Abandon Hope

JoBlo have some more news on Johnny Depp’s role in the upcoming I Am Legend adaptation. And it ain’t good.

It seems that Matheson’s beautiful, original story is getting brutalised for its new incarnation, and won’t bear any resemblance to the novel. A prime example: The Cortman character - the part I originally thought Depp would play - won’t even exist in the film.

According to JoBlo, Depp and Smith will be a double team fighting dumb mutant vampire creatures that can’t even speak. Shouldn’t that be We Are Legend?

But it’s worse than that. The original title doesn’t even make sense if there’s more than one protagonist. And the final third of the book isn’t even possible given the changes they’ve made to the vampires.

I’m all for an action movie in which Depp and Smith fight vampires, but please don’t piss on a great story like Legend by doing another Omega Man. That said, it sounds like the God awful Omega Man was a more faithful adaptation than this will be.

Via FilmStalker.

Depp is Legend

ComingSoon are reporting that Johnny Depp is joining Will Smith on I Am Legend.

Now: I hate the idea of Smith playing Neville in this film, but if Johnny Depp is playing Cortman - Neville’s Vampiric neighbour - I’m interested.

I really, really, really hope this thing is done right. The presence of Smith seems to suggest that it won’t be, but I’m willing to keep an open mind at this stage.

I Am Smith

ComingSoon reports that Will Smith is going to star in I Am Legend. Oh dear.

This rumour has been kicked around before, but ComingSoon make it sound fairly official. Akiva Goldsman has rewritten the script and is producing, which probably means we'll get I, Robot with vampires. Except for the fact that ComingSoon describes the film as "Set in post-apocalyptic New York, I Am Legend is about the last healthy man following the release of a virus that decimates the population. To survive, he must battle mutants that wreak havoc during the night." So I, Mutant then. Hang on, mutants? No! Vampires; I Am Legend is about vampires for God's sake, even though they're never mentioned by name. Near Dark never mentions vampires by name either, and that's not about mutants is it? Having said that, maybe in the remake…

What it sounds like we're going to get is a remake of The Omega Man, rather than a faithful adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic novel. Which is a damn shame; Matheson's book would make a beautiful film if done right, full of sadness and tension. In order to do it right though, you need a leading man who's capable of convincingly and interestingly being the only thing on screen for a large chunk of the running time. I don't think Will Smith can do that. Although, there was talk of Arnie being in this a while back, and Smith is probably a better choice. Probably…

And if you've never read the book, do so - if you hadn't guessed it's one of my favourites. It won't take you long, trust me.