It’s no secret that creative visions can inspire bitter battles in Hollywood. The movie industry is a business, and executives don’t want to make blockbusters that are going to repel audiences… but sometimes repellent material is necessary in storytelling, and filmmakers will often go to the mat defending hardcore elements in their work. That being said, I’ve never heard a behind-the-scenes story quite like what happened when Will Smith and writer/producer Akiva Goldsman pitched what is arguably the most devastating moment in the 2007 sci-fi thriller I Am Legend.
Those who have seen the film will remember that Will Smith’s Neville has a canine companion named Sam for most of the movie, but their story together ends tragically when Sam is bitten and infected with the virus that effectively killed the world. As recounted in an interview in The Hollywood Reporter, Smith and Goldsman needed to get the green light from then-Warner Bros. President Alan Horn to include a scene where Neville euthanizes Sam, and it was a scene so painful that it’s comical in retrospect. Smith remembers:
We had to pitch it to the studio. We went to go talk to Alan Horn, who was the head of Warner Bros. at the time. We walk in and — almost like from a sitcom — Alan Horn has four giant pictures of the most gorgeous German Shepherds behind his desk. He loves dogs. And he is telling us the story that he just lost one of his German Shepherds. We’re like, ‘Oh no. Oh no.’ Akiva says, ‘Alan, Will has something he wants to pitch you.’
That, folks, is some expert level “throwing under the bus” right there. It’s so rough that you almost have to applaud Akiva Goldsman for the audacity of the maneuver.
You’re going to be shocked by this part: Alan Horn didn’t have the best response to the pitch. According to Will Smith, he began weeping while holding one of the photos of his deceased pet. All seemed lost, as Horn didn’t think mass audiences would accept a sequence in a sci-fi/horror blockbuster where one of the biggest stars in the world kills a dog. The actor was evidently at a loss in terms of a comeback, but following the whole “throwing under the bus” thing, Goldsman stepped in to save the day:
And Alan Horn is in tears, he’s crying, holding a picture of his German Shepherd and he says, ‘Guys, I promise you, your lead actor cannot choke a dog to death in an American movie.’ That seems like a fair assessment! But Akiva said ‘stage play.’ And what happens in the shot is you just pan off, and the whole scene is just played on my face. You hear the sound of the paws, the nails scratching on the floor until they slow down and stop. It’s super painful, but the audience doesn’t have to suffer it. … [Akiva] figures out how to find that sweet spot in the middle artistically and creatively that lands the idea without destroying the audience with it.
Ultimately, I Am Legend got a mixed/positive response from critics, with the scene of Neville saying goodbye to Sam being one of the film’s most powerful moments – and it can be said that it most definitely didn’t put off/scare away audiences. It was not an inexpensive movie to make, with a pre-marketing/publicity price tag of $150 million per Box Office Mojo, but it made $585 million by the end of its theatrical run around the world.
The film was so successful that talks about an I Am Legend 2 have persisted for years – with the most recent update having come this past April when Will Smith confirmed the involvement of Michael B. Jordan as part of the cast and explained his role in the film’s plot – denying rumors that he was going to play a younger version of Neville in a prequel. I Am Legend 2 will be making a bold move with its narrative, as while the theatrical version of I Am Legend ended with Neville dying, the sequel will recognize the blockbuster’s alternate ending as canon.
Will the sequel include an emotionally bold scene as powerful as the death of Sam that will require Will Smith and Akiva Goldsman to make a special pitch to David Zaslav? Time will tell.
