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Another "I Am Legend" movie is happening starring Will Smith


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  • DarkStar189 changed the title to Another "I Am Legend" movie is happening starring Will Smith
31 minutes ago, EternallDarkness said:

saw this news the other day...left me scratching my head. I know I watched it but for the life of me it left no real lasting impression 

 

 

I remember the ending falling flat to me, and kind of making no sense.

 

Then I found out years later that it had an alternate ending that was filmed first, made way more sense with the rest of the film, and was more in line with the novel(or so I have heard, haven't read it) but it was changed due to test audiences not liking it.

 

Which also brings up an interesting question. Are they going to treat the alternate ending as the "real ending" to move the sequel forward from? Normally you wouldn't expect a sequel to treat the alternate ending as canon, but in this case the theatrical release has the awkward sticking point in that that version Will Smith's character fucking dies.

 

Maybe they will play his character as all flashbacks or something....but the movie would probably be more interesting to see move forward from where the alternate ending left off.

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22 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

From what I understand of the novel (also haven't read it) will Smith's character is basically not realising that HE is the monster now. I doubt the new movie will go in that direction? 

My tinfoil hat theory is that Smith doesnt want to play a character that is "bad" that could ruin his image and therefore they changed the story.

 

 

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11 hours ago, EternallDarkness said:

I know I read Matheson's book back in middle school but I can't say I remember that all that well either :lol:

I remember reading the book at about the same age during a 4 hour car ride to the beach. I don't remember much of the ending either. I remember watching The Omega Man with my dad and then being all happy to read the I Am Legend book. 

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12 hours ago, Komusha said:

He wisely avoided the Independence Day sequel yet choses a sequel that's even more ill-advised.

 

Well this is a guy who skipped doing The Matrix and Django Unchained but signed up for Wild Wild West so . . . now I love Wild Wild West, it's an enormous guilty pleasure of mine, but yeah. 

 

Also the guy who did three Men in Blacks and three Bad Boys films. I'm almost surprised he didn't do Independence Day 2. :p 

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I remember reading the script for I Am Legend in college when Arnold Schwarzenegger was still attached. It was pretty different than what we ultimately got. Blade 3 was originally going to be a take on this as well with Blade being one of the last survivors in a world of Vampires. I didn't mind Will Smith's version and it still has elements of the novel in it. He DOES realize he had become a monster to the infected in this version when he realizes that the infected he had been experimenting on meant something to the pack leader that had been chasing him the whole movie. I thought the alternate ending wasn't as good as the theatrical one but it's berm so long since I've seen the movie. It's not a bad movie at all.

 

24 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Well this is a guy who skipped doing The Matrix and Django Unchained but signed up for Wild Wild West so . . . now I love Wild Wild West, it's an enormous guilty pleasure of mine, but yeah. 

The Matrix was definitely a mistake but he didn't miss out on anything passing on Django. Wasn't a good fit for him and I can totally see him not really getting along with Tarantino. 

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As has been pointed out this book has been adapted several times, and none of them follow what was written.  If this sequel gets made it just resets the clock by another decade or so before someone will try again.  Maybe someday someone will follow the book.  Honestly probably a better shot for a faithful adaptation on streaming somewhere - because the book ending will never test well with audiences.  

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38 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Well this is a guy who skipped doing The Matrix and Django Unchained but signed up for Wild Wild West so . . . now I love Wild Wild West, it's an enormous guilty pleasure of mine, but yeah. 

 

He signed up for Seven Pounds instead of any other movie that would be good, as well.

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1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I remember reading the script for I Am Legend in college when Arnold Schwarzenegger was still attached. It was pretty different than what we ultimately got. Blade 3 was originally going to be a take on this as well with Blade being one of the last survivors in a world of Vampires. I didn't mind Will Smith's version and it still has elements of the novel in it. He DOES realize he had become a monster to the infected in this version when he realizes that the infected he had been experimenting on meant something to the pack leader that had been chasing him the whole movie. I thought the alternate ending wasn't as good as the theatrical one but it's berm so long since I've seen the movie. It's not a bad movie at all.

 

The Matrix was definitely a mistake but he didn't miss out on anything passing on Django. Wasn't a good fit for him and I can totally see him not really getting along with Tarantino. 


