Get ready for what must be one helluva flashback scene in Will Smith‘s sci-fi actioner, "I Am Legend" — reports say a single scene has cost at least (and possibly more than) $5 million to shoot.
How, you ask, is it even possible to spend not one, not two, but five million dollars to film only one itty bitty scene? Well, the answer is that it’s not so itty bitty — rather large, in fact, since it was shot on location at New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge for six straight nights, with over 2,000 cast and crew and auxiliary persons on hand (that’s a huge craft service bill right there).
The Hollywood Reporter breaks the enormous Warner Bros. production down to explain just how this could happen: an apocalyptic mass evacuation scene; thousands of extras; lighting rigs everywhere along the bridge; freezing cold temperatures; military-issue vehicles, boats, and helicopters involved in the shoot.
Smith in "I Am Legend"
Based on Richard Matheson‘s book of the same name (which was also made into "The Last Man On Earth" and "The Omega Man"), "I Am Legend" stars Will Smith as a survivor of a worldwide epidemic that turns people into vampires. It was already shaping up to be an uber-cool, futuristic sci-fi vehicle for Smith (he nailed the sci-fi hero thing in "I, Robot"); director Francis Lawrence ("Constantine," J.Lo’s "Waiting For Tonight" music video) was working with an already high $150 million budget. But $5 million to film one scene, and a flashback scene at that? The "Legend" production is already carving out a reputation for high expenses, so let’s hope it’s $5 million well spent.
"I Am Legend" is scheduled for release December 14, 2007.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
