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ARNOLD'S "LEGEND": GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS! Schwarzenegger to produce "IAL"! Reported By: Randy Jennings Monday, March 18, 2002 Bad news first: at long last Arnold Schwarzenegger's I Am Legend will be brought to the big screen, however, we will not see the Austrian Oak star... he will produce! Now the good news: with Arnold's strong involvement, I Am Legend will still be considered a Schwarzenegger picture to add to our collections. More important than that, the final deal came down between Arnold being offered two movie roles in exchange for IAL. Considering the world prayed for King Conan and the fact Westworld is a big budget event film with a large fan base, I would think we would all agree Arnold made the right decision. Before you read, Variety's report below, keep in mind Arnold did NOT pass up IAL for Westworld. It was a two picture deal against one. Arnold heard your King Conan demands and he will deliver! Variety: The post-apocalyptic drama "I Am Legend," a film to which Arnold Schwarzenegger has been attached for several years, has re-emerged on a fast track at Warner Bros. Schwarzenegger has stepped aside as star to become the film's producer, and WB and Schwarzenegger are beginning negotiations with Oscar nominee Will Smith to star and Michael Bay ("Pearl Harbor") to direct. The film is an adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel that takes place in L.A. after a biological war and pits the last man on Earth against the populace of nocturnal mutants bent on rendering him extinct. The project halted in late 1997 because of WB concerns over a budget that hovered around $125 million, which seemed like a lot of money back then. The story has been done before as "The Last Man on Earth" and Charlton Heston starrer "The Omega Man." An attempt was made to redraft the drama to be a bit less pricey, and it attracted Bay and Smith, whose Creative Artists Agency handlers are also negotiating for them to reteam with Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys 2." Nothing happened until Schwarzenegger agreed to change his role in the production. He's unavailable to star anyway, already driving three major vehicles at WB: "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," a remake of "Westworld" and a new "Conan the Barbarian." ---------- |