Even if you accept that he has a moment of reflection on his actions at the end, the entire thing is completely undermined by him being the savior of humanity and also blowing them all to hell with a grenade the second he comes to that conclusion.  Sure I’m a monster but, you know, omelettes and eggs and all that noise…

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23 minutes ago, LazyPiranha said:


Even if you accept that he has a moment of reflection on his actions at the end, the entire thing is completely undermined by him being the savior of humanity and also blowing them all to hell with a grenade the second he comes to that conclusion.  Sure I’m a monster but, you know, omelettes and eggs and all that noise…

Well he was also sacrificing himself to save the two people who were in the lab with him who had the cure that could solve ALL of those problems. A not so small difference between the book and the movie is that in the book, the creatures are literal vampires and are intelligent, articulate, can speak and have their own society, not animalistic zombies like in the Will Smith movie. That was the biggest problem with the movie. Making the creatures mindless animals instead of sentient beings. Now I want to see the Vincent Price movie (haven't seen it since I was a kid) and I haven't read the book in forever... maybe since college. Richard Matheson was one of my favorite Twilight Zone writers.

 

2 hours ago, number305 said:

As has been pointed out this book has been adapted several times, and none of them follow what was written.  If this sequel gets made it just resets the clock by another decade or so before someone will try again.  Maybe someday someone will follow the book.  Honestly probably a better shot for a faithful adaptation on streaming somewhere - because the book ending will never test well with audiences  

 

Pretty sure the Arnold version had an even more Hollywood ending than the Will Smith one. I don't think Neville died in that one at all and killed the vampire leader and escaped with the cure. If I remember correctly, Neville was KNEW the actual leader as he was patient zero for the virus and Neville had been trying to treat him. He was gonna be a big guy... some one who was possibly bigger than Arnold himself (this was written in the 90's at the height of Arnold's popularity). But yeah, the book ending is WAAAAY darker than a big budget Hollywood movie would ever allow.

Spoiler

Neville is revealed to not only be the bad guy, but he ultimately loses and is executed by the vampires for his crimes against them.

 

Great article here discussing this and why the movie's original ending didn't make sense. Spoilers for the book here for those who haven't read it and are interested in. doing so.

 

I-Am-Legend-Will-Smith-and-Darkseeker.jp
SCREENRANT.COM

Making the original ending not make sense

 

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11 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Well he was also sacrificing himself to save the two people who were in the lab with him who had the cure that could solve ALL of those problems. A not so small difference between the book and the movie is that in the book, the creatures are literal vampires and are intelligent, articulate, can speak and have their own society, not animalistic zombies like in the Will Smith movie. That was the biggest problem with the movie. Making the creatures mindless animals instead of sentient beings. Now I want to see the Vincent Price movie (haven't seen it since I was a kid) and I haven't read the book in forever... maybe since college. Richard Matheson was one of my favorite Twilight Zone writers.


The alternate ending has Robert realize that the dark seekers aren’t mindless at all, and that the leader just wants his female companion back. I do think it works better than the theatrical ending, though I think people overstate the change as “ruining” the movie.

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Really doesn't seem like a movie that was craving a sequel, or that people were asking for.

 

Then I looked at the top grossing movies from 2007, and other than Ratatouille, every film above Legend (at #9) has gotten follow-ups of some sort. Really feels like some exec was just going through the top grossing movies of the last 20 years trying to find one that hadn't already gotten a sequel or spin-off or whatever.

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3 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

The Matrix was definitely a mistake but he didn't miss out on anything passing on Django. Wasn't a good fit for him and I can totally see him not really getting along with Tarantino. 

 

I don't disagree but passing on a Tarantino project is ROFL to me. :p Not sure why people are surprised by this announcement except that it's been so long; originally Will Smith was planning on doing both a prequel and a sequel initially after I Am Legend came out and did pretty well. I guess he finally got around to it. It's like how a Hancock sequel has been in the works in forever or how a Bad Boys 3 and Men in Black 3 films were in the works forever but Will Smith eventually does get to them all. 

 

I would have thought that after Concussion and King Richard Will Smith was going in a different direction these days. Then I've seen he did Suicide Squad, Gemini Man, Aladdin, MIB 3 and Collateral Beauty in between, so I guess not. 

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3 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

He signed up for Seven Pounds instead of any other movie that would be good, as well.

 

Yeah true - to be fair, I think he did that because he'd already worked with the director on The Pursuit of Happyness to great critical and commercial acclaim so it probably seemed like a no brainer for Will Smith to work with the director again.

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3 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

I don't disagree but passing on a Tarantino project is ROFL to me.

To you maybe... not to everyone. I mean it's Will Smith not some actor who came into the business trying to make a name for himself. And PLENTY of other actors have passed on Tarantino projects. This isn't unique to Will Smith. Neither one of these guys needed the other one so if their personalities didn't mesh, the best thing to do was move on. Movie still came out and both still have careers. Passing on The Matrix was definitely the bigger mistake... but yeah for a star of Smith's caliber, a call from Tarantino isn't an automatic "yes" especially for an African American actor and considering how Tarantino is viewed by some people in the black community. 

