist Richard Matheson discuss the roots of the film, as well as the story and its relevance.
Will Smith in Action - As a man in action, we get to see the humor and kindness of actor Will Smith when cameras are not rolling.
- That Scary Place Inside All of Us - Will Smith and producer-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman discuss he complexity of the story and the Robert Neville character's ragged psyche.
- Shooting on the Intrepid - Faced with isolation, this NYC landmark was a perfect location against the city skyline.
- NYC Gone Back to Nature - Will Smith, director Francis Lawrence and others focus on the challenges of making a city of over eight million look deserted.
- Will's Physical Training - Will Smith and trainer Darrell Foster discuss the physical training Will undertook for the role of Robert Neville.
- Creating the Dark Seekers - Producer-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and novelist Richard Matheson discuss the development of the film's virus-infected creatures.
- Evacuation, Part 1: Family Convoy - Military coordinator Sam Glen and Second Unit director Vic Armstrong discuss shooting the evacuation sequence.
- Evacuation, Part 2: Military Cooperation - Producer-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and others discuss the enormous amount of cooperation provided to the production by the U.S. Military in the evacuation sequence.
- Building the Pier - Director Francis Lawrence and others explain the significance of building a pier in New York's East River.
- Canine Co-Star - Animal coordinator Steve Berens and his star dog Abby share some of her secrets for the training on this film.
- Quiet Imagination - Will Smith talks about his growth as an actor and what was required from his performance.
- Closing Down Fifth Avenue - Unique challenges to shut down one of New York's busiest streets.
- Evacuation, Part 3: Choppers - Skilled chopper pilots played a key role to deliver dramatic footage.
- The Conflicts of Isolation - Will Smith and producer-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman discuss the psychology of the character of Robert Neville, who believes he is the last man on earth.
- Trusting the Unknown - A profile of the characters Anna and Ethan, as played by Alice Braga and Charlie Tahan, and the significance of their roles in this film.
- The Creatures Break In - Preparing Robert Neville's home for the attack of the Dark Seekers.
- Neville's Weapons - The balance between protection and the reality of his environment played a role in the weapons used by Robert Neville.
- The Making of I Am Legend
- I Am Legend: The Making of Shots
- Animated Comics
- Death as a Gift - Jinghua Xu, immune from the virus and the last survivor in Hong Kong, struggles with the reality of living in a world decimated by the infected.
- Isolation - Abandoned by his country, John Edward Lard is left to die in a maximum security prison while all other inmates are transferred to a more secure facility.
- Sacrificing the Few for the Many - In a Central American jungle, two seemingly unaffected children witness the slaughter of aid workers and the destruction of a sick camp by an unknown military operation.
- Shelter - A father's agonizing choice to keep his infected daughter locked outside a refuge proves useless as the shelter walls are ultimately breached by the sick.
- Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by Francis Lawrence and Akiva Goldsman
- Joy Ride - Robert Neville drives his car through the desolate streets of New York.
- Sam and the Butterfly - Sam plays with a butterfly in the park.
- They Set a Trap - Neville realizes the creatures are evolving.
- Driving on the FDR - Neville and Anna drive down the empty freeway.
- You Go Around the Door - A protective Neville reveals his fatherly side.
- Do You Know How to Shoot a Gun? - Neville teaches Ethan the basics, to Anna's dismay.
- 5th Avenue Walk - Neville, Anna and Ethan walk down the abandoned street.
- Questioning Faith - Anna begins to doubt her beliefs for the first time.
Eat Fish on the Couch - Neville and Anna share a quiet moment.
- Death or Life - Anna tries to convince Neville to escape from New York.
- A Haunting Sight - Neville and Anna open the door and see the destruction he's caused.
- Hope - Anna's faith is restored.
- Play Movie with Focus Points - Explore the making of I Am Legend and the process of bringing the film to the screen. (Blu-Ray only)

http://www.movieweb.com/dvd/news/73/30973.php

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[Jazzy Julie]

cool thats a lot of stuff, im gonna have to get it.

[BWS.com]

**** and F*** the industry why now? why not from beginning? :shakehead:

[Ale]

I've found some pretty cool 'IAL' posters. Just thought I'd share them:

http://www.kinopoisk.ru/level/17/film/195524/page/1/

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7672/lg2um9.jpg

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6172/lg3me9.jpg

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9356/lg1fr9.jpg

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5717/lg4bw9.jpg

Edited June 1, 2014 by Ale

[Romano338]

I watched the movie yesterday, and I think it's a quite good movie !

Will Smith play very well !

It is impressive the range of part he can act !

Fromthe comedy (Fresh Prince of Bel Air) to really cold an serious (Hancock, I Am Legend) !

