Summary
Zack Snyderalmost directed Will Smith in a big-budget sci-fi action horror blockbuster, and coincidentally, the final film also contained a nod to what would become Snyder’s highest-grossing movie. Snyder started out directing music videos before graduating to features with his kinetic 2004 remake of George A. Romero’sDawn of the Dead. He went on to direct an R-rated movie adaptation ofWatchmen; a gritty Superman reboot,Man of Steel; a cross between heist movie and zombie movie,Army of the Dead; and a two-partStar Wars-inspired sci-fi epic,Rebel Moon.
But before all that,Snyder’s post-Dawn of the Deadcareeralmost took a very different turn. WithDawn of the Deadbeing both critically acclaimed and a box office success, there was a lot of buzz around Snyder in Hollywood and he was sent a lot of offers for what his second movie could be. His second feature-length directorial effort ended up defining the rest of his filmmaking career, but his second movie could’ve been a very different project if he and Warner Bros. had been on the same page about how to approach it.
Zack Snyder Almost Directed I Am Legend (But Helmed 300 Instead)
Snyder told Joe Rogan that he was up for I Am Legend
When he appeared onThe Joe Rogan Experience, Snyder revealed that he was considered to direct Will Smith inI Am Legend. Based on Richard Matheson’s novel of the same name (and partly on the previous 1971 film adaptation,The Omega Man),I Am Legendis a post-apocalyptic action thriller in which Smith plays the last man on Earth. The rest of the Earth’s population has been turned into nocturnal mutants by a virus that was initially created to cure cancer. It’s a riveting movie with plenty of post-apocalyptic spectacle.
In the early stages of development, Warner Bros. considered Snyder to directI Am Legend. Hot offDawn of the Dead, Snyder would’ve been a great choice to direct the vampire-infested antics ofI Am Legend. However,Snyder told Rogan that the studio ended up taking the project in a different directionthan he wanted to go with it. Instead, the studio offered him a different tentpole movie to direct – an adaptation ofFrank Miller’s comic book300– and the rest, of course, is history.
Zack Snyder Directing 300 Was A Much Better Move Than Doing I Am Legend
300 put Snyder on the map as a blockbuster filmmaker
It would’ve been interesting to see what Snyder would’ve done withI Am Legend. Based onthe sprinting zombies seen inDawn of the Dead, Snyder could’ve done wonders withI Am Legend’s mutant-infested set-pieces. But ultimately, Snyder’sI Am Legendmight have felt like a retread ofDawn of the Dead. Snyder might’ve gotten stuck in a rut, telling the same action-packed post-apocalyptic survival story over and over again. It was much better for Snyder’s career that he ended up directing300instead ofI Am Legend.
With its mythic storytelling, its saturated colors, and its super-slow-motion action,300introduced all the familiar hallmarks of Snyder’s filmmaking style. It opened him up to tackle more comic book adaptations – which would be the genre where he found the most success – and established his action movie chops.300is arguably Snyder’s most influential movie(and it’s also arguably the least divisive one, too). Without300, Snyder might not have achieved the success he has as a blockbuster auteur.
I Am Legend Is Connected To Another Zack Snyder Movie
I Am Legend’s post-apocalyptic New York features a Batman & Superman poster
The abandoned, post-apocalyptic New York City seen inI Am Legendfeaturesa poster for a movie calledBatman & Superman.Warner Bros. had plans to feature Batman and Superman in the same movie since beforeBatman Begins, but the team-up film stalled in development hell for years. The studio included theBatman & Supermanposter seen inI Am Legendas an Easter egg. Interestingly, Akiva Goldsman – one of the credited screenwriters onI Am Legend– was tapped by Warner Bros. to write a Batman and Superman movie, so it may have been an homage to his unused script.
Of course, a movie featuring both Batman and Superman would eventually get made under Snyder’s direction.Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicewas the movie that turned Snyder’sMan of Steeluniverse into a mega-scale, interconnected DC Comics cinematic universe. It ended up becoming Snyder’s highest-grossing film – because putting the two most iconic superheroes in the world in the same movie can’t miss – but it’s also arguably his most divisive work. There’s a lot ofZack Snyderhistory tied up inI Am Legend.
I Am Legend
Cast
Loosely based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name, I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Robert Neville, a virologist who believes himself to be the last human on Earth. After a virus turns most of the world’s population into vampiric creatures known as Darkseekers, Neville finds himself immune. Believing himself to be the last man of Earth, Neville stalks through the ruins of New York, hoping to create an antidote that will save humanity.
