I Am Legend
I Am Legend’sentire concept is built around the notion of the supposed last human alive , but an former , terrible idea would have cut the apocalypse all . I Am Legendis based on a 1954 novel by Richard Matheson , who was inspired to pen the record book base on the notion that if Dracula was so shuddery , then a world fill with vampires must be horrifying . He was correct , with the post - revelatory horror novel being influential on the like of Stephen King and George A Romero , who basedNight Of The Living Deadon the book ’s siege scenario .
I Am Legend- which has a superior surrogate ending- received two movie adaptations in the age that followed ; the first was 1964’sThe Last Man On Earthstarring Vincent Price , while 1971’sThe Omega Manwas look by Charlton Heston . The latter had little in common with the novel and while Matheson contributed toThe Last Man On Earth’sscreenplay , he was let down with the low - budget final Cartesian product . The Will Smith version ofI Am Legendspent around a tenner in development , and at one stage almost starred Arnold Schwarzenegger with Ridley Scott directing .
tie in : I Am Legend 2 Can Fix The First Movie ’s Title Meaning variety
Screenwriter Mark Protosevich wrote an acclaimed script forI Am Legendduring the ' 90s , which was look at - for a time - to be one of the greatest underproduced screenplays of all time . Will Smith ’s eventualI Am Legend(which has a very different ending to the book)did cabbage some sequences and idea from this draft , let in expanding on the relationship between Smith ’s Neville and his click , but it changed a mickle too . Protosevich later speak aboutI Am Legend’slong development withMoney Into Lightin 2013 , and revealed the movie ’s conscientious objector - writer and co - producer Akiva Goldsman wanted to change the core idea . Instead of the cosmos being infected , he wanted to throttle the outbreak to New York , with Neville being the only human to continue on the quarantined island while the remainder of the planet was fine .
Given that the basic assumption behindI Am Legendfocuses on what might be the last remain person in a world filledwith vampires / Darkseekers , this modification sounds like a terrible approximation . According to Protosevich , in Goldman ’s take " Neville chooses to remain on the island to do his research because his septic married woman and tike are there . The implicit in scourge was that if the ' zombie ' escape the island , the outbreak would propagate . " While Protosevich was offered the chance to pen this version ofI Am Legend , he felt it had major problems but when he presented those issues to Goldsman , he was let go from the project .
WhenI Am Legendwas finally announced , Protosevich was surprised to memorise this conception had been abandoned , with Warner Bros rejecting Goldsman ’s softened take . Not only did the resultingI Am Legendfilm reconstruct the " Last Man on Earth " premise , but the film also received praise for make do to smuggle a eccentric drama into a blockbuster parcel . The movie also prove to be a major success , though it ’s hard to say if audiences would have been so drawn to the idea had the apocalypse concept been unload .
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