I Am Legend's vision of a deserted New York is haunting, but how did the filmmakers make the city that never sleeps looked deserted? Will Smith's I Am Legend underwent more permutations before hitting screens; Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ridley Scott were set to make it in the late '90s, while Michael Bay briefly became attached in the early 2000s. These early scripts also took place in Los Angeles, but when director Francis Lawrence came on board, he felt an abandoned New York would be a much more powerful visual.
While the costs and logistics involved made Warner Bros nervous, Lawrence told Empire in 2008 that he shot test footage in New York with a camcorder, with all signs of life being removed with digital effects; this convinced them it could be done. As recounted in a 2022 Inverse retrospective on I Am Legend, the interior of Neville's (Will Smith) home were constructed in the Marcy Avenue Armory, while scenes involving Times Square were shot on stage in Kingsbridge Armory, located in the Bronx. However, a large chunk of I Am Legend (which has an alternate ending) were actually shot on the streets of New York - and it wasn't easy.
I Am Legend Shut Down Streets & Used CGI
I Am Legend shot at many iconic locales around the city, including Fifth Avenue, the Grand Central Terminal viaduct, Greenwich Village, the Intrepid aircraft carrier (where Neville plays golf) and many more. To film these scenes, production assistants first had to dress the streets with grass and weeds (to represent years of nature taking the city back), in addition to adding abandoned cars or destroyed storefronts. The city granted the production pockets of time to film, which require police and crew to keep civilians and traffic out of frame. Making New York empty wasn't cheap either - according to NY Mag, $40 million of I Am Legend's budget went towards it.
Slumberland director Lawrence didn't want a dark, creepy vision of New York either, and wanted natural light to highlight how eerie the city would be without constant movement. While the goal of filming in New York was to use as few visual effects as possible, CGI was still required to remove signs of life in post-production. More decay was added to the city, while pedestrians and traffic were also wiped out with a little CG assistance. While performers in make-up were hired to play the Darkseekers, it was decided during filming to make the creatures CG instead; this late switch accounts for the often lackluster effects work on the creatures.
Is I Am Legend 2 Still Happening?
Smith's Neville dies at the end of I Am Legend's theatrical cut, and while prequel and sequel concepts were explored, it appeared a follow-up would never happen. That's why fans were shocked when I Am Legend 2 featuring Michael B. Jordan and Smith was announced in early March 2022. No plot details were revealed, but in the fallout of Smith's infamous Chris Rock slap during the 2022 Academy Awards, the fate of the sequel has been in question. It's possible Smith's I Am Legend 2 role will only be a cameo anyway, but the studio has yet to confirm if the sequel is still coming.