I Am Legend is a 2007 American post-apocalyptic action horror thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich and starring Will Smith as U.S. Army virologist Robert Neville. Loosely based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, the film is set in New York City after a virus, which was originally created to cure cancer, has wiped out most of mankind, leaving Neville as the last human in New York City, other than nocturnal mutants. Immune to the virus, Neville works to develop a cure while defending himself against the hostile mutants. It is the third feature-film adaptation of Matheson's novel following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man.
Warner Bros. Pictures began developing I Am Legend in 1994, and various actors and directors were attached to the project, though production was delayed due to budgetary concerns related to the script. Production began in 2006 in New York City, filming mainly on location in the city, including a $5 million scene at the Brooklyn Bridge.
I Am Legend was released on December 14, 2007, in the United States and Canada. It opened to the largest-ever box office (not adjusted for inflation) for a non-Christmas film released in the U.S. in December, and was the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2007, earning $256 million domestically and $329 million internationally for a total of $585 million. The film received generally positive reviews, with Smith's performance being singled out for praise, while criticism focused on its divergences from the novel, particularly the ending. In 2022, a sequel was revealed to be in development, with Smith set to reprise his role as Neville and co-produce the film with Michael B. Jordan, who will also have a starring role.
Plot In 2009, a genetically engineered measles virus designed to cure cancer mutated and killed 90% of the human population, and transformed another 9% into vampiric-zombies known as Darkseekers, who hunt for immune humans at night as they are vulnerable to sunlight.
In 2012, three years after the outbreak, U.S. Army virologist LTC Robert Neville and his German Shepherd, Sam, live in a heavily fortified Washington Square Park home in deserted Manhattan. Neville's daily routine includes experimenting on rats to find a cure for the virus, searching the city for supplies, and waiting each day for survivors to respond to his recorded radio broadcasts to meet him at the South Street Seaport by noon. At night, he barricades himself with Sam inside his home. Neville is haunted by memories of his wife Zoe and daughter Marley, who died in a helicopter accident during the chaotic evacuation.
While Neville hunts a deer, Sam pursues it into a building populated with Darkseekers. Neville and Sam narrowly escape. Neville sets a trap with his immune blood and captures a female Darkseeker to use as a subject for his treatment. An alpha Darkseeker pursues them but is halted by sunlight. Neville's treatment of the Darkseeker seems unsuccessful.
Neville notices a mannequin placed outside Grand Central Terminal. As he approaches it, he is caught in a trap and loses consciousness. He awakes at dusk and the Alpha unleashes infected dogs. Neville frees himself and subdues the dogs, but Sam is bitten. Back in his lab, Neville injects her with his serum to no avail. Sam begins to transform and Neville strangles her. Neville assaults the Darkseekers with his car, but is vastly outnumbered. He is rescued by immune survivors Anna and Ethan, who heard his broadcast.
They take Neville home, where Anna explains they survived on a Red Cross ship from São Paulo, and are heading to a survivors camp in Bethel, Vermont. Neville says no such camp exists. Working to cure the female Darkseeker, Neville suggests cooling her with ice to improve treatment. Darkseekers launch an invasion on the house. Neville, Anna, and Ethan seal themselves in the basement laboratory with the test subject where Neville discovers the female Darkseeker is slowly turning back to human. The Alpha Darkseeker begins breaking through the glass door.
Theatrical ending Neville draws a vial of blood from the cured Darkseeker and gives it to Anna before shutting her and Ethan inside a coal chute in the back of the lab. Neville then sacrifices himself, killing the attacking Darkseekers with a grenade.
Alternate ending Neville realizes that the Alpha is identifying the woman he was experimenting on by a butterfly tattoo, and that it wants her back. Neville puts his gun down and returns the infected woman. He and the Alpha then exchange stares; Neville apologizes to them, which the Alpha acknowledges before the infected leave. Neville, Anna, and Ethan drive away towards Vermont.
