Must. See. This. Movie.

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Will Smith is the last man on earth. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott. The last take on this story (Richard Matheson's post-apocalyptic I Am Legend), The Omega Man, is one of my all time favorite science fiction movies. (Yes, I know it didn't follow the story that closely, but it stood on its own.)

'Nuff said.

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Actually, Riley Scott was slated to direct it when a version of the project started in 1994. It went way over budget and was abandoned. Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to star in it as well.

Francis Lawrence is the director of this one; he directed Constantine. (Trivia: Guillermo del Toro turned down the chance to direct it.)

For you late-night movie fans, or those with Netflix
subscriptions, an earlier version of this story
was done as "The Last Man on Earth", with Vincent Price
in the lead role.
see http://imdb.com/title/tt0058700/
for details.

I look forward to this ... I also love the "Omega Man" version.

Isn't it a pity Charlton Heston has become such a pathetic figure, selling his soul to the right wing gun lobby? Its a pity about his alcoholism, but Heston must be the greatest sci-fi actor of all time - think of Omega Man, Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green. He could have made a decent income visiting sci-fi conventions instead of ghoulish gun-loving carnivals like the ones Michael Moore showed in Bowling for Columbine.

Another of Heston's credits is Ten Commandments, which must be right up there in the fantasy/ sword-and-sorcery genre.

Funny, I remember this short story being a vampire story. Post-apocalyptic, sure, but still...

It looks like they're doing a remake of "Omega Man" not "I am Legend." As Brian says, the Mathieson book is really about vampires (sort of) more than anything else. At least they got the dog in there...

It'll be interesting to see how Will Smith (who is basically a clown) manages to handle this part - the hero if "I am Legend" is not exactly a bucket of joy.

(With regards to nothing - if you dig vampire books, I highly recommend Vampire$ by John Steakly - but avoid the movie)

Yeah, DLC, I'm a big fan of the Vincent Price version -- I thought I was the only one. But then I'm a sucker for Italian genre films.

It's much closer to the novel (which is odd for an Italian film, but then Omega Man was such a betrayal of Matheson that it wouldn't be difficult to do better).

Price is probably the weakest part of the The Last Man on Earth; casting him was clearly a stretch, but I think he gave his best shot at playing a different kind of role. Also, the key to the character in the Matheson was that he was just some guy, a bookish, complacent suburbanite with no remarkable qualities. Just a regular schmoe going around staking vampires during the day like he was going to hardware store and working on his DIY projects. Action heroes like Schwarzenegger or Will Smith are just wrong. I'd like to see someone like William H. Macy in the role.

I also love the location shooting, using modern suburban and industrial Rome as a substitute for L.A. It's very disorienting.

Now I need to watch it again.

Smith has more range than Clown-Action Hero. Think of Pursuit of Happyness or Legend of Bagger Vance.

That said, William H Macy would be AWESOME.

The way I remember the Omega man was that the bad guys hassling Chuck Heston were more like Zombies than Vamps....and Pharma Market Researcher HATES the undead!!!!!

By Pharma Market … (not verified) on 14 Oct 2007 #permalink

When I first heard about this, I was kind of incredulous. Will Smith has been in enough bad remakes lately that hearing about another one didn't exactly fill me with confidence...

But then I saw the trailer, and the trailer actually looked really good.

Trailers always look really good. Well, almost always, certainly there are more good looking trailers than good movies. : - )

By Michael Suttkus, II (not verified) on 14 Oct 2007 #permalink

Trailers always look really good.
Well, I mean, compare I, Robot, the horrible stench from which was clearly discernible just from the trailer.

I'm still a bit worried. Granted, it's difficult to tell much from a trailer, but I can't help but fear they basically stripped all of the subtlety and nuance from the story and ran with the "last man on earth versus... get ready for this, guys... VAMPIRES!" theme.

Sort-of Spoiler ALERT!!!!

Maybe I'm off base, but I always got the impression that he was a legend because, at the end of the day, he was the freak, the monster, the last of his kind.

Aha! I just saw the end of Price's "Last Man of Earth" on TCM last week. I'd never heard of it, but it seemed enjoyable.

By Faithful Reader (not verified) on 15 Oct 2007 #permalink

That movie Was Kick-a$$. It has my vote for Best Horror Action Movie. Nice Acting will, It was really convincing. For contact email me at irene@abe.Mico.Net
P.S. that is the best movie ever!!! Hard to Believe he was just a T.V. Series star at one time Hes Awsome

By Irene Luft (not verified) on 01 Jan 2008 #permalink

I saw "I am legand" recently and enjoyed it. I try to watch as many of Will's movies I can to see how far he goes in range and performance. Course he can do only so much if he gets a bad peice of writting in his hands.
Smith has grown in range as an actor since I'd watched him since is "Fresh prince of Bel-Air" days.(Weird sitcom. He's worked hard to not be pidgen holed into one genre.

I WOULD like to see "The Pursuit of happyness"

Now as for a horror flick, try "Clover feild". It's a bit disconcerting for the first 15 minutes w/ the camera jumping all over.