POFCRIT PODCAST 2024: Jake Diamond on I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence, 2007)

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/11/15/pofcrit-podcast-2024-jake-diamond-on-i-am-legend-francis-lawrence-2007/ In this podcast we will discuss the often-overlooked 2007 adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Following Will Smith's rendition of Dr Robert Neville, a virologist and last man on earth, it focuses on the psychological deterioration and complex need for coping mechanisms one would face when confronted with complete existentialism. We will discuss the difficulties of adaptation and where focus can often be shifted with minute changes, forcing different interpretations; as well as how the 2007 version - with its complicated production - is the most poignant when it comes to the horror of isolation. Additionally, we will discuss a key element, which is the paradoxical situation Robert Neville finds himself in, because as the tagline states: The Last man on Earth isn't alone.