Movie News
Will Smith Spoils the Ending of ‘I Am Legend’
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 4, 2007
This one will certainly go under the “WTF?” category of the day. At a press conference in Tokyo, actor Will Smith inadvertently revealed some of the plot of I Am Legend to the Japanese press. At one point, he even had film co-producer and co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman shouting “Don’t give away the ending.”
This is coming to us from Reuters/Yahoo out of Tokyo. After Smith gave away the film’s ending, Goldsman pretended to be surprised, but ended up hanging his head in shame. At the end of the press conference, reps from the studio asked all present if they could keep the information secret, as leaking it would certainly spoil things for viewers.
From where I am sitting, this is one of two things: either it is a huge screwup by an A-list Hollywood star or it is a ploy to gain publicity for the film. No details were released as to what Smith said (not like we would want to publish them anyway), but there is no telling yet as to whether the ending he gave was the correct one. Time will tell. Either way, Big Willy Style has some explaining to do. I Am Legend releases in both the United States and Japan on December 14.
Up for Discussion: Do you think this is Will Smith slipping up or a shameless attempt to promote the film?
Read more articles by Neil Miller
66 Comments
December 4th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
I doubt he screwed up. He’s a pretty intelligent guy. If he did it was probably quite vague, but I’ll be seeing the movie in 2 days so I’ll be able to spoil it for all of you!
December 4th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
This is at least the third time this story is being turned into a film, so could the ending really be that big of a surprise?
December 4th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Yeah I spoiled the ending by reading the story several years ago and watching Vincent Price movies.
What really concerns me is that the trailer seems to show his dog dying. That’s not cool man, not cool! Dogs are forever!
And thats not a spoiler, because as I said, its in the trailer.
Also you’re reading an article called “Will Smith spoils the ending” and if you don’t want spoilers you probably shouldn’t read articles with “spoils the ending” in the title. WHAM!
December 4th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I agree Robert. I think it was a ploy to get headlines and internet buzz surrounding the movie, because the ending would be spoiled in two days anyways for anyone who wanted to see the movie who would click a headline about the movie’s ending being spoiled. Now they have everyone talking…they are trying to pull a Radiohead type move.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Well, if anyone read the book or saw the two films based on the book, ‘The Last Man on Earth’ and ‘The Omega Man’, they know the story ends on a note of bittersweet irony. Ever since it was announced that Will Smith was attached to the project, however, I’ve suspected that this version would have a different ending, as a concession to his popularity.
That’s Hollywood!
I’ll probably still go to see it.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:58 am
if it’s a remake, it is probably due to movie writers to effectively come up with something new and original. should the writers get a raise for one bad movie after another?
i realize the producers give the green light. however, the writers as just as well to blame.
so far i want to see the movie, i’m crossing my fingers that it will be a reasonably good one.
December 5th, 2007 at 10:02 am
What does it matter, it’s based off a book, so it’ll be in there.
Read the book.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:57 am
I doubt this will have any effect what-so-ever…. everyone knew the ship was going to sink in Titanic, yet people still flocked to the theaters to see it.
The story is only part of the experience.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:58 am
There was a movie that this was also based off of (so I am told) called “Omegaman”. So I doubt the ending would be a surprising for those well versed in movies.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Word on the street is that the ending is different than what happened in Omega Man…
December 5th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I can’t wait for this movie. I highly doubt it was a mistake and I’m sure Will meant to spoil it. I think its just a publicity stunt.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
sure hope JK Rowling doesnt spoil the end of Harry Potter before the last movie comes out…
December 5th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
The ending is also foretold by the actual title of the book and movie.
Also, anyone who has been paying attention for the last 10 years or so knows that the trailer of a movie (esp. the ones shown in the theatres), generally gives away the entire story and all the main points and scenes in it. For some stupid reason people seem to like this and it’s kind of the norm nowadays.
The only people really upset by knowing the end would be older people or movie buffs, and all of them would likely have seen the two previous movie versions of this.
