Tish: thanks for the heads up. I found it UPDATE: Depp Joining Smith in I Am Legend Source: BlackFilm.com July 3, 2006
BlackFilm.com reports that "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise star Johnny Depp will join Will Smith in Warner Bros.' I Am Legend, for director Francis Lawrence (Constantine): When Will Smith was cast as the lead in the long-awaited adapted film version of Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND, it was probably the worst kept secret. After all, his name had been floating around the web for the longest time. Until certain outlets that folks feel are the bible of information put the word out to confirm our story, sources tell blackfilm.com that along with Smith, JOHNNY DEPP has been added to the cast. Depp may be playing Ben Cortman, who is Robert Neville's (Smith) neighbor in the film and the first to get infected, becoming the head vampire. In Richard Matheson's book, Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn. The site says filming starts this September. UPDATE: JoBlo has learned that Depp will actually be playing a fellow survivor that Smith's character finds named Philip. The site says that Cortman has been taken out of the story completely. Akiva Goldsman's rewrite apparently has the monsters unable to speak and they are more primal and unintelligent. * FROM BLACKFILM>COM June 30, 2006 * When Will Smith was cast as the lead in the long-awaited adapted film version of Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND, it was probably the worst kept secret. After all, his name had been floating around the web for the longest time. Until certain outlets that folks feel are the bible of information put the word out to confirm our story, sources tell blackfilm.com that along with Smith, JOHNNY DEPP has been added to the cast. No telling which role Depp will play, but given his penchant for playing extraordinary weird-like characters, expect a juicy plum part, like the neighbor, now one of the living dead. Set in Los Angeles after a biological war, the film centers on the sole healthy survivor, a man who finds himself in a battle against nocturnal mutants. Based on the novel by Richard Matheson, the film will be written by Mark Protosevich. Constantine director Francis Lawrence will helm the film with David Heyman, Akiva Goldsman, Neal Moritz and Erwin Stoff serving as producers. Matheson's book was adapted twice before. Vincent Price starred in "The Last Man on Earth" and Charlton Heston toplined "The Omega Man". Shooting will begin in New York at the end of September. Warner Bros. will distribute the film. According to joblo.com, a production source writes in to report that Depp would NOT be playing the role of Cortman/main villian in the film. Apparently that character (from Mark Protosevich's script) has been excised completely. Depp, we now learn, would be playing a fellow survivor that Smith's character finds named Philip. update from joblo * June 30, 2006 * When Will Smith was cast as the lead in the long-awaited adapted film version of Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND, it was probably the worst kept secret. After all, his name had been floating around the web for the longest time. Until certain outlets that folks feel are the bible of information put the word out to confirm our story, sources tell blackfilm.com that along with Smith, JOHNNY DEPP has been added to the cast. No telling which role Depp will play, but given his penchant for playing extraordinary weird-like characters, expect a juicy plum part, like the neighbor, now one of the living dead. Set in Los Angeles after a biological war, the film centers on the sole healthy survivor, a man who finds himself in a battle against nocturnal mutants. Based on the novel by Richard Matheson, the film will be written by Mark Protosevich. Constantine director Francis Lawrence will helm the film with David Heyman, Akiva Goldsman, Neal Moritz and Erwin Stoff serving as producers. Matheson's book was adapted twice before. Vincent Price starred in "The Last Man on Earth" and Charlton Heston toplined "The Omega Man". Shooting will begin in New York at the end of September. Warner Bros. will distribute the film. According to joblo.com, a production source writes in to report that Depp would NOT be playing the role of Cortman/main villian in the film. Apparently that character (from Mark Protosevich's script) has been excised completely. Depp, we now learn, would be playing a fellow survivor that Smith's character finds named Philip. Tish Jackson wrote: > I LOVE LOVE LOVE those books by Charlaine Harris! Very good, kinda > quirky...I have to admit though that I originally put it down after the first > couple pages because the author went on and on about how beautifully blond > and buxom the main character is...I was like Dude! I just can't relate. > Then I tried again a week later and devoured it, soooo satisfying. Reminds > me of the Tanya Huff detective series. Now that is something I will get HBO > for! > > Hey, did you all hear about "I Am Legend" becoming a movie starring Will > Smith as the last human, and Johnny Depp as the head vamp???? Oh I'm so > excited...let me see if I can find the link... > > "Tracey de Morsella (formerly Tracey L. Minor)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Has anybody heard about this, the rest of the world tends to get > HBO > stuff about three to six months behind you guys, so I have not seen > anything like this. > > Tracey > ========== > > HBO, 'Six Feet' creator reunite for new series By Andrew Wallenstein > Thu Oct 27,11:59 PM ET > > LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - HBO has dug up a new deal with "Six > Feet Under" creator Alan Ball, but this time he's switching from the > dead to the undead. > > ADVERTISEMENT > > The first project covered under the two-year development deal Ball > signed with the premium cable channel will be based on the "Southern > Vampire" book series. > > Written by Charlaine Harris, the series chronicles the intermingling > world of humans and monsters in contemporary rural Louisiana, > particularly vampires, thanks to a synthetic blood formula that allows > them to roam far from their coffins. > > "The books are funny, scary, sexy, romantic, bizarre and really fun," > Ball said. "I couldn't put them down. I will try to remain as true to > the spirit of her book as possible." > > HBO has ordered an hour-long pilot to be written and directed by Ball. > There is no set timetable for shooting the "Southern" pilot, but Ball > believed it would happen sometime next year. > > Ball, who also won an Oscar for writing "American Beauty," last created > "Six Feet Under," which revolved around a family mortuary business. The > Emmy-winning series ended in August. > > "I was ready to do something a little lighter in tone than 'Six Feet,"' > Ball said. "Five years of staring into the abyss was enough." > > Bringing Ball back into the fold represents a coup for HBO, which has > proved adept at getting the creators of its hit series to come back for > another try; "Deadwood" executive producer David Milch recently signed a > new deal, and "Sex and the City" executive producer Michael Patrick King > already has completed a second series for HBO, "The Comeback." > > "I had always assumed that Alan was done with TV," said Carolyn Strauss, > HBO's president of entertainment. "I thought he was going to do movies, > so we didn't even try. Then he read this book and said, 'I want to do > this.' It was really a beautiful surprise." > > Since burying "Six Feet Under," Ball has also written several > screenplays on spec and developed a theatrical production in New York, > "All That I Will Ever Be." > > Reuters/Hollywood Reporter > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. 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