It is strange to seea movie with just one figure, alone !

On the contrary, I saw the alternate ending, and I can't understant why did they filmed a end like this !

What a stinky alernate ending !

Edited November 4, 2008 by Romano338

[Ale]

Video: What "I Am Legend" Zombies Almost Looked Like

Special effects artist Steve Johnson has been unveiling concept art, costume design and animatronics tests for such movies as Ang Lee's 2003 "Hulk" and Tim Burton's scrapped "Superman Lives."

And now, Johnson has posted a video showing his work on Will Smith's 2007 sci-fi film "I Am Legend." Apparently director Francis Lawrence initially wanted the "infected" zombies to be played by actors. But after a few tests, the helmer realized that he wouldn't be able to get the performances that he's looking for and opted to go entirely CG.

Johnson's video shows what the actors would have looked like in the movie. Check out the effects test and let us know if you would have preferred the zombies to be done this way instead of the CG route.

Watch video here: -> http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=21359&count=0

[Hero1]

Okay that looks pretty crap..but the CGI looked even worse so I'm not sure what to say

[JumpinJack AJ]

I had no problem with the CGI. I've only watched the movie 3 times but I thought it looked fine and very creepy. The only thing I don't like about the movie was the rushed ending.

[Turntable]

I've only watched the movie 3 times

[VIsqo]

I only saw this movie the time I went to the theater to watch it.. This and seven pounds are the only Will Smith movies Ive only seen once.

[Turntable]

I also only saw it once. I dont like those type of movies. I'm way too much into funny movies to watch that ish. I didn't even see 7 Punds yet, it sounds like I can't take it.

Edited April 25, 2011 by Turntable

[gosia]

EXCLUSIVE: 'I Am Legend Prequel' Is Dead, Says Francis Lawrence

Will Smith, one of very few human survivors of a vampire viral outbreak that swept the world, struggling to salvage his sanity while working tirelessly to find a cure to bring mankind back from the brink… yeah, he is "Legend," alright. Or was, at least. We've heard for some time now that a prequel to Smith and director Francis Lawrence's "I Am Legend" was in the works, but the trail has gone cold in recent months and years. And there's a reason for that: the project is dead.

At the press junket for "Water for Elephants" last month, we spoke with Lawrence and he confirmed our suspicions that, yes, the "I Am Legend" prequel is off the table, at least as far as his involvement goes: "No, I don't think that's ever going to happen."


Honestly, it's not a surprising development. From the get go, an "I Am Legend" prequel starring Smith always sounded a bit dubious. (Put your spoiler hats on for this next part, folks.) If you've seen the movie, then you know that while Smith's scientist character Doctor Robert Neville figures out how to treat the vampire virus, he sacrifices his life to kill a pack of blood-suckers and save a woman and child, now in possession of Neville's cure.

With one of the main plot developments resolved by the end of "Legend," it always felt that a sequel to see how that cure evolved, how it could be implemented (if at all), was a more interesting route to take… but with Smith's character blown to smithereens, moving backward was the only way to keep him involved with the franchise. This didn't always have to be the case, of course — an alternate ending sees Smith surviving the climactic showdown with the vampires, a conclusion that's not only arguably better than the final cut's version, but more conducive for a natural, Smith-led sequel.

As it stands, looks like the "Legend" is over for now, at least from Lawrence's perspective.

source (video inside)

[Ale]

Well, I personally loved 'I Am Legend''s story, so I wouldn't have minded seeing a prequel. On the other hand, it wasn't necessary, really. So I guess they've taken a good decision.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Ale

[Ale]

Interesting read..

Exclusive: director Francis Lawrence on what went wrong with I Am Legend

"One of the big downfalls for me, with that movie, personally, was with the visual effects" - director Francis Lawrence on I Am Legend"

A fascinating yet flawed movie, I Am Legend was ultimately let down by some uneven visual effects. We spoke to director Francis Lawrence about just what went wrong...

Published on May 4, 2011

There are many great things about Francis Lawrence's 2007 adaptation of Richard Matheson's sci-fi horror novel, I Am Legend. The extraordinary overgrown New York landscape. Will Smith's lonely, haunted performance. Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich's economical script which, for the first hour at least, is entirely convincing.

While the movie diverges greatly from Matheson's 1954 novel (as did the two previous adaptations, The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man), the premise is the same. Following the outbreak of a virus, much of humanity has mutated into an aggressive race of nocturnal monsters, leaving lone, immune protagonist, Robert Neville (Smith), to defend himself in a sprawling, dangerous city.