IMO it looks interesting, but Will Smith is not exactly what you’d call a good actor so I find it unlikely he will carry this off much better than Vincent Price or Charleton Heston did. It’s also likely that they will take out the Jesus reference from the end of the Heston version, pro-relgious mania being what it is in the US lately.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
As someone who has read the book and seen the commercials i wouldnt worry about Smith spoiling anything. Im not even going to see this movie because theyve totally screwed the story. i understand a remake and having your own vision of a book, but this is WAY off.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Hi Jeremy,
for one, Will Smith is a FANTASTIC actor. Did you see Pursuit of Happyness?!? He CRIED in the end. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Two, yeah thats it. I dont know why i counted.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
wikipedia….
December 5th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
well, i read very good review about “i am legent”. Its a sad story to read this post of will smith.. I will be watching this movie.
Eliena Andrews
December 5th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Will Smith’s in the movie so it’s already spoiled.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
As with most remakes, they probably won’t have the courage to use the real ending. Just saw “The Last Man on Earth” (Vincent Price) on Miro — awesome!
December 5th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
The last three words of the book are “I am Legend”, an it has to do with how it ends. They titled the movie the same.
I would guess that it ends just like the book did, it should.
I’ve never seen the other two movie versions.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Will Smith is A-list? When did that happen?
December 5th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
He is a very great man, I like him so much. i heard that he appeared on a millionaire&celebrity dating club MeetRich.com with a personal account there. Is it real or just a rumor on internet?
December 5th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
It seems that Will smith has gratuitous workout scenes in nearly every movie he is in.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Isn’t this like when everyone ruined the ending of Titanic by saying the ship sank?
December 5th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I would not call the ending of the book “bittersweet.” It was f’ing depressing.
I Am Legend is a very GOOD book, but it was so dark, so relentlessly, crushingly bleak that I never want to read it again. Anyone who can read the book and not get choked up in parts (one in particular) is a monster.
I’m almost GLAD the movie is going to screw it up, because if the story was filmed well I’d probably kill myself in the theater.
Still, I’d like to know what the Fresh Prince said, and I admit that the movie may be good in its own way, though vastly different than the novel.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
in b4 bel-air’d
December 5th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Or you guys could just read the movie sxript in its entirety here: http://www.horrorlair.com/scripts/legend.txt
Its been available for over half a year…
December 5th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Will Smith is a sellout. Of course he did this to promote the film. Everyone already knows the story anyways.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Watch ‘6 Degrees of Separation’ and tell me Will Smith is not a spectacular actor. I agree he doesn’t do his best in blockbusters but those movies aren’t really crafted to show off acting skill are they?
December 5th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Intelligent? Doubtful….. The man is a scientologist. This alone has lost him credibility.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
It’s a book, and i think it’s also a remake. So what did he give away?
December 5th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
THANK YOU blah! i was wondering when SOMEONE would stop telling us the answer was obviouis and just tell us where to look already!
December 5th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
The book’s ending is great. Perfectly logical and amazingly self-aware.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I read the book. I have been looking forward to the movie, since its a knock off of Omega Man with Charton Heston. It was a great movie for SF buffs 35 years ago. Now, back to the book. It sucked. The “book” was about a third of a collection of short stories. Hopefully, Will will pull it off as well as the white guy all those years ago. And yes, he died. Hopefully with more class than in the book. That guy wimpled out and took pills….
December 5th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
It’s called reading the book, the ending is clear and is the reason why the book is called “I am Legend”. So if he gave away the ending it doesn’t matter because anyone can go and get the book and read it for themselves. Anyway at the end he dies.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Please tell me Charlotte Hoaks isn’t a real person. The book sucked? Hopefully he’ll die with more class?? What would you like a city-burning, bullet-flying blaze of glory? Go see if you can find someone to read the rest of the book to you… some of those stories are classics.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Lol. i think this is about publicity. Good luck on your servery & bandwith by the way, Looks like you made it on Digg front page, get ready for some heavy pounding!
December 5th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I think Will did not give away the ending. I hes been in alot of movies and this is not his first time at bat. i think this is just a big misunderstanding and this movie is going rock so hard haha.
