Francis Lawrence came on to direct I Am Legend after the project had been in development and turnaround for years. With previous directors Ridley Scott and Michael Bay attached at different times to direct and Arnold Schwarzenegger attached to star. Eventually it found its way to Will Smith and Francis Lawrence. The director was intrigued by the theme of isolation and how that would play into the use of a vast and empty urban environment. And with his previous film, Constantine for the same studio being a moderate success he was chosen for the job.
Lawrence said that he was inspired to use silence as tension for the film after watching Jane Campion’s film The Piano with the sound turned down, and finding the silence to create a wonderful component to cinematic storytelling. Based on this Lawrence and the film’s producer, Akiva Goldsman wanted to move the location from LA to New York, which Warner Bros. initially rejected. But after Lawrence showed the studio executives camcorder footage of crowded areas in New York contrasted to the digitally removed people from the same footage they were sold on the idea and filming began in New York City.
One of the most notable, possibly because of criticism, aspects of Lawrence’s influence is the decision to use CGI created Darkseekers instead of actors in makeup. The reason being that when filming commenced there was a lack of believability in the performance due to the fact that the Darkseekers adrenal glands were alway fully opened up thus, they would be hyperventilating the entire time. If an actor were to do this it would cause them to pass out and Lawrence wanted to have this effect of their breath in order to contrast the natural rhythms of human breathing. So, CGI was chosen in order to render the Darkseekers in the way that Lawrence intended for them to be seen. Finally, Lawrence has said that his influence for the empty urban landscapes was John Ford films. Ford was known for his use of landscapes to reveal story in his pictures, and Lawrence studied his masterful shot selection in order to do the same in this film but in the vast emptiness of a major city.