Cast Will Smith as Dr. Robert Neville, a virologist and the sole remaining human inhabitant in New York City, searching for a cure to the virus Alice Braga as Anna, a religious survivor of the outbreak Charlie Tahan as Ethan, a young survivor of the outbreak Abbey and Kona as Samantha ("Sam"), Robert's German Shepherd and partner, a gift from Marley shortly before her death Dash Mihok as Alpha Male, the leader of a pack of Darkseekers Emma Thompson as Dr. Alice Krippin, the creator of the Krippin Virus Salli Richardson as Zoe Neville, Robert Neville's wife who died shortly after the outbreak Willow Smith as Marley Neville, Robert and Zoe's six-year-old daughter, who died shortly after the outbreak Joanna Numata as Alpha Female, the alpha Male's partner, who is captured and experimented on by Robert Neville Darrell Foster as Mike, a soldier who accompanied Neville during the initial stages of the outbreak Pat Fraley as voice of the President of the United States Mike Patton as voices of the Darkseekers, violent mutants infected by the Krippin Virus, who are vulnerable to sunlight
Production Development
The science-fiction horror genre re-emerged in the late 1990s. In 1995, Warner Bros. Pictures began developing the film project, having owned the rights to Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend since 1970 and having already made the 1971 adaptation The Omega Man. Mark Protosevich was hired to write the script after the studio was impressed with his speculative script of The Cell. Protosevich's first draft took place in 2000 in San Francisco, and contained many similarities with the finished film, though the Darkseekers (called Hemocytes) were civilized to the point of the creatures in The Omega Man, and Anna was a lone morphine addict, as well as the fact that a Hemocyte character named Christopher joined forces with Neville. Warner Bros. immediately put the film on the fast track, attaching Neal H. Moritz as producer.
Actors Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, and Mel Gibson had been considered to star in the film, Alt URL using a script by Protosevich and with Ridley Scott as director; however, by June 1997, the studio's preference was for actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In July, Scott and Schwarzenegger finalized negotiations, with production slated to begin the coming September, using Houston as a stand-in for the film's setting of Los Angeles. Scott had Protosevich replaced by a screenwriter of his own choosing, John Logan, with whom he spent months of intensive work on a number of different drafts. The Scott–Logan version of I Am Legend was a mix of sci-fi and psychological thriller, without dialogue in the first hour and with a sombre ending. The creatures in Logan's version were similar to the Darkseekers of the finished film in their animalistic, barbaric nature. The studio, fearing its lack of commercial appeal and merchandising potential, began to worry about the liberties they had given Scott – then on a negative streak of box-office disappointments – and urged the production team to reconsider the lack of action in the screenplay. After an "esoteric" draft by writer Neal Jimenez, Warner Bros. reassigned Protosevich to the project, reluctantly working with Scott again.
In December 1997, the project was called into question when the projected budget escalated to $108 million due to media and shareholder scrutiny of the studio in financing a big-budget film. Scott rewrote the script to reduce the film's budget by $20 million but in March 1998, the studio canceled the project due to budgetary concerns and quite possibly to the box office failures of Scott's last three films, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, White Squall, and G.I. Jane. Schwarzenegger's recent films (Eraser and Warner Bros.' own Batman & Robin) also underperformed, and the studio's latest experiences with big budget sci-fi movies Sphere and The Postman were negative as well. In August 1998, director Rob Bowman was attached to the project, with Protosevich hired to write a third new draft, far more action-oriented than his previous versions but the director (who reportedly wished for Nicolas Cage to play the lead) moved on to direct Reign of Fire and the project did not get off the ground.
In March 2002, Schwarzenegger became the producer of I Am Legend, commencing negotiations with Michael Bay to direct and Will Smith to star in the film. Bay and Smith were attracted to the project based on a redraft that would reduce its budget. The project was shelved due to Warner Bros. president Alan F. Horn's dislike of the script. In 2004, Akiva Goldsman was asked by head of production Jeff Robinov to produce the film. In September 2005, director Francis Lawrence signed on to helm the project, with production slated to begin in 2006. Guillermo del Toro was originally approached to direct by Smith, but turned it down to direct Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Lawrence, whose film Constantine was produced by Goldsman, was fascinated by empty urban environments. He said, "Something's always really excited me about that... to have experienced that much loss, to be without people or any kind of social interaction for that long."
Goldsman took on the project, as he admired the second I Am Legend film adaptation, The Omega Man. A rewrite was done to distance the project from the other zombie films inspired by the novel, as well as from the recently released 28 Days Later, although Goldsman was inspired by the scenes of a deserted London in the British horror film to create the scenes of a deserted New York City. A 40-page scene-by-scene outline of the film was developed by May 2006. When delays occurred on Smith's film Hancock, which was scheduled for 2007, it was proposed to switch Smith's films. This meant filming would have to begin in 16 weeks; production was given a green light, using Goldsman's script and the outline. Elements from Protosevich's script were introduced, while the crew consulted with experts on infectious diseases and solitary confinement. Rewrites continued throughout filming, because of Smith's improvisational skills and Lawrence's preference to keep various scenes silent. Lawrence had watched Jane Campion's film The Piano with a low volume so as to not disturb his newborn son and realized that silence could be very effective cinema.
Casting