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3 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

To you maybe... not to everyone. I mean it's Will Smith not some actor who came into the business trying to make a name for himself. And PLENTY of other actors have passed on Tarantino projects. This isn't unique to Will Smith. Neither one of these guys needed the other one so if their personalities didn't mesh, the best thing to do was move on. Movie still came out and both still have careers. Passing on The Matrix was definitely the bigger mistake... but yeah for a star of Smith's caliber, a call from Tarantino isn't an automatic "yes" especially for an African American actor and considering how Tarantino is viewed by some people in the black community. 

 

I mean not saying they were a great fit but I do sometimes question Smith's career choices is all.

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This conversation got me curious about other actors who passed on Tarantino roles and I found this...

 

509076438.jpg
WWW.LOOPER.COM

Many actors would love to be in a Tarantino movie, but these stars passed up the opportunity.

 

Some of these I knew about like Adam Sandler and Micheal Madsen in Pulp Fiction, others I had no idea about. Max Julien turned down Jules Windfield in Pulp Fiction?! Whoops. Great read for those who have the time. I misread that... EDIT: Max Julien turned down the Marcellus role. Yeah, I don't blame him for that :p

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Just now, Greatoneshere said:

 

I mean not saying they were a great fit but I do sometimes question Smith's career choices is all.

Dude has had a great career and is nominated for ANOTHER Oscar... He knows what's best for him and his career clearly. Everyone chooses a dud now and then... I'll let Bruce Campbell explain how difficult it is to pick good projects in Hollywood based off of big names and resumes of people alone. 

 

 

This was brilliant and is true as hell.

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Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

Dude has had a great career and is nominated for ANOTHER Oscar... He knows what's best for him and his career clearly. Everyone chooses a dud now and then... I'll let Bruce Campbell explain how difficult it is to pick good projects in Hollywood based off of big names and resumes of people alone. 

 

 

This was brilliant and is true as hell.

 

Like I said I don't disagree he's great just weird choices sometimes is all to me. In retrospect I can't see him in either role so yeah maybe it was good he said no.

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2 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

In retrospect I can't see him in either role so yeah maybe it was good he said no.

Yeah i really don't see how they would have made Django Work. The Matrix? Maybe. But Django? Nah... I'm not the biggest fan of Django anyway and thought that everyone BESIDES Django carried the movie and made it watchable. Django himself was kinda boring.

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21 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I remember reading the script for I Am Legend in college when Arnold Schwarzenegger was still attached. It was pretty different than what we ultimately got. Blade 3 was originally going to be a take on this as well with Blade being one of the last survivors in a world of Vampires. I didn't mind Will Smith's version and it still has elements of the novel in it. He DOES realize he had become a monster to the infected in this version when he realizes that the infected he had been experimenting on meant something to the pack leader that had been chasing him the whole movie. I thought the alternate ending wasn't as good as the theatrical one but it's berm so long since I've seen the movie. It's not a bad movie at all.

 

The Matrix was definitely a mistake but he didn't miss out on anything passing on Django. Wasn't a good fit for him and I can totally see him not really getting along with Tarantino. 


Yeah people always point those out but really I think his take that those movies were more successful without him because he didn’t really fit those roles makes a ton of sense. 

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17 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Dude has had a great career and is nominated for ANOTHER Oscar... He knows what's best for him and his career clearly. Everyone chooses a dud now and then... I'll let Bruce Campbell explain how difficult it is to pick good projects in Hollywood based off of big names and resumes of people alone. 

 

 

This was brilliant and is true as hell.


Oh man, he came to speak when I was in college and he did a much more in depth version of that example(giving actors attached as well). At the time, not knowing a lot about the way Hollywood worked it was really eye opening to hear how almost nothing is a sure thing. He even went so far as to talk about signing on and then showing up to shoot and the script is totally different or seeing the final cut of movies and being confused because the editing created something totally different than what the actors thought they were making. 
 

Side note if you get a chance to go see Bruce speak 1000% go. He’ll cover all the greatest hits and take stupid Evil Dead questions but he also usually has some other interesting topic he covers and it’s always really fascinating. One of the best celebrity speakers I’ve ever seen by far. 

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There is also situations like this

 

hyperionsheader2-thumb-700xauto-242522.p
WWW.PAJIBA.COM

We here behind the scenes at Pajiba are real big fans of Cary Elwes. How can you not be, with his turns in Oxford Blues, Kiss the Girls, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and even the classic fantasy...

 

where a film gets made and ends up the property of people (Ben Shapiro and his company) that most of those involved in making the film find detestable. 

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You know how people on the internet like to constantly make fun of Avatar for being a successful movie that nobody talks about, ignoring the fact that it is indeed talked about often? I Am Legend is actually that movie. I literally never think about this movie.

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