Will Smith stars in I Am Legend.
Nobody does barn-burning, popcorn-chomping, eyeball-popping screen extravaganzas like Will Smith, and he’s never been afraid to admit it: think Independence Day, Men in Black, Wild Wild West. I Am Legend is another post-apocalyptic sci-fi actioner, yet distinctly different; it’s a real acting piece, the study of one man alone in the world, that Smith carries solely on his shoulders. It’s the likes of which we haven’t seen since Tom Hanks’ Castaway.
In this third adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel (including 1964’s The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price; 1971’s The Omega Man with Charlton Heston), Smith plays Robert Neville, a scientist desperately seeking the cure for a man-made virus that has wiped all humans off the face of the planet, save for “The Infected” —man-eating zombies afflicted with the plague that lurk in the dark. Keeping him company is his beloved German Shepherd, with whom he roams the deserted streets scavenging for food, supplies, and survivors.
We had the chance to get Smith’s take on his character, the complicated shoot and—oh yeah, remember “The Fresh Prince”?
Fandango: How difficult was it shooting in New York, which had to appear totally devoid of human life?
Smith: I’m used to people liking me when I come into town. This time I got the most middle fingers I've ever received. I was starting to think “F. You!” was my name. We shut down six blocks of 5th Avenue on a Monday morning. Logistically it was a nightmare, but it absolutely created such a creepy energy, with the iconic buildings all empty, the UN, Broadway – it was such an eerie, icky kind of feeling.
Fandango: You’re virtually alone for more than half the movie. How did you get comfortable acting without co-stars?
Smith: It’s a situation where you don’t have people to create the stimulus for you to respond to. So what happens is you create the stimulus and the response. We sat with former POWs and people like Geronimo Pratt of the Black Panthers who was in solitary for over three months. He said you plan things like cleaning your nails, and you'll take two hours to do it because it's on the schedule. He said that he spent about six weeks training roaches to bring him food. Either he really did train the roaches, which is huge - or his mind needed that to survive. I'm a better actor for having had to create both sides of the scene without dialogue.
Fandango: How significant is it that “the last man alive” is an African American?
Smith: First and last, baby! [Laughs] I have to say, I've never really thought about the significance of that within the film.
Fandango: How about that gray hair – real or…?
Smith: [Laughs] It’s an effect. We had the world's best gray hair people come in from Europe. GHI, Gray Hair International. Hey, I can prove it! [Laughs]
Fandango: Your daughter Willow plays your daughter in the film. How did that go?
Smith: You don’t work with Willow, you work for Willow. We make our kids audition; we don’t do the whole nepotism thing. She loves it. We were shooting the bridge sequence, it was probably 29 degrees, and we watched the temperature gauge go down to 1, then negative. Willow's cold and irritable, but she looks at me and she says, "Daddy, I don’t care how low it goes, I'm going to finish." Wow. I was like, "That's good, baby. Daddy's leaving."
Fandango: You've had a lot of experience as a movie hero saving the world. What would you do in a real-life disaster?
Smith: When I look at Robert Neville, what was there to live for? What was there to hope for? To wake up every day and try to restore something that is good and gone? You know, I like to believe that I would put my chest up and stand forward and march on, and continue to fight for the future of humanity, but I probably would, like, find a bridge. "I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth!" you know? [Laughs].
Fandango: Did you get attached to Abbey, your canine companion?
Smith: Yes. When I was nine years old, I had a white golden retriever that got hit by a car. So I refuse… I am not getting myself emotionally connected to a dog anymore. And then Steve [the trainer] brought that damn Abbey on the set, right? She'd be playing, playing, playing, and she'd hear, "Rolling!" and she'd run to her mark. She would know when I wasn’t doing my lines right and just go… [grimaces]. I was like, "Steve. Abbey has to live with me, please." And he's like, "Will. This is how I make my living, man." I said, "Tell me what you need! A house in the hills?"
Fandango: When was the last time you were called “The Fresh Prince”?
Smith: About five seconds ago. [Laughs] July 6, 1996. It was the Monday after Independence Day opened and all the "Hey, hey, Fresh Prince! Fresh Prince!" stopped. When the box office numbers came out after Independence Day, it was suddenly [in a deep voice]: "Good morning, Mr. Smith."
Fandango: Are you still in contact with DJ Jazzy Jeff?
Smith: Oh yeah, Jeff and I perform a couple times a year. We're going out big in July.
Fandango: Tell us about your upcoming projects.
Smith: Hancock, that's July 4th. If you can imagine, it’s the Michael Mann version of an alcoholic superhero. Seven Pounds is a dramatic film [with The Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino, about a man falling in love as he is about to commit suicide]. We've all had nightmares about being alone, being by ourselves, and the dark of the unknown of what that would be.
Fandango: What keeps a $20 million-plus man grounded?
Smith: We live in la-la land out here. Los Angeles and New York are cut off from the rest of the country, and the rest of the world. Traveling is hugely important, for our kids to really see other things and experience other things. It’s your service of mankind, and that's what we try to impart to our children. You are a part of a whole, and you have a responsibility to uplift and be a positive influence on the whole.
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