December 5th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
This movie is a re-make of the OmegaMan. Plain and simple so the ending should be the same. He dies.
December 5th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
What’s the big deal about knowing how the movie ends in advance of seeing it? There’s more to a movie than just the ending. If knowing the ending ruins a movie, then no one would bother watching them more than once, nor would they watch remakes of older stories.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
So a 53 year old book, with a 43 year old and a 36 year old movie, and even a new Direct-to-DVD movie this year, all based off the same thing, all with roughly the same endings, and this is considered a spoiler? So if another World War II-based movie comes out, and I mention the Allies winning, is that ruining the movie? Besides, it takes a minimal plot intro and the title to realize what’s going to happen in the book/movie(s). I figured that out in 5th grade when I was reading the book.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
and Rich, it’s not a remake of Omega Man. Omega Man was a “remake” of the The Last Man on Earth, which is in turn a movie adaptation of I Am Legend. This is the fourth movie based of the book. Omega Man was the least accurate of the movies based off of the books.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:46 am
I guess Slash kinda did the same thing with Guitar Hero 3, saying that the last boss was the devil. Of course, he was drunk at the time.
But seriously, I think it was planned. I think that Goldsman and Smith planned this out, so as to make the ending seem more surprising or secret. It’s actually rather brilliant.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Everything Will Smith touches turns into ‘look at me I’m so tough and cool’ movie.
He RUINED I, Robot and http://WWW.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:02 am
If spoiled endings were a problem for viewers, why did so many people go see Star Wars Episode III? Everyone knew that Aniken would go emo, turn into Darth Vader, hunt down the jedi to extincion, and his wife padme would die after giving birth to luke and leia before the movie was even in production. They just wanted to see how it happened, which in my opinion, is the most important thing.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:05 am
And by the way Terry, Will Smith is an outstanding actor and deserve’s respect. There’s a reason why he’s still one of the highest paid actor’s in hollywood despite having such a long career. Not to mention he is an academy award winner.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I was at the press conference and he said that his character turns out to be made of marzipan, and a giant, walking venus fly trap comes and eats him, gets sick and dies - then the credits roll, but halfway through, the entire cast of the Golden Girls punch their way through the screen and begin a rendition of Abbot & Costello routines before being shot in the head by Doogie Howser M.D. who has gone berserk on tartrazine. But then at the very end it turns out to be all a dream in the head of Walter Cronkite’s sister. He also said it was quite different from the book’s ending.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Bruce Willis is a ghost
December 6th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I can’t understand if you didn’t like the book and hate Will Smith, why are you even wasting your time to comment on this movie… I just finished the book after years of putting it off and the ending is not a cheery one and took me by surprise momentarily until I thought about it in reference to the title. But it was a great story, well written and a great quick read.
I happened upon this site looking for a spoiler to see how they may have changed the ending from the book. Thanks for the script! Children of Men was great book to, and the movie though completely revised to fit the context of today was great to. I am hoping for the same with this one. So what we all know the ending, being from NYC any chance to see it deserted and overrun is worth the $10 to see this. Also, FYI, Smith is no scientolgist…
December 8th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
He dies at the end. At least in the book he does.Yet, I’m sure Willy will shout a couple of “Ah Hell No’s!” through the film and blow the bad guys up in the end while finding a group of young, good-looking survivors. The end.
December 8th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Oh yeah, and to ruin the ending for his next film/remake, I want to remind everyone that soylent green is made out of people.IT’S MADE OUT OF PEOPLE!
December 9th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
No Will Smith character has never died on screen. Maybe they changed the ending to accomodate that…
December 14th, 2007 at 2:20 am
COMMENT DELETED BY FSR ADMIN — DON’T BE THAT GUY…
December 14th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Its true all! A**HOLE was right, BIg Willy *** COMMENT EDITED BY ADMIN — DON’T BE A SPOILER ***, that aint right. Its been an hour since I left the theatre and Im still crying!! And I cant believe Big WIllys character eats the dog half way thru the movie EWWwwww. anyway, enjoy the movie everyone!