And yet, having managed to build the film's world so effectively (and its overgrown, deserted New York is surely one of the most memorable post-apocalyptic landscapes of recent years), I Am Legend then loses considerable momentum when the Dark Seekers are brought out in full view. Brought fitfully to life using CGI, the Dark Seekers, a horde of rabid, slavering humanoids that hunt in packs, looked too artificial to inspire the fear the movie needed.

The distracting appearance of the Dark Seekers is doubly perplexing when compared to the quality of the filmmaking and effects work elsewhere. A couple of iffy lions aside, CG has been used brilliantly to create the illusion of an empty New York City, and the movie's beautifully shot throughout.

A few weeks ago, we saw some make-up test shots that revealed that I Am Legend was originally going to be shot with old-fashioned actors and latex, and from the footage that appeared online, the results looked to be far more effective than the ones seen in the final film.

So, with director Francis Lawrence in the UK to promote his latest movie, the romantic drama Water For Elephants (which is in cinemas now), I couldn't resist the chance to bring up the topic of I Am Legend, and ask him about what occurred behind the scenes.

It turned out, in fact, that Lawrence was happy to speak quite openly about I Am Legend, and it was his experience on that film, he said, that prompted him to choose a less effects-heavy movie like Water For Elephants for his next project.

"I really wanted to do a movie that I could approach in a more organic way," Lawrence said. "I was really disappointed by that part of the process on I Am Legend."

Lawrence then spoke quite candidly about the rush to complete the effects shots for the film‘s final third, a factor that would certainly explain the variable quality of the CGI, as well as the movie's rushed, muddled conclusion, which was reshot after negative comments from test audiences.

"Having done a movie with so many visual effects shots, and then coming to the end, where you have the plug pulled because you have a deadline, and you have to deliver the last reel, and you know there's a hundred shots in the movie you're not satisfied with, was a real disappointment to me."

I then brought up the subject of the make-up effects footage mentioned earlier. Lawrence hadn't seen it, but my mention of it prompted him to describe what happened when shooting began on I Am Legend in 2006.

"I wanted to do it with real people in the beginning," Lawrence said. "We actually cast this huge group of people, like, 50 dancers and parkour guys. And we shaved their heads and they worked with movement coaches and we created this behaviour for everybody. And we built these suits, this guy called Christien Tinsley built them.

"We actually started to shoot with them. Second unit started first, and we were doing stuff with them running across Washington Square Park towards the house, and I was really worried about it, because they needed to be fast, and we were going to have to augment them and duplicate them. They had to be aggressive, and I just wasn't convinced it was going to work.

"When I saw the dailies, I broke out into a cold sweat. They were very pale, and covered in this chalky powder to protect their skin, which was a really interesting concept, but it looked like a bunch of mime artists running across Washington Square Park. It didn't work at all."

It was then that the decision was made to realise the Dark Seekers using computer graphics, a process that wouldn't be without pitfalls of its own.

"And one night, we shut that all down and decided we were going to go for CG. We basically postponed anything we were going to shoot with creatures until much later. We went to a whole other design process. We used the same actors, but now they were in these speed skater suits with dots, and it was all performance capture, which would be translated to these things."

Sadly, the final rush to complete the film resulted in the variable effects work in the final cut. Had the production been granted another few months to work on the CG, Lawrence argues, I Am Legend may have been a very different looking film.

"It was better than doing the live versions at that time, because it didn't work, but we needed six more months on the post end to get all the visual effects right," Lawrence said. "Because there were some close-ups that were stunning, and then you get some shots that I never got right, and it just ****ing blows it. It just kills it. And it's just, like, one of the big downfalls for me, with that movie, personally, was with the visual effects."

Dodgy effects weren't, of course, the sole problem with I Am Legend, and here, too, Lawrence was refreshingly candid about the film's shortcomings.

"If you want to go even deeper into it, part of the problem was, if you look at the movie, the most effective part of the film is the scene where he [Will Smith's character] goes into the dark building, because you never see [Dark Seekers].

"And the truth is, if you go all the way back to the great creature movies like Alien, the best thing is, you never see them. As soon as you get into the back third of the movie, and there's this huge horde of creatures you've already seen that aren't scary any more.

"I think that's also one of the mistakes. They should have just been hidden. They should have been much more hidden in shadows, and barely getting a sense of movement. It would have been much more viscerally scary."

I Am Legend was a flawed yet brave attempt to get a singularly downbeat novel made within a studio system. And while six more months of post production may still not have resulted in a perfect movie, we can't help wondering what I Am Legend would have looked like had that extension been granted.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/874292/exclusive_director_francis_lawrence_on_what_went_wrong_with_i_am_legend.html

Edited May 8, 2011 by Ale