While almost the entire human species has been eradicated by a virus, Will Smith survives alone with his dog in “I Am Legend”. To slip into the shoes of scientist Robert Neville isolated in the face of a horde of zombies, the actor familiarized himself with the idea of extreme loneliness thanks to valuable advice.
I’m a legend : Will Smith alone in the world
Third adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel after The Last Man on Earth and The survivor – if we set aside the z series I Am Omega released a few weeks earlier on video – I’m a legend offers Will Smith a rare opportunity, that of carrying a film all by himself (well, almost). In Francis Lawrence’s film released in 2007, the actor plays Robert Neville, a scientist who wanders alone in a completely empty New York City in 2012.
Almost the entire population of the world has been eradicated by a virus, which turned humans into ultra-aggressive zombies. If the deserted streets of Manhattan are his when the sun is up, Neville is forced to hole up in his converted fortress at night to avoid these light-fearing creatures, lying in his bathtub with his German shepherd and an assault rifle. .
Except with his dog, Will Smith has no real interaction during three quarters of I’m a legend. To avoid sinking into madness, his character constantly communicates with his faithful German shepherd and above all imposes drastic discipline on himself. He also regularly goes to a video store to borrow films, just to maintain a semblance of a social life with the models in town. Despite the little hope he has left, Robert Neville makes daily appeals to possible survivors and continues to search for an antidote to counter the virus.
Understand isolation to become a legend
For the scientist he plays to appear credible, the actor was trained by members of a Center for Disease Control. The latter also advised the film crew so that the plot around the pandemic works. In the feature film, Robert Neville only lives by his habits and tirelessly repeats the same gestures. Each evening, the character barricades himself and leaves no trace of his passage. A mechanic that comes from survival instinct and which allows him to hold on. To understand this feeling, Will Smith met people who had suffered long periods of isolation, such as prisoners of war. When promoting the feature film, the actor said:
It allowed me to work on the state of mind to have in this kind of situation. They told me, for example, that the first thing to have in mind is a schedule: you can’t survive alone if you don’t plan everything. In particular, we met Geronimo ji-Jaga, formerly Geronimo Pratt of the Black Panthers, who lived in solitary confinement for more than three months.
He explained that he went so far as to plan things like cleaning his nails: according to his schedule, he had to devote two hours to this activity. He told me that he had trained cockroaches for six weeks to bring him food! How far the mind can go to protect itself… Either it really tamed those cockroaches, or it needed this, this “activity” in order not to lose its sanity. In both cases, this kind of anecdote is a gold mine for the cinema.
Will Smith is not otherwise not spared for his physical preparation. And the latter was not just about intensive training aimed at sculpting his muscles, but again had to immerse him in a certain state of mind, as his trainer Darrell Foster explained:
We made him work in very tough conditions. Low calorie menus, training at altitude, getting used to heat, cold, humidity… This helped him get into the skin of the character, both physically and mentally.
An involvement of Will Smith which is reminiscent of that for the drama Ali by Michael Mann, another feature film where the actor delivers an impressive performance.