December 14th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Akiva Goldsman ruined the film long before Will Smith opened his mouth.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Just saw movie–what was the thing about the blood from the rabies lady and him finally realizing what was the cure? Couldn’t hear what he said. Don’t understand.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Ha ha!! Saw the movie late saturday night. Hated the ending but the overall performance was one of the Fresh Prince’s best… (kudos to Six Degrees of Separation). His periodic insanity spells gave a little light to a gloomy plot. “Please say hello to me,” One for the ages…
December 18th, 2007 at 3:31 am
this may have been said earlier in this thread (i didnt read every post, sorry) but the movie HAS TO end the same way…..or it couldnt be called “i am legend.” if youve read the book or know the story then you know that the fact that he dies is pretty much the reason for his story. he IS legend. how does someone become legend? well duh. so if he doesnt die, then the movie could be what…..a maybe decent zombie/apocalypse movie with lots of explosions and edge-of-your-seat action. thats ok. but none of that matters if he doesnt die, because, well, thats how he is legend. and for the person who said that they hope he dies a more noble death……um, his legend is the nightmare that is told to children (undead children, but whatever) that make them keep the lights on (or, off?).
he can only become legend if he dies. he became what he thought he was hunting….he was their only threat and thats what makes him legend. they were only able to become more than what we think they are (scavengers? demons? undead? monsterrs?) by getting rid of their last threat. the last living “being” that threatened their existence. and thus…..he is legend. not legend to you or me. but legend to our undead family. legend to the new race that inhabits the earth.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
first off, will smith is a god actor, not great. this movie like wild wild west was not believeable for him…a smart scientsist and a secret service agent in 1880…not right for smith
the omega man with charlton heston was way better and 35 years older.
why do people go to see smith and have no clue what the movie is about or ever seen the others? i like clint eastwood , but not watch all his movies , just because he in eastwood or white. anyway this movie will flop after the first big weekend and word spreads….
December 21st, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Very dissapointing! Book had an ending that was strong and logical. Movie ruined it and made no sense.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Jeremy: “Will Smith is not exactly what you’d call a good actor so I find it unlikely he will carry this off”
My wife and I saw this movie last weekend, and we both think you are absolutely incorrect!
We haven’t stopped talking about “The Samantha Scene” since we left the movie… he did a fantastic job!
December 30th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
why did they have to end the movie like that?
December 31st, 2007 at 3:17 pm
This movie was like a B or so. It was good, but not fantastic. The CGI was a bad choice and the ending was crap compared to the book.
January 5th, 2008 at 2:19 am
what the hell happened in the end of ‘I am legend”? I was loving this movie for 3/4 of the way through ( despite very average cgi baddies ) and then it ended upbruptly. Did they run out of money? They set this whole plot up where Smith’s character foreshaddows that ‘they are displaying no human characterisitics or intelligence..’ and yet they copycat trap him the same we he had done earlier, and also its revealed that they seem to have dogs as pets ( same as he already does ) There seems to be a leader, who also seems to be p.o’d that Smith took his rabid girlfriend from him…and then it all ends unanswered??!! How easily did they get into his ’super’house? Why did he not throw the grendade through the broken glass, after baldy head butts it? Why did he attack the dark seekers without a gun? And why’d he get knocked out while not doing much? Who cares about the chick and her son when we’ve only just been intro’d to them and have pretty much no intrest / sympathy for them?
I was a bit let down by this film - it was set up well, and I liked the isolation of post apocalypse New York - but weird end and too much ‘no woman, no cry’ plugging at the end left the sour taste of what could have been..
January 6th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
The actor Will Smith, does a horrible job in the movie “I am Legend”, having meet with him
during many interviews, and movie releases, it has become obvious that he is more
annoying than Rosie O’Donnell and if better known, he would be more disliked. His best roll
still remains in the “fresh prince” series in the 1990’s.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:13 am
People have to kill themselfs to save others.. Carlos taught me that when he died in Resident Evil: Extinction, also with Lee’s brother in Rush Hour 3, with Harry in Spider Man 3.. their legends will live on…