It’s finally happening. Will Smith is finally stepping back into one of his legendary roles, this time with Michael B. Jordan alongside him.
Smith’s post-apocalyptic film I Am Legend was a knock-out hit back in 2007. For years, Hollywood has floated around an idea of a sequel and it seems like they’re ready to deliver.
To discuss this appropriately, we’re going to need to divulge some spoilers for the end of the first movie. In the original film, Smith, a scientist attempting to find a cure for a plague that’s wiped out most of humanity and turned survivors into diseased creatures, sacrifices himself in a heroic death. We’re not sure how Smith will come back from that attack, or how Jordan exactly fits into the storyline, but we are excited to find out. Fans will know of an alternate, original ending more in line with the book that inspired the movie in which Smith’s character actually survives. The studio didn’t love that ending, so it was re-shot to send Smith’s character out in a blaze of glory. Does Smith’s involvement in a sequel mean the original, alternate ending is now canon? Stay tuned.
It’s safe to say that the storyline of I Am Legend hits a little closer to home now than it did 15 years ago. While humanity isn’t facing any zombie creatures (yet?) our world has changed drastically in just two short years. A global pandemic has forever altered our world, and many are still struggling with their new reality.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in 2007, Smith compared his character’s story with the character of Job from the Bible, saying that we may not be able to see the reason for our suffering, but there’s always a greater purpose out there.
“My movies need to mean something,” Smith explained. “I Am Legend is essentially the story of Job, the idea that life is awful if you can’t connect to the possibility that there’s a reason for everything. To have those ideas at work in a movie with special effects — that’s magic.”
He also spoke about the character’s isolation — another factor we can relate to all too well — saying that while there are times you wish people would leave you alone “that is so not true, because if everyone really did, that would be a miserable existence.”
