s}{ammer

Seriously, not really racist, but concerned about the race problem in this book to movie adaptation.

I love Will Smith, but having been a fan of the book, I know there is way more to the story than just some guy fighting vampires because he is the last man alive. I know Will Smith will make a great Neville and the movie will be good and will do well, but by using a black man in the lead roll, this film drops the entire underbelly of the book.

Underneath the main story, last man alive fights vampires, was the story written 50+ years ago about a middle aged man who was at the top of the social ladder and he ended up the minority with everyone (the vampires) reactions to him being different. The entire ending of the book is about the vampires and the name even goes with the underlying story.

By having a black man, even one of Smith's acting talent, this movie will just be another vampire movie and it really won't live up to the name of the classic book. We all know, fans of horror at least, that many movies have been made off the inspiration of I Am Legend. 28 Days Later, Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth right off the top of my head, but these movies at least didn't try to use the name of the book, but to have the audacity to name a simple vampire story I Am Legend, doesn't this bother anyone else?

Vendetta-AKK

I was seriously disappointed when I saw that the film had come to Will Smith but it doesn't have anything to do with race, its just, with him attached to the project it kind of lost all chance to be the dense dark film that it should be. It will instead, like Independence Day & I, Robot, be a big dumb action vehicle for Will Smith.

s}{ammer

Well, that too will be a problem, but not as big a problem to me as the missing of half the story. To be honest, if Scott and Arnold had made the movie it would have been the next terminator. To me, if you are going to take the name of a classic book like this, why not be completely true to the book? The other movies were not completely true to the author, so they had different names. This is acceptable since the book merely inspired the story. However, if you are naming the movie after the book, it almost belittles the classic story as being merely a vampire story.

One thing is for sure, when the movie hits and is a huge hit many people will read the book. When they realize the story is 50+ years old and not a non-stop action vampire only story, there will be a lot of people disappointed by the book simply because it is more thought provoking than a regular horror story.

Josh-da-man

I don't see what the race of Neville has to do with anything.

And, while the novel was written in the 1950s, it actually took place in the 70s. I suspect that the film I Am Legend will take place in the modern day.

brainee

I hate to burst your bubble about this movie ... but every sign points to this being an action/horror/adventure about a guy kicking the ass of a lot of vampires. At least if it follows the plan by earlier script drafts that I read (when it was still being developed as a Schwartzeneggar vehicle), the isolation, psychological, and social aspects of the story will get pushed aside shortly into the movie for gore and explosion filled action set pieces. Not that it couldn't be a decent movie ... but it's not going to be the book "I Am Legend". They're just using the title because it sounds cool.

Will Smith is undeniably a charismatic actor, but I agree he just doesn't feel right for this project. Guys like Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Nick Cage are who I see in the role ... 40+ year-olds with a track-record of being able to plunge to physical and psychological depths in a movie, but with the presence needed to carry sole attention of the audience for a long stretch. Vincent Price and Charlton Heston were both well cast in prior adaptations. Smith is talented, but the fear is that the filmmakers won't be able to prevent him from doing his "Jiggy Will" schtick (with at least one mandatory line of "Awwww ... HELL NO!!!"). Though the director did a much better job with "Constantine" than many thought, and it faced a similar casting problem (a seemingly horribly miscast Keanu Reeves).

Oh, and I don't really see race being an issue for this movie. It wasn't the story in the original. With a well-cast black actor, the story would succeed being completely color-blind (presuming the audience isn't rascist and protests at the last man on earth being black). For example, someone like Denzel Washington would be an excellent choice for the main role.

TheNightFlier

That's the biggest problem I'd have with the movie. I could care less that Will Smith is in it. The loneliness and isolation that Neville had to deal with on a day to day basis is one of the things that made the novel so great.

s}{ammer

The reason race plays a part is that while I Am Legend was, on the surface, a vampire book, it actually read as a social story of a middle aged white man. In the 50's that was the top of the social chain, when the vampires took over the middle aged white man became the minority. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who has yet to read it, as it is an excellent horror/vampire story, but anyone who reads this book and only picks up on the vampire story has some problems. The entire ending of the book is about what they became and what he became.....

I know, when it first came out it was listed as Sci-Fi because it took place so far in the future. I too believe this telling will be modern day. The problem I have with it is that the first movie made using the name of the book is going to lose the entire social side of the original. That was the meat and potatoes of the book. All the other movies accepted that they were inspired by the story but that they were not the story I Am Legend. This movie is going to be less like the book than most of them, and yet claim to be the book.

I guess to me it feels like if the first movie made on Tom Sawyer was changed to be a girl from 2006 who runs away on a speedboat off the coast of California. If they called it something else and said Tom Sawyer inspired it, cool, but to call that movie Tom Sawyer, it's going against the very classic tale.

s}{ammer

That is the problem.


Wow, every one of those actors you mentioned would work well. I actually think Will Smith works also, but only if you rip out the underlying social story that was so interesting and a crucial part of the true story in the book.

I don't see the scenario you mention happening, but what I bolded there is the problem. A tremendous part of the story is the fact that he went from being at the top of the social chain, as seen in 1950's America, to being the minority everyone else thinks is a monster.

Chucky

I believe I have read that Will Smith's character in "I Am Legend" was a doctor before the plague. So, the "previously at the top of the social ladder" context which you are talking about may still be there, just updated for the current times.

That said, I am not confident that this will be a good film. I was just talking to my friend the other week about how amazing it is that there has never been a great movie made from "I Am Legend." It seems like all you'd have to do is take the story as-is and put it on the screen.

fryinpan1

I thought Tom Jane would have been perfect as Neville.

FYI - already a thread on this movie:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=464390

brainee

Not denying that. I just think in 2007 that a black man can do this role without losing the message. I think your race criticism would've been valid for adaptations made in the 50's and 60's -- but not today. If someone has a problem accepting a black man being at the top of the social chain, and see him as the "minority" from the start, that's their problem. (Not saying that's you, spammer )

dhmac

The mere fact that Will Smith is involved means it will be the usual dumb action movie that craps all over the original book that inspired it. ("Will Smith starring" is the acting equivalence of "Michael Bay directing").

Will Smith already ruined one classic Sci-Fi book's movie adaptation (I, Robot), so now he can add I Am Legend to his crap-all-over list. He should be proud.

Linn1

as a matter of fact, I think it would be FAR more powerful today if the role was played by a white man. It would fit into the finale of the story better than it did when the book was originally published. Tom Jane I think would have been a good choice, but he would have had to gain a little weight. But it doesn't matter in the end, the movie still won't be the book. It's a real shame, as it's a great story. I'd love someone to have done it on a shoestring somewhere.