I Am Legend

[annuin]

So it seems that in December another film version of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend will appear in theatres. I'd say grace the screens, but I'm unsure of whether it'll grace them or come lumbering across them.

I started watching the trailer before I checked the imdb.com listing to see whether it was actually based on Matheson's book. From the first bits in the trailer, where a missile hits Manhattan, I began to think that it wasn't. And then Will Smith's voice comes over the images with "My name is Robert Neville" and then I knew it was.

So, this ought to be interesting to say the least. I'm just hoping that they remain faithful to the core of the book, because that was just such a really awesome story, with an excellent ending. If they fuck up the ending, it renders the entire thing pointless.

Trailer here:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0480249/trailers-screenplay-1-10-2

Comments

[daskreestof.livejournal.com]

I agree, the ending is the most important, and so far, every adaptation has avoided it. It's a shame.

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

While I probably ought to have, I haven't actually seen the previous 2 adaptations. Though I just checked my Horror box set (some 50 classic horror movies, mostly b&w with Lugosi/Karloff et al.) and Vincent Price's adaptation is one of the movies.

[daskreestof.livejournal.com]

I know I've seen two adaptations, I think there's at least one more, plus a comic book adaptation that is faithfull to the work. The vincent price one is definately much more faithfull to the work then the Omega man, but doesn't finish the story really, and the budget is painfully low.
The Omega Man just does it all 70's style and groovy man. If you see it, you'll understand why that description is so appropriate. It's not very faithfull at all.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

It wasn't faithful to the book, but the author was one of the scriptwriters, and wanted to do particular things with it.

I've come to the conclusion that Tony Hiller is right about his books being adapted to TV or film: "To make the film, you have to kill the book." They're not the same media. You go for the core of the book, or you work out that the film is going to be its own beast, and you hope that either way the adaptation stands on its own, separate from the book. I enjoyed Omega Man for what it was - a pretty radical film for its day, especially given the interracial pairing of hero and heroine. The book is its own being. The film should be its own being. The only real question should be "Does it work on its own terms?"

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

I do realise that film and books are different media, and I do allow for differences between the two when watching adaptations, specifically because I understand that a movie needs to condense into a much shorter timeslot things that books can take time unfolding.

The thing though with I Am Legend though is that if you change the ending, then the title as well as the point of the piece becomes moot really. And in this case they're keeping the book's title for the movie, rather than calling it The Last Man On Earth or The Omega Man.

And really, it's such an awesome book, doing a movie that would actually be close to the book would be excellent. It is a story that ought to lend well to a screen adaptation all things considered.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

I always thought it pretty cinematic, which made me wonder about Matheson's changes for the script - but, then, the author gets to play around with his ideas in ways that no-one else could without being screamed at (Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere springs to mind, though it was done the other way around - and I wonder what his Death: The High Cost Of Living will be like?).

I am, you know, a real hypocrite. I love the schlocky old versions of War of the Worlds, with the action transplanted to 1950s America, and the hero becoming a scientist with his "academic" female assistant who knows nothing about anything; but Spielberg's attempt at the same story I call ABOMINATION! Same with Bram Stoker's Dracula - no it fucking was not!! Great B- movie, but not Bram Stoker's Dracula. I suppose that what happens is that I forgive many (not all) old films because age has given them a certain charm, and they do not push my buttons in the way that films made in my adulthood do.

I am a hypocrite :)

[strigoiimorte.livejournal.com]

"Apprehensive" doesn't even cover my response. As far as I am concerned, "I Am Legend" is the greatest piece of horror fiction published in the 20th century, and while I am VERY pleased that Will Smith did not say "Awwww, HELL NO!!" even once in the trailer, I am still fucking terrified that this film will be celluloid rape.

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping the screen writers don't fuck it up, or that the producers/director don't fuck over the screen writers. Usually it's Johnny Pencilpusher or Mr. Moneybags who fuck things over in their lame attempts to make their exec producer credits mean more than just handing over a paycheck.

I think that Will Smith certainly could pull it off, though he does often end up in the action movies that involve him being sarcastic/mouthing off/making one-liners, so one can only imagine.

Fingers